News & Updates

NICHD recently launched the NICHD Data and Specimen Hub (DASH), a centralized resource for researchers to store and access de-identified data from NICHD-funded research studies for secondary research use.

NICHD’s Population Dynamics Branch supports research on a range of topics, including the factors that make populations rise and fall, such as fertility and mortality. We checked in with branch chief Rebecca Clark to learn more about the branch’s work.

During National Infertility Awareness Week 2015, Dr. Alan Guttmacher explores the latest research in an article in the Huffington Po

The ATN is a research network devoted to the wellbeing of youth 12 to 24 years old who are HIV-infected or are at risk of infection. The network comprises 14 clinical sites that conduct research and provide adolescents with treatment and support. It is funded by the NICHD, as well as the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institute of Mental Health, two other NIH components.

For HIV-infected women in good immune health, taking a three-drug regimen during pregnancy prevents mother-to-child HIV transmission more effectively than taking one drug during pregnancy, another during labor and two more after giving birth, an international clinical trial has found.

During June—Men’s Health Month—the NICHD focused on encouraging men to make their health a priority.

Contraception allows couples to prevent pregnancy or better control the timing of when they conceive. The NICHD’s Contraceptive Discovery and Development Branch (CDDB) supports research on new contraceptive methods, for women and for men, to meet the diverse needs of individuals throughout their reproductive lives.

On average, men die about five years earlier than women and have higher mortality rates from some cancers and heart disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It’s important, then, that men talk to their health care providers about what types of preventive medical tests and activities they need to stay healthy.

Lisa M. Halvorson, M.D., has been named the new Chief of the Gynecologic Health and Disease Branch (GHDB), effective June 15, 2014, announced Dr. Catherine Spong, M.D., Director of the Division of Extramural Research.

More than 30 percent of young males who had sex with other males and who were subsequently enrolled in a government treatment and research network were found to have high levels of HIV, reported researchers from the National Institutes of Health and other institutions.

More than 65 percent of HIV-infected youth had mild to moderate impairments in fine-motor skills, memory, and other cognitive skills, although not enough to affect day-to-day functioning for most, according to a National Institutes of Health network study.

For children who have been HIV-infected since birth, current anti-HIV drug regimens may protect against the delays in puberty that had been seen in HIV-infected children taking older regimens, according to researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health.

The Division’s 2012 Annual Report highlights the extensive and comprehensive work of DESPR investigators and researchers.

For children who have had HIV-1 infection since birth, the combination drug therapies now used to treat HIV appear to protect against the heart damage seen before combination therapies were available, according to researchers in a National Institutes of Health network study.

Millions of people around the world are affected by STDs and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Although some of these infections have few or minor symptoms, others can cause infertility and cancer, or—in the case of untreated HIV infection—death.

On December 5, 2012, the NICHD released the Scientific Vision: The Next Decade, the culmination of a collaborative process that began in 2011 to identify the most promising scientific opportunities for the Institute and the research community to pursue over the next decade. The Vision statement was made available during the NICHD’s 50th anniversary colloquium.

​Alan Guttmacher, M.D., Director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) announced a number of changes to streamline the institute’s organizational structure and accelerate the exchange of scientific ideas.

A document charting a research course for the many collaborators who share an interest in promoting the science concerning human development through the life span, child health, women's health, and rehabilitation research is now available online.

As the Institute marks its golden anniversary, we look back on the NICHD's early years, its scientific accomplishments, and its future.

​Roughly 20 percent of youth who have had HIV since birth did not know their HIV status when they first became sexually active, according to a study by a National Institutes of Health-supported research network.