Our mission:

We advance health and healthy living for children and families through cutting-edge research, innovative community-based programs, and dissemination of evidence-based practices.

Our vision:

Healthy children in a healthy world.

Our Center

The Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living at the UTHealth School of Public Health in Austin was founded in 2006 with a vision of ‘healthy children in a healthy world, and a mission to advance health and healthy living for children and families through cutting-edge research, innovative community-based programs, and dissemination of evidence-based practices.

Our Work

The Center is comprised of 29 School of Public Health faculty who focus on behavior change, epidemiology, health economics, and biostatistics. The Center is dedicated to new discoveries in child and family health, with current programmatic foci on obesity prevention, nutrition, physical activity, and tobacco use. The Center also provides professional education and community service through student training opportunities and by hosting community and scientific forums. 

Our Goals

In August 2018, the Center received renewed 4-year funding from the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation. As part of the new 2018-2022 Center Scope of Work, the Center intends to Create new research ideas and enable a workforce through public health student training; Communicate data-driven and evidence-based products and outcomes to researchers and policymakers; and Connect with other public health organizations, community organizations, and legislators/policymakers.

Please subscribe to the Center newsletter and follow us on social media for announcements on upcoming new Center activities, such as development of Healthy Children, Healthy State reports, a new Community Advisory Council, development of a network linking academia to policymakers, and announcements about building public health capacity and student training opportunities at the Center. Together we can play an early and impactful role in children's health.