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UF Health University of Florida
Institute for Child Health Policy College of Medicine
Visit the Dept. of Health Outcomes & Biomedical Informatics

Research clinical and population-based

Multidisciplinary faculty members from across the University of Florida conduct innovative, rigorous research in prevention science, health promotion, policy evaluation research, health disparities, and health outcomes studies.

children & adolescents

Compound Problems

Significant numbers of children and adolescents have mental health disorders, chronic physical health conditions or developmental disabilities. A wide range of health risks, including tobacco and substance use, poor nutrition, and environmental exposures,  contribute to poor health in childhood. These challenges are compounded by limited  access to high-quality health care.

Young girl in wheelchair greets a male clinican.

Cutting-edge research

Dissertation Defense

Pregnancy Complications

On September 5, 2025, Ruben D. Zapata gave a successful defense of his dissertation on "Next-Gen Obstetric Care: A Precision Medicine Approach Using Machine Learning for Early Detection of Pregnancy Complications." The chair of Zapata’s committee was Dominick Lemas, Ph.D.

Ruben Zapata gave a successful defense of his dissertation.

Opinion

Medicaid should cover donor breast milk for vulnerable infants

Each day, more than 1,000 babies are born prematurely in America. Born before 37 weeks and often weighing less than five pounds, these infants are at greater risk for a suite of serious health problems, including life-threatening infections, chronic lung disease, blindness, and death.

Current & Innovative

Pregnant woman speaks with provider.

Areas of focus include opioid use during pregnancy and its impact on brain health and development in early childhood, health care outcomes and preventive interventions for low-income children and adolescents, risk behavior reduction, alcohol and drug abuse prevention, community intervention trials, community-engaged research, health care quality and outcomes for disadvantaged populations, and cancer outcomes including health promotion related to the prevention and early detection of cancer and cancer survivorship; and health care economics and delivery system factors related to the quality and outcomes of cancer care.

Faculty collaborate extensively with researchers at the Health Sciences Center, other departments at the University of Florida, and at other universities. Our research themes are broad and reflect the interests of faculty members. We are guided by the principle that optimal contributions result from a knowledge base that includes both depth and breadth of coverage in health outcomes and policy research, epidemiology, and biostatistics.