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General and Community Pediatrics Research

Division faculty conduct clinical and educational research in a variety of areas. Current studies focus on early literacy and the effects of digital media use on brain development, maternal and child health, cardiometabolic disease risk prevention, medical student education, and the effects of nutrition education among elementary school children.

Translational Research:

  • Developing, testing, and evaluating lifestyle support interventions for adolescents with severe obesity who have completed metabolic and bariatric surgery: Sarah Messiah
    • Race/ethnic group disparities in bariatric utilization and outcomes in adolescents and adults
    • Effects of COVID-19 pandemic among those with excess weight and related cardiometabolic disease risk including bariatric patients
  • Developing, testing, and evaluating obesity prevention interventions in community settings (schools, preschools, parks, afterschool programs) among children with and without disabilities: Sarah Messiah
    • Disproportionate burden of metabolic syndrome among race/ethnic minority groups
    • Obesity prevention strategies in childcare centers that serve children with special healthcare needs
    • Policy change to prevent obesity driven by evidence-based findings
    • Park-based afterschool program to promote childhood healthy weight and cardiometabolic health
  • Encouraging nurturing and interactive shared reading routines: John Hutton
    • Adapting and testing a mobile app for parents (Reading Bees) providing guidance, incentives, and resources to promote interactive shared reading in diverse cultural contexts
    • Promoting caregiver implementation of a shared reading intervention (STAR) using various incentives
    • Applying and testing a structured approach to reading with infants
    • “Novel” approaches to encouraging interactive (“dialogic”) reading with older children
  • Screening emergent literacy skills to frame parental guidance and empowerment during primary care visits: John Hutton
    • Applying and testing a children's book-based approach (The Reading House) to emergent literacy screening during pediatric primary care
  • Pediatric health literacy promotion: John Hutton
    • Comparative effectiveness of interventions to improve infant safe sleep practices and reduce sudden unexplained infant death using a children's book to help families understand their child's congenital heart condition (Hank the Heart)

Clinical Research, Quality Improvement, and Educational Scholarship:

  • Social and structural determinants of health and their influence on pediatric health outcomes: Sarah Messiah
  • Home reading environment and early brain development: John Hutton
    • Shared reading routines and practices
    • Traditional versus digital story formats
  • Technology and digital media use and early brain development: John Hutton
    • Examining impacts of technology and digital media on cognitive and socioemotional skills and underlying neural mechanisms from age 3 to 6 years old
    • A longitudinal study of impacts of digital media use in premature infants on brain structure, function, and kindergarten readiness skills
  • Developing and testing children's books for screening and guidance related to kindergarten readiness: John Hutton
    • Expanded validation and scaling of a children's book-based approach (The Reading House) to screening emergent literacy skills in preschool-age children
    • Expanded validation of a children's book-based approach (The Number Farm) to screening early numeracy skills in preschool-age children
  • Reading and literacy promotion: John Hutton
    • Shared reading in the NICU (Baby Bookworms)
    • Shared reading in pediatric inpatient units (Read, Rest, Recover)
  • Pediatric health literacy promotion using specially designed children's books: John Hutton
    • Congenital heart disease (Hank the Heart)
    • Neurological disorders (Billie the Brain)
    • Safe sleep
    • Infant crying and calming
    • Breastfeeding
    • Developmental milestones
    • Germs and hygiene
  • Development and psychometric validation of brief screening measures: John Hutton
    • Digital media use (ScreenQ)
    • Shared reading quality/interactivity (DialogPR, SharePR)
    • Home reading environment and emergent literacy skills (Read Aloud Portal)
  • Effectiveness of Team KidPower (KiPOW!), a nutrition education program targeting 2nd grade students: Nancy Kelly
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