Pediatrics Research

Making children healthier and happier

Every day, dedicated researchers—at Golisano Children's Hospital, across UR Medicine and throughout the University of Rochester—are working to improve the health of our most vulnerable patients: infants and children. Our prior research has helped children around the world lead healthy lives; from the delivery of lung surfactant to help premature babies survive, to the development of the Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccine to prevent one of the most common forms of bacterial meningitis in children, and many other serious diseases of childhood.

Building on this legacy of world-class discoveries, research in areas related to children's health at the University of Rochester continues to make a significant impact across the nation and around the world. Today, Pediatric researchers at URMC are studying a wide variety of topics, including autism and developmental disabilities, cancer research and therapies, developmental biology, health services and prevention, infectious diseases and immunology, lung health and disease, neuromedicine, nutrition and metabolism, and renal and cardiovascular research. Research in the Department includes some of the world's premier basic and clinical biomedical and socioeconomic researchers in interdisciplinary centers and adjacent, cutting-edge laboratory and clinical research facilities. This arrangement – with everything in close geographic proximity, with programmatic juxtaposition across departmental lines – makes intellectual interaction and translation of advances from the bench to the bedside, and from the illness treatment setting to the prevention and wellness arena, an everyday occurrence here.

Never before has the gap between biomedical research and clinical practice been so narrow. Never before have our creativity and collaborative spirit been so mission-critical as we discover health care solutions for children and their families challenged each by their own unique medical, psychological, and socioeconomic circumstances. Our goals for the future are to prevent childhood diseases, limit complications from treatment, and effectively manage chronic illnesses. URMC Pediatrics stands uniquely poised to provide state-of-the-art care today, and to apply the best that biomedical science has to offer to make tomorrow's state-of-the-art even better than what today holds out to the children and families of our region, our country, and our world.