Arkansas Children’s Research Institute and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences have received a five-year, $7.2 million grant to continue their participation in the nationwide HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study.
The grant comes from the National Institutes of Health.
The study will recruit pregnant women and follow them and their children for at least 10 years. Its findings will provide a template of normative neurodevelopment and a better understanding of how prenatal and perinatal experiences impact brain and behavioral development, according to a news release. It also said the research could be leveraged for urgent health needs, such as the current impact of the pandemic on children’s development or future health and environmental crises.
The study involves 25 academic centers across the country. In Arkansas, the work will be led by Xiawei Ou, a professor of radiology and pediatrics at UAMS; Ashley Acheson, an associate professor of psychiatry at UAMS; and Lorraine McKelvey, a professor of family and preventive medicine and pediatrics at UAMS.
Acheson said in the release, “We see the HBCD Study as having the potential to substantially improve our understanding of how early life experiences influence brain, cognitive and emotional development. Ultimately, we expect this increased knowledge to lead to interventions to help improve outcomes for vulnerable children and their families.”
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