Overview/Mission
CDBB supports basic and translational research and training that addresses the typical neurocognitive, psychological, behavioral, physical, and social-emotional development and health of infants, children, and adolescents. The branch explores how individual differences in development, as well as family and other social relationships, are affected by genetic and environmental influences including emerging societal trends (e.g., increased reliance on technology and digital media), as well as public health emergencies (e.g., COVID-19 pandemic). The branch also supports basic research to identify the mechanisms by which atypical development and related health outcomes in children and adolescents, including those with learning disabilities, arise from or are differentially affected by genetic and environmental risk/protective factors. The branch uses these findings to inform translational prevention, intervention, and health promotion studies designed to enhance their lives.
- Databrary
: Open data library of developmental science video, audio, and related metadata - NIH Toolbox: Assessment of Neurological and Behavioral Function : Comprehensive set of neuro-behavioral measurements that quickly assess cognitive, emotional, sensory, and motor functions
- Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) : Set of person-centered measures that evaluates and monitors physical, mental, and social health in adults and children
- Cincinnati Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Neurodevelopment (C-Mind) Project : Standardized methods for recruiting, scanning, and processing brain imaging data from children from birth through adolescence
- Neurodevelopmental MRI Database : Includes MRI average templates for different age segments
- NIH Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study of Normal Brain Development : A Pediatric MRI Data Repository: Dataset for a longitudinal MRI-based neuroimaging study of more than 550 healthy, psychiatrically normal children and adolescents, ages newborn to 18 years
- James A. Griffin, Branch Chief
Main Research Areas: Executive function; typical development, atypical development, measurement, and interventions; school readiness (includes short- and long-term outcome studies and economic studies of lifespan cost savings); and primary care and child care parent and child interventions - Melissa Y. Delgado, Ph.D., American Association for the Advancement of Science/Society for Research in Child Development Policy Fellow
- Layla Esposito, Program Director
Main Research Areas: Social and emotional development and child and family processes, human-animal interaction - Courtney L. Gallen, Program Director
Main Research Areas: Technology and digital media; cognitive neuroscience; assessment and intervention; typical development and atypical development - Tracy King, Medical Officer
Main Research Areas: General pediatrics/pediatric primary care; developmental and behavioral pediatrics; transition from pediatric to adult health care - Laura Machlin, Program Director
Main Research Areas: Neurobiological mechanisms; genetic and environmental influences on cognition and behavior; sensitive periods; structural and functional neuroimaging - Kathy Mann Koepke, Program Director
Main Research Areas: Mathematics cognition, reasoning, learning, development, and disorders; reasoning, including animal models and human learning, transfer, typical development, and dysfunction; science learning, including animal models and human cognition, reasoning, learning, typical development, interventions, and disorders - Brett Miller, Program Director
Main Research Areas: Reading, writing, and related learning disabilities; dyslexia/reading disability - Parisa Parsafar, Ph.D., Program Officer
- Virginia C. Salo, Program Director
Main Research Areas: Language development throughout the lifespan; preverbal communication; multilingualism and/or second-language acquisition
Highlights
- CDBB leads NICHD support of research to address the short- and long-term effects of technology and digital media (TDM) in infants, children, and adolescents. Visit the TDM in Childhood and Adolescence page to learn more about this effort and access information and recordings from previous workshops and a fact sheet on digital media and children’s health.
- Addressing the Impacts of Technology and Digital Media on Infants, Children, & Adolescents: NIH collaborated with experts to develop this research agenda to help guide work on addressing the impacts of TDM use and exposure on the development of infants, children, and adolescents.
- Maternal Mental Wellness and Women's Health. Learn about NICHD research efforts related to maternal mental health, including depression and anxiety during and up to 1 year after pregnancy.
- CDBB leads and participates in NICHD’s activities related to COVID-19.
- Safe Return to School For All summarizes current evidence and best practices to help administrators, educators, and families and students—including students with disabilities—return to school safely in the context of COVID-19. The information provided is based on collaborative research from the NICHD-funded Washington University Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center, the University of Missouri-Kansas City Institute of Human Development, and the Kennedy Krieger Institute (Maryland), in collaboration with the Special School District of St. Louis County, Missouri.
- The Executive Summary (PDF 437 KB) of the "Media Exposure and Early Child Development" workshop is now available.
- Branch-funded research was featured in the National Advisory Child Health and Human Development Council on June 7, 2018.
- Preventing Bullying Through Science, Policy, and Practice : CDBB co-sponsored this stakeholder workshop at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. A report, toolkit, and public service announcement-style video are available.
- Systems Approaches to the U.S. Childhood Obesity Epidemic: This panel discussion is part of the Advances in Child Development and Behavior
Research Speaker Series, sponsored by CDBB.
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