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Research Program

The University of Chicago, one of the world's preeminent research institutions, was founded to create new knowledge and disseminate it through teaching, publication, and the development of discoveries and new technologies for the public benefit.  The Department of Pediatrics' research enterprise is committed to advancing the frontiers of knowledge and training future researchers and physician-scientists.

The Division of Biological Sciences (BSD) includes the Department of Pediatrics and the Institute for Molecular Pediatric Sciences.  Professional and investigative aspects of medicine are readily combined in this environment and the attributes of academic life are easily recognized.  Our faculty values the designation "teacher of teachers" and appreciates the importance of both research training and individual creativity.  

Large, complex interdisciplinary Center and Program Project grants, in conjunction with core facility sharing, emphasize collaborative research involving multi-investigator initiatives typical of 21st Century biomedical research. 

Training Physicians and Graduate Researchers  

The Pritzker School of Medicine continues to be a major producer of faculty members for U.S. medical schools.  The success of our Ph.D. programs for medical students arises in part from the strong traditions of our faculty in biomedical investigation, the close proximity and interactions of basic science and clinical faculty in research collaboration, and a curriculum that emphasizes an investigational approach to medical education and the importance of fundamental medical science in clinical practice.  Postgraduate training for both medical scientists and basic scientists is well-supported.  There are approximately 28 institutional training grants which provide slots for about 200 postdoctoral trainees holding M.D., Ph.D., or M.D./Ph.D. degrees.  The University of Chicago has demonstrated its success in developing biomedical investigators from the earliest stages of their professional education.  

The Institute for Molecular Pediatric Sciences (IMPS)

James Watson, the Chicago alumnus who shared the 1962 Nobel Prize for discovering the structure of DNA, launched the Human Genome Project in 1990.  Today, University of Chicago scientists are building on Watson’s achievements, and reshaping our understanding of gene function and the role faulty genes play in disease causation with the creation of the Institute for Molecular Pediatric Sciences. 

The Institute for Molecular Pediatric Sciences, directed by Steve Goldstein, MA, MD, PhD, explores childhood diseases at the molecular level, aiming to reveal, understand, and leverage universal principles that apply to both children and adults.  The first of its kind in the country, the Institute will include initially 30 and ultimately 60 full-time researchers who will work with faculty throughout the University of Chicago and with colleagues in other institutions to develop new ways to diagnose and treat childhood disease, better understand the cause of disease, identify why some children develop diseases and others don't, determine why some treatments work for some but not others, and help prevent diseases in children.

The Institute is constructed in seven sections.  In addition, cross-sectional programmatic collaborations are robust.   

          

 

The Institute allows scientists and physician-scientists to leverage vast knowledge about cell structure, genetics, biochemistry, biophysics, complex model systems and translational and clinical studies to explore how they affect and are impacted by one another.   

Research within the Department of Pediatrics is supported by the Office of Sponsored Programs (located in the former Resident’s Library, C-539 FAX:  773-834-0620):   

    Carol Zenko, Ph.D.
      Director for Sponsored Programs                           773-702-6416

Barbara Harding-Clay

Clinical Trials Administrator                                    773-834-0483 

 

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