Every day, University of Michigan doctors and scientists are developing the next generation of therapies and prevention strategies for children. Mott patients are among the first to benefit from these discoveries.
Research can take many shapes in a health care setting. Scientists may collect information about disease rates or study samples in a laboratory. Those findings might lead to a clinical study, which applies knowledge to patients’ situations in order to find new approaches to disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment. Or, research might focus on how to improve prevention and wellness education at a regional, state or national level.
Michigan Answers for Kids: Research Highlights
As one of the most active pediatric research organizations in the state, our researchers contribute greatly to the scientific improvements in health care, disease management and prevention for children and families. Explore our 2022 research highlights in the Michigan Answers for Kids: Research Highlights booklet.
Clinical Trials
Children and families can make a real difference in the future of medical science by participating in clinical research studies. Research studies include a wide variety of opportunities for children and families to make a difference. Some studies involve surveys, where patients and parents answer questions. Other studies involve giving clinical specimens, such as doing blood or urine tests. Select studies are known as clinical trials, which focus on curing disease, understanding prevention and improving quality of life.
Clinical trials are not for everyone, and they do not always have the results that the researchers are hoping for. Whatever the format and whatever the results, clinical research studies lead to important medical advances and may provide hope and healing when previously little existed.
To learn more, visit the University of Michigan’s umhealthresearch.org Web site. There you can read about clinical research, get answers about diseases and conditions, and find out what studies are available and how to participate.
CHEAR – Child Health and Evaluation Research
The Child Health Evaluation and Research (CHEAR) Unit is one of very few organizations in the country that conducts pediatric health services studies that shape local, state and national health care policy. CHEAR brings together faculty from schools throughout the University of Michigan to address the most pressing child health issues today.
The research conducted by CHEAR faculty helps to improve the delivery of child health care, make public and private health care programs more effective, and inform the public about important health issues affecting children. In addition, the CHEAR Unit helps train researchers of tomorrow whose work will continue to improve health and health care for children far into the future.
CHEAR also is home to the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health. The National Poll on Children’s Health provides timely, dependable information about the public’s opinion on the latest, most important health issues for kids.
For more information about the latest research or today’s important children’s health issues, visit the CHEAR Web site at www.chear.org.
Program for Equity in Adolescent & Child Health (PEACH)
PEACH is an innovative research and improvement program committed to improving equity in pediatric care and experience. We take an interdisciplinary, data-driven approach to identifying inequities and use quality improvement expertise to develop systems-level approaches to eliminating any inequities identified.
Since launching in 2023, PEACH pilot studies have researched visitor expectations, security calls, assessment of pediatric pain and demographic data. Learn more about the impact PEACH is having on patients and families.
Michigan Child Health Equity Collaborative (Mi-CHEC)
Michigan's three largest children's hospitals – C.S. Mott Children's Hospital, Children's Hospital of Michigan and Helen DeVos Children's Hospital – team up in a historic collaboration to look for inequities in pediatric patient care. Learn more.