The Division is comprised of a multidisciplinary team of pediatricians, nutritionists, statisticians, psychologists, health and physical educators, and other professionals. This Division, now named Child Development and Community Health, is an amalgamation between Developmental-Behavorial Pediatrics and Community Pediatrics. We have recruited a new Division Chief, Dr. Sheila Gahagan, as the Martin T. Stein Endowed Chair in Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics, who will start January 2009. The goal is to promote health in San Diego and numerous other communities by designing, implementing, and evaluating innovative and culturally-competent programs that promote health and safety.
The Division achieves this goal largely through translational research. Laboratory research with promise must be translated into patient care, but changes in patient care do not occur in our complex society unless community systems are modified to accept them. Violence and obesity prevention, evidence-based asthma management, and immunization delivery are examples of health issues with research-proven strategies. However, too often these strategies are not applied or uniformly accepted in community-based settings. For example, many at-risk children do not have access to the latest research proven programs in violence prevention, asthma management, nutrition education, and physical activity. In addition, many children lack immunizations. The role of Child Development and Community Health is to promote evidence-based health practices at the community level.
The Division reaches populations of children and families that are traditionally medically underserved. The Division is involved in educating researchers, clinicians, pediatric residents, and students (undergraduate, graduate, and medical) for successful community involvement. Activities take place in a variety of settings such as clinical practices, schools, family resource centers, Women Infants and Children (WIC) sites, child care settings (including Head Start) and other community-based organizations that serve diverse populations. The Division leads locally-based programs, as well as programs that operate nationally and internationally. Many projects have received national recognition for innovation. Since 1986, over $60 million in grant funds and contract funds have been put back into projects that benefit the community.
The Division of Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics has played an active role in resident education at UCSD since 1975, when it was among the few programs that incorporated developmental and behavioral training. With an expanded role in clinical care and research, the primary academic work of the section emphasizes the central role of child development in pediatric clinical practice. A major textbook in the specialty of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, Encounters with Children: Pediatric Behavior and Development (4th ed), was written by our faculty.