Research

Research at the Department of Pediatrics is primarily conducted through the Saban Research Institute, a freestanding research laboratory at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. The institute oversees basic, translational and clinical research programs, including a robust program of Health Outcomes and Community Health Research. An active General Clinical Research Center located within the hospital offers support for clinical studies.

Through a broad range of leading-edge research projects, the Department of Pediatrics aims to develop new treatments for diseases and conditions that affect children, locally and globally. Los Angeles provides an ideal research setting, with its multinational population of young patients with extraordinarily diverse genetic, environmental and socioeconomic backgrounds, and equally diverse illnesses.

The department’s faculty, fellows, residents and staff researchers work with the Saban Institute at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles to pursue basic, translational and clinical research that is making a difference for children. In fact, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles is one of the few freestanding pediatric hospitals in the country where scientific inquiry is combined with clinical care devoted exclusively to children.

Our pediatric clinician-scientists seek ways to explore the potential of stem cells, unlock the mysteries of cancer cells, understand the basis for birth defects, discover influential genes, and develop new tools to diagnose, prevent and treat illnesses in children, and promote child health.