The Child Health Research Institute (CHRI) was inaugurated in August 2018. Our primary mission is to facilitate research activities, scholarship and innovation within the Department of Child Health and the University of Missouri at large with the ultimate goal of fostering optimal health care and wellness to all children living in mid-Missouri and beyond.
The CHRI harnesses the considerable intellectual resources in pediatric specialties and subspecialties already in place at the University of Missouri and constitutes a comprehensive translational research program focused on bench-to-bedside, state-of-the-art research. As such, the CHRI plans to expand and reinforce existing programs and create new focused programs through investment of strategic resources and collaborations both nationally and internationally.
Thus far, our unique approach has provided us with the ability to build a translational, multidisciplinary research institute that seeks better understanding of disorders of childhood and their associated morbidities, with broad implications for public health and policies. The CHRI’s current operating structures include ECHO (asthma, autism), epigenetics, microbiome, and sleep with future development of epilepsy and immunomodulation groups underway. The cross-functional and highly collaborative nature of our institute permits easy access and dialogue among the faculty and fosters new innovative and meritorious projects which are provided with seed funding.
As the CHRI expands through ongoing strategic recruitments, it will pave the way for facilitating opportunities for research among students and foster successful academic trajectories through competitive grant acquisition among our faculty.
