Smith Child Health Catalyst
Bridging the divide between knowledge and action by harnessing the expertise of scientists, the wisdom of families and the power of community collaboration.
Smith Child Health Catalyst is a service core, leading innovation at the intersection of pediatric research and child health. We are dedicated to improving the wellbeing of children and their families by partnering with academic, healthcare, community and industry clients. Together, we leverage mixed methods and data-driven strategies to discover answers to pressing questions and catalyze influential change. With a focus on children and families, we strive to ensure our findings genuinely reflect the voices and experiences of the communities most impacted by the topics we study.
If you are looking to begin or enhance your research or evaluation efforts with the Catalyst team, please complete the request form below. Contact the Catalyst Team for questions or more information.
Our Services
Our multidisciplinary team consists of experienced faculty and research professionals from Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. Our expertise includes human-centered design, user experience, social science, community engaged research, implementation science, and program evaluation. We engage with clients across all stages of work, from co-development of proposals through the dissemination of findings. We work closely with our clients, using data-driven strategies to uncover insights and address their most pressing questions. Clients also have access to our training resources and tools, designed to build capacity and support ongoing learning throughout the research process.
Vision and Strategy Exploration
Leveraging our expertise, we identify perspectives from diverse audiences to ensure that the vision of an organization or department is rooted in the reality of your practice and reflects broader community views. Our team can partner to:
- Facilitate group brainstorming and planning
- Co-develop strategic goals, measurable outcomes, and implementation activities
- Operationalize plans by identifying key metrics and developing a comprehensive data strategy.
Community Engagement and Partnership
Leveraging our commitment to collaboration, we amplify community voices and foster long-lasting improvements for families from all backgrounds. Our team specializes in building connections to relevant community organizations and capturing diverse perspectives through mechanisms such as community, family, and youth advisory boards and the Voices of Child Health in Communities (VOCHIC) panel survey. We partner to:
- Facilitate engagement with community stakeholders
- Co-develop strategies to integrate community insights into organizational initiatives
- Implement approaches that ensure programs are aligned with the needs and priorities of the communities they serve
Applied Research and Evaluation
Our team designs data collection and recruitment strategies to gather the evidence you need. We draw from quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods approaches to generate tailored study designs that will accomplish your project goals. You can partner with our scientific experts to:
- Co-design a project or proposal
- Engage our team to recruit participants, collect and analyze data, or synthesize results.
Communication and Public Dissemination
Our team brings extensive experience in design and dissemination of information to a variety of audiences, from peer-reviewed publications to community-focused presentations. We ensure findings are available to key decision-makers and the communities affected by the topic of study. Examples of products include:
- Public reports
- Policy briefs
- Participant facing infographics
Catalyst Highlights
Stay up-to-date with our latest achievements, collaborations, and research breakthroughs as we continue to shape the future of science and innovation.
Catalyst Fiscal Year 2024 Report
Fiscal Year 2024 (September 1, 2023 – August 31, 2024) has been marked by significant growth for the Smith Child Health Catalyst, with increased client requests, expanded ongoing projects, and increased project hours dedicated to advancing our research.
We are proud to highlight some of the key achievements from the past year that reflect our commitment to making a meaningful impact on the lives of children and families through our dedicated research efforts.
Survey of U.S. Parents Highlights Need for More Awareness About Newborn Screening, Cystic Fibrosis and What to Do if Results are Abnormal
In collaboration with Susanna McColley, MD, Catalyst deployed a national survey to understand knowledge of newborn screening in general and of cystic fibrosis (CF) in particular. In the survey of nearly 1,600 parents, most respondents had heard of CF prior to participating (79 percent), but about half did not know it was included in newborn screening tests (52 percent). Overall, just over half of parents reported that they knew which conditions are included in newborn screening tests (51 percent), that false-positive results were possible (58 percent), and that false-negative results also were possible (54 percent). It was found that parents reported difficulties in understanding abnormal newborn screening results and uncertainty as to what to do next
NIH Grant to Tackle Access to Youth Knee Injury Care in Chicago Hispanic Community
In partnership with Catalyst, Nerraj Patel, MD, was awarded a $840,000 grant for over five years from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Skin Diseases (part of the National Institutes for Health, or NIH) to support his work to understand why these delays happen and to develop solutions to get young athletes the care they need faster to avoid long-term health issues.
Testimonials
The opportunity to collaborate with the team at the Smith Child Health Catalyst to measure outcomes related to a unique, whole foods and plant-forward public school food program has been an essential part of our process and ongoing success.
We learned so much about collaborative, community-centered research and our methods have gotten better over time! The team is friendly, genuinely interested in our community, and has made obvious efforts to work alongside us on the ground.
This part of our partnership is essential in building trust and buy-in from our students, families, and staff. We love that students and staff recognize and feel excited to work with the research team. We couldn't have done this work without their partnership!
- Kris De La Torre
Director of Sustainability & Wellness
Academy for Global Citizenship
I greatly appreciated how the Catalyst team took the time to understand my specific research needs and provided individualized suggestions according to those needs.
- Dr. Laura Gilbert
Attending Physician, Neurology
Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago
The team was super engaging and willing to answer innumerable questions from non-clinicians. They provided clinical context around technology, as well as physiological explanations.
- Claire Sorenson
Sibel Health
