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One of the central tenets of the mission of the Center on the Developing Child is to build a multi-disciplinary science of child health, learning, and behavior that elucidates the early roots of lifelong disparities. Beyond simply adding incrementally to the existing science base in these areas, the Center is deeply committed to pushing the frontiers of knowledge by facilitating the investigation of bold, new ideas generated by a diversity of disciplinary perspectives.

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Interdisciplinary Research Seminar on Disparities

The Interdisciplinary Research Seminar on Disparities (IRSD) is a Center initiative that was created to share cutting-edge science across disciplines and to serve as a catalyst for the generation of new research ideas and collaborative investigation among diverse Harvard faculty from across the University. With financial support from the Center, six members of the IRSD began work in 2008 on an integrated, multi-disciplinary investigation of the long-term health consequences of early-life adversity. They are currently conducting five related studies – two mouse and three human – to try to reveal the biological and psychological effects of stress experienced early in life. More >>

Child Mental Health Network

The Child Mental Health Network is a Center initiative consisting of four inter-related components: a meta-analysis of evidence-based treatments for the four most common mental health problems in children and youth (anxiety, depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and conduct disorders); a clinical services component focused on the adaptation of complex, research-based treatment protocols for implementation in community settings; evaluation of a new screening protocol for child and adolescent suicide risk; and a policy dimension focused on assessing the relationship between cost and quality in the delivery of mental health services for children. More >>

 

Un Buen Comienzo

Un Buen Comienzo (UBC), "A Good Start," is a collaborative project in Santiago, Chile, to improve the quality of early childhood education through teacher professional development. UBC, which has received some funding from the Center on the Developing Child, is an example of the kind of integrated child development work that is central to the Center's mission. More >>

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Karestan C. Koenen

How does traumatic stress early in life get under the skin and affect lifelong health? Would it make a difference to a child’s long-term physical health if he or she were able to cope better psychologically with trauma? These are the kinds of questions that Karestan C. Koenen is asking in research funded by the Center. She hopes to find answers in what may seem to be an unlikely place: the DNA of children who have been in car accidents or fallen out of windows. More >