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Child Health and Human Development Program (CHHD)

The Child Health and Human Development Program (CHHD) was created after collective reflection in several key areas. Since early life events and factors have the potential to dictate lifelong human health, it is essential to increase our understanding of these factors in order to develop novel detection methods and therapies.

Besides needing to learn more about genetics and developmental processes, we are now starting to see that early environmental factors may modulate epigenetic changes that can affect health changes decades later. Chronic childhood disease also plays a role in cognitive and identity development, underlining the need to amalgamate the strengths of researchers in many disciplines into a single, unified program.

The CHHD Program therefore builds on four main themes that study different aspects of child health and human development.

Review our research highlights and publications in the 2023 RI-MUHC Annual Report.

More selections: 20222021; 2020.

Explore the CHHD Program

News and Events

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We are proud to celebrate the scientific achievements of our researchers and trainees in publications, grant competitions, honors and awards, and appointments, as well as in the mainstream press.

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The CHHD Program organizes and supports numerous speakers, seminars, and symposia throughout the year.

Research Initiatives

Researchers in the CHHD Program are involved in a multitude of research initiatives, including:

CHILD-BRIGHT Network logo

The CHILD-BRIGHT Network, headquartered at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC), is an innovative pan-Canadian network that aims to improve life outcomes for children with brain-based developmental disabilities and their families.

Maelstrom Research logo

Maelstrom Research brings together an international team of epidemiologists, statisticians, and computer scientists to find practical solutions to some of the challenges faced by epidemiological research collaborations. Through the development of methods and open-source software, we address the data documentation, harmonization, co-analysis, and dissemination needs of study investigators and research networks.

MIPOGG logo

MIPOGG is an app offering access to simple tumor-specific algorithms that guide the clinician through the decisional process of whether a child requires a genetics referral. MIPOGG incorporates evidence-based educational modules outlining associations between pediatric tumors and cancer predisposition syndromes.

CanCORPS logo

CanCORPS, the Canadian Consortium for Research in Pediatric Surgery, is a newly founded consortium aimed at improving pediatric surgical care through high quality collaborative research. The Consortium includes all 15 major pediatric surgical services across Canada.

PBD Study logo

The Longitudinal Natural History Study of Patients With Peroxisome Biogenesis Disorders (PBD) is dedicated to the study of peroxisome biology in health and diseases.

NeoCardio lab logo

The NeoCardio lab conducts clinical and epidemiological neonatal cardiovascular research and training at the Montreal Children’s Hospital, and provides learning modules on many aspects of neonatal echocardiography.

Centre for Applied Nanomedicine (CAN) logo

The Centre for Applied Nanomedicine (CAN) at the RI-MUHC is a specialized technology platform and research hub for studies on extracellular vesicles (EVs) and nanosized extracellular particles (EPs).

DERIVE is an innovative research venture exploring the ways in which nature and nurture shape human development. DERIVE brings together expertise in genetic and environmental epidemiology, artificial intelligence, computational biology, and maternal, fetal and child health.

The Montreal Antenatal Well-Being Study is one of the largest studies in Canada seeking to better understand which combination of factors make some women more likely to experience anxiety and/or depression during and after pregnancy.

Contact the CHHD Program

Contact the CHHD Program at the RI-MUHC. We are happy to hear from you!

Murielle M. Akpa, PhD
Murielle M. Akpa, PhD

Interim Program Manager

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About the RI-MUHC

The Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) is a world-renowned biomedical and healthcare research centre. The Institute, which is affiliated with the Faculty of Medicine of McGill University, is the research arm of the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) – an academic health centre located in Montreal, Canada, that has a mandate to focus on complex care within its community. The RI-MUHC supports over 460 researchers and close to 1,200 research trainees devoted to a broad spectrum of fundamental, clinical and health outcomes research at the Glen and the Montreal General Hospital sites of the MUHC.