About the Center for Pediatric Population Health
Improving the health of children and adolescent populations through evidence-based research.
Welcome to the Center for Pediatric Population Health (CPPH). The Center’s mission is to support multidisciplinary research teams to conduct studies and programs in collaboration with health care providers and community organizations to improve the health of child and adolescent populations. We serve as a resource to translate scientific findings and knowledge into practical applications for public health practice, health care services, and health policies.
The Center is a unique collaboration between the UTHealth School of Public Health, one of the largest schools of public health in the nation, and the Children’s Health System of Texas, the largest pediatric health care system in North Texas. Through this partnership, we have the capacity for regional and statewide reach. There has never been a greater time or opportunity to serve our Texas pediatric populations and aspire to health without boundaries for all.
Read our annual report here.
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Major areas of research
The Center has the capability and expertise to work in numerous areas in the field of population health. Currently, active projects and collaborations include:
- Social determinants of health (SDOH)
- Sports-related concussions/sports medicine
- Injury prevention and rehabilitation
- Pulmonary care
- Developmental and behavioral pediatrics
- Healthy weight management
- School and community-based interventions
What sets us apart
Population health is positioned at the intersection of medicine/health care and public health
A unique collaboration between UTHealth School of Public Health and Children’s Health System of Texas, the Center for Pediatric Population Health was founded in 2018 to:
- Collaborate and foster partnerships and transdisciplinary research in clinical and community-based settings.
- Lead research discovery to generate evidence-based science and recommendations for clinical practice and community-based programming.
- Transform through education, training, and mentoring to improve pediatric population health and instill a culture of health for all families.
- Diversify our research portfolio with a nimble approach to meet immediate scientific challenges in the field.
We provide a variety of resources to support the research community in our mission of fostering a culture of data-driven, innovative, progressive strategic approaches to population-level pediatric research. These include guidance and support in the following areas:
- Grant application or study protocol development
- Study design
- Sample size and power calculations
- Analysis methods
- Randomization
- Case report form design
- Data management
- Database development and administration
- Survey development and collection
- Data analysis and interpretation
- Presentation and manuscript preparation
Collaboration is the key to progress
The Center aims is to promote and facilitate collaborations among researchers, clinicians, and community organizations, so that together, groundbreaking research may be done that can have local, national, and global impacts on pediatric population health.
If you are interested in a research collaboration, please complete the following application:
We currently collaborate on research projects with:
- Children’s Health Medical Center
- Children's Health Andrews Institute for Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine
- UTHealth School of Public Health
- UT Southwestern Medical Center
- Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation
- Dallas Independent School District
- Dallas Park and Recreation
- The Cooper Institute
Contact us
Interested in collaborating?
Center for Pediatric Population Health
Paul M. Bass Administrative and Clinical Center
6363 Forest Park Road, Suite BL10.204
Dallas, Texas 75390
Phone: 972-546-2950
Fax: 214-351-7006
Email: Elishia.M.Barnett@uth.tmc.edu
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CONGRATULATIONS TO LUYU "AMBER" XIE
Recipient of the Denton A. Cooley, MD Transformation and Hope Scholarship and the J. Fred Annegers Memorial Scholarship
Luyu "Amber" Xie has earned the Denton A. Cooley, MD Transformation and Hope Scholarship and the J. Fred Annegers Memorial Scholarship. Both scholarships are provided to students from UTHealth’s six schools who excel academically. Amber is a first year PhD student in epidemiology and a graduate research assistant at the Center for Pediatric Population Health.
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NEW RESEARCH
Concussions are associated with cognitive, behavioral, and emotional health consequences for student athletes
Research spearheaded by Center for Pediatric Population Health faculty analyzing data from more than 13,000 students shows that concussions may have a compounding effect on children, leading to long-term cognitive, behavioral, and emotional health consequences. This is the first study to report on the association between sports-related concussions and negative health implications based on a representative sample of U.S. high school students. Approximately 2.5 million high school students in the United States reported suffering at least one concussion related to sports or physical activity in the last 12 months, according to the CDC’s 2017 data.
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CONGRATULATIONS TO SITARA WEERAKOON
Recipient of the Primm-Singleton Minority Travel Award and the President James T Willerson Endowed Scholarship in the School of Public Health
Sitara Weerakoon has earned the Primm-Singleton Minority Travel Award and the President James T. Willerson Endowed Scholarship in the School of Public Health. The Travel Award is conferred to graduate students working towards a career in substance abuse research and covers travel costs to the international substance abuse conference the College on Problems of Drug Dependence Annual Meeting. The Willerson Endowed Scholarship is awarded to School of Public Health students based on academic merit. Sitara is a second year PhD student in epidemiology and a graduate research assistant at the Center for Pediatric Population Health.
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NEW RESEARCH
Children with developmental disabilities more likely to develop asthma
Children with developmental disabilities or delay are more at risk of developing asthma, according to a new study published in JAMA Network Open led by public health researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) as part of the Center for Pediatric Population Health.
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SEE OUR IMPACT
Tracking COVID-19: New reseatch app will help trace the spread of the virus
As the number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise in the U.S., a new free research app is hoping to slow the outbreak of the disease by tracking symptoms of millions across the country. To bring the app home to Texans, researchers at UTHealth have joined the national research project led by Harvard University.
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SEE OUR IMPACT
Understanding how COVID-19 affects the health and well-being of people with obesity
Research led by UTHealth School of Public Health's Center for Pediatric Population Health and UTSouthwestern could inform clinicians and other health professionals on effective strategies to minimize the physical and psychological health impacts from COVID-10 among adults with obesity.
