Child and Adolescent Health Research Design and Support Unit
(CAHRDS)

Mission

Child and Adolescent Health Research Design and Support (CAHRDS) Unit of the Department of Pediatrics of the University of Louisville School of Medicine exists to improve effectiveness, quality, safety and delivery of health care and promote optimal health for all children in Kentucky. The Unit will support missions of the University of Louisville, School of Medicine, and the Department of Pediatrics through the application of pediatric health services research. We define health services research as follows:

Health services research is a multidisciplinary field of study that aims to understand factors that influence child and adolescent health, which include individuals, families, communities, and organizations. Areas of study may include health behaviors, social determinants of health, access to care, care quality, health care costs, resource utilization, and system structures, processes, and policies.

Values

The faculty and staff of the CAHRDS Unit are guided by values of 1) improving child health and well-being through developing evidence that identifies best practices, 2) pursuing scientific rigor with integrity and accountability, and 3) building collaborative and inclusive University and community partnerships.

Vision

With the mindset of "what is best for children," the CAHRDS Unit expects to produce excellent research that serves the health and well-being of children, their families and communities, and our colleagues who provide health care services to them.

Programs and Studies

Kentucky Antibiotic Awareness Program

Louisville Twin Study

To Request Assistance

Please submit an email to: CAHRDS@louisville.edu  and include the following:

• Name
• division 
• general description of the project
• what services you think you will need and 
• deadline (if applicable).

We look forward to working with you.

Pediatric Clinical Research Unit

(PCRU)

The Pediatric Clinical Research Unit (PCRU) is the region’s first state-of-the-art clinical facility dedicated solely to conducting inpatient and outpatient pediatric clinical pharmacology studies.The primary mission of the PCRU, which opened in May 2002, is three-fold: research (clinical and translational), clinical service, and education/training. Over 1,000 subjects have been enrolled in clinical trials since 2002.

The clinical facilities of the PCRU (approximately 4,000 square feet) are located on the second floor of Norton Children’s Hospital. There are three private inpatient rooms dedicated solely for infants, children and adolescents participating in clinical pharmacology and device research studies.The fully-equipped nursing unit has facilities for phlebotomy and urine collection. The unit also contains a specimen processing laboratory, satellite research pharmacy, patient kitchen and playroom equipped with age-appropriate toys, books and games.The PCRU also has several core laboratories that support the translational science mission of the center. These include the Bioanalytical and Pharmacogenetics Core Facilities within the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology and the Proteomics Core Laboratory within the Department of Medicine.

Why join a clinical research study?

There are frequent questions asked about conducting research in children. Children and Clinical Studies is a website that provides parents and children with the information they need to understand clinical research and make informed decisions about participating in a study. It can also assist primary caregivers in answering patients' questions about research as it provided key concepts of pediatric clinical research. The NIH has also created a video about Children and Clinical Studies that you can view here.

If you want to learn more about current or past clinical trials across the United States, please visit www.ClinicalTrials.gov.

And if you want to learn more about pediatric trials, please visit the Pediatric Trials Network  or NIH Clinical Research Trials and You. 

PCRU studies

These studies are conducted by a multi-disciplinary team within the UofL Department of Pediatrics and represent the collaboration and commitment to Pediatric Clinical Pharmacology research among basic and applied scientists within and external to the Department of Pediatrics. Approximately 150 – 200 subjects are enrolled into PCRU clinical/translational research trials annually.

Children are being enrolled in genotyping and phenotyping studies to evaluate the effect of genetics on drug metabolizing enzymes and key pathogenic mediators of disease.

We are also studying medication for: