PROJECT SUMMARY
In order to improve the health and wellbeing of our nation’s children, it is essential to transform pediatric health
care to address the complex social ecological factors that persistently hamper access to child health and
contribute to pervasive health inequities in the United States. Transforming the delivery of pediatric health care
requires robust programs of healthcare delivery research, using innovative stakeholder-engaged approaches to
ensure the development of acceptable, feasible, effective interventions ready for equitable implementation. The
overall goal of this Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) is to strengthen pediatric healthcare
delivery research infrastructure in Delaware, specifically at the Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children. Consistent
with this goal, we will establish a thematic, multidisciplinary health research system – The REACH (Research
Expanding Access to Child Health) Center – rooted in the principles and methods of pediatric healthcare delivery
science, bridging our biomedical research and health care systems, and focused on ensuring equitable access
to high quality pediatric health care for all. With strong scientific leadership and institutional commitment, the
REACH Center will create resources and provide mentoring to effectively accomplish three aims: 1) Expand
innovative programs of stakeholder-engaged intervention-focused research using advances in technology to
counter negative social ecological focuses and improve child health; 2) Enhance existing expertise and expand
research infrastructure through core resources supportive of health equity research for children; and, 3) Establish
a critical mass of independent multidisciplinary investigators to sustain a COBRE expanding access to child
health. Two outstanding junior investigators who are ideally poised for achieving independent NIH funding
propose initial research projects. Each focuses on refining and evaluating technology-enabled interventions to
improve equity in child health - the first for children with obesity in rural Delaware and the second for families
with a prenatal diagnosis of congenital heart disease. Three Administrative Core programs: Project Funding,
Mentorship, and Research Management will support the conduct of these and future REACH Center-funded
projects across the five years of the COBRE1 to increase and sustain pediatric health care research in Delaware.
Two Research Cores will ensure the rigorous design and conduct of these REACH Center-funded projects. The
PROMISE (Pediatric Research Optimizing Methods in Stakeholder Engagement) Core assures the infrastructure
necessary to engage important community and stakeholder partners in research. The IMPACT (Intervention
Methods: Provision and Connection through Technology) Core assures the necessary technological and
scientific resources to develop, test and evaluate outcomes of technology-enabled interventions. In partnership
with other IDeA state programs, REACH Center resources will extend existing assets and expand the Delaware
research community with important and unique emphases in child and family health and pediatric health equity.