Research

Your contribution helps give children the medical answers they deserve. Right now, most treatments used in children have never been properly tested in kids — they're simply adapted from adult research. Through our NextGen Endowed Fund we're training the next generation of doctors and scientists to change that, by running the rigorous studies needed to prove which treatments are truly safe and effective for children, whether they're facing a short-term illness or a lifelong condition. Children aren't small adults, and their medicine should reflect that. 

Many life-changing medicines for children are hiding in plain sight.

Some drugs already proven safe in adults could work remarkably well for kids battling serious illnesses — but without proper testing, doctors can't prescribe them with confidence. Our OMNI-Kids Program is finding those hidden opportunities and running the clinical trials needed to bring these already-existing medicines into the hands of children who need them most, for everything from short-term illnesses to lifelong conditions.

To understand what's wrong with a sick child, we first need to know what "healthy" looks like. Surprisingly, medicine still lacks complete data on what normal blood values should look like at every stage of childhood — from infants to teenagers. As a part of our HealthyNorms Initiative we're building a first-of-its-kind library of blood samples from healthy children to establish those critical benchmarks, giving doctors and researchers a reliable standard to compare against when diagnosing illness or evaluating new treatments.

Every research study of childhood disease depends on knowing what healthy looks like. Your contribution helps build that foundation.

No single hospital can solve childhood disease alone. For many of the most serious conditions affecting children, there is simply no national system in place to coordinate research, share data, or run the large-scale studies that produce real answers. We're changing that — by building and sustaining the Kids-CHAMPS Consortium, a network of hospitals and research centers across the country that work together to find better treatments for the children who need them most.

Because when doctors and scientists unite around a common mission, children win. Your support helps make that possible.