Welcome to the Institute for Child Health Policy, where we bring together researchers from diverse academic disciplines to address some of today’s most pressing health challenges in maternal, child and adolescent health. By leveraging novel research methods, data, and emerging technologies, we aim to improve the health and well-being of mothers, children, and adolescents.
The past decade has seen remarkable advances in maternal, child and adolescent health research that hold great promise for understanding disease pathways and improving health outcomes. Emerging research, showing the influence of epigenetics and the microbiome on maternal health during pregnancy, has given us surprising new insights into the building blocks of childhood health. In addition, genomics research has contributed to treatment breakthroughs for childhood cancer, sickle cell disease and other rare conditions.
While this research holds great promise, significant numbers of children and adolescents have mental health disorders, chronic physical health conditions and/or developmental disabilities. A wide range of health risks including tobacco, substance use, poor nutrition, and environmental exposures, combined with lack of access to high-quality health care, undermine the health of our children.
At the Institute, more than 30 faculty and affiliate members work in transdisciplinary teams to explore the biological, behavioral, and social circumstantial influences on maternal, child and adolescent health. Our researchers use integrated data from clinical, environmental, and community sources to better understand the complex factors that shape health trajectories from birth through adolescence. We also design, test, and implement tailored interventions that improve both individual and population-level health outcomes for children, adolescents and their families.
Our research portfolio includes funding awards from the National Institutes of Health, the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, state Medicaid agencies and other organizations.
I invite you to learn more about the work we do at the Institute for Child Health Policy, and to join us in our mission to improve the health of mothers, children, and adolescents.