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PGNB serves as the focal point for NICHD extramural research in pediatric endocrinology nutrition science, childhood obesity and their impact on health promotion and disease prevention throughout the life course. PGNB also leads the coordination for NICHD training in child health research. The branch supports research to understand the relevant biological systems and factors that influence mechanisms of physical and neurological development, beginning in utero and extending through the lifespan, as well as the role and impact of nutritional status in these systems. Furthermore, PGNB supports translational, systems-based research, implementation science, and external contextual factors in the application of nutrition science, behavioral science, medical science, and to develop interventions for promoting health and mitigating disease during critical periods in human development.
Pediatric Endocrinology and Bone Health: supports basic, translational, and clinical research in pediatric endocrinology and bone health. Priority areas include the hypothalamic-pituitary axis as it relates to the hormonal regulation of gonadal function, linear growth, adrenal and thyroid glands during childhood. The Branch encourages studies of the pathogenesis and treatment of primary glandular failure, including premature gonadal failure in childhood and adolescence. The Branch also supports basic research on hypothalamic releasing factors, particularly as these factors influence pubertal timing and tempo, appetite regulation, and normal linear growth. Both basic and clinical studies addressing the etiology and therapy of growth retardation within various environmental and disease contexts are also supported. The Branch supports initiatives that elucidate complex molecular processes contributing to skeletal growth and acquisition, including projects that focus on bone-muscle-fat interactions related to effects on bone health and peak bone mass, and the identification of risk factors for bone fragility, especially in children with chronic illness. Recently, focus has been on the identification and management of hypogonadal adolescents with decreased bone mineralization, who are at increased risk for fracture. This remains an unmet need in the transition from adolescence to young adulthood.
Childhood Obesity: The branch supports projects that study the biological, behavioral, environmental, and population-level factors that shape obesity risk from infancy through adolescence, including both prevention and treatment research. Areas of focus include early predictors and sensitive periods of risk; eating, physical activity, sleep, stress, screen use, and self-regulation; neurodevelopmental and psychosocial mechanisms; parenting practices; dissemination and implementation of evidence-based approaches; and the impact of large-scale programs on weight-related behaviors and health outcomes.
Nutrition Science: Supports research that informs dietary recommendations to promote health and prevent disease in pediatric populations. Key focus areas include: nutritional requirements for preterm and growth restricted infants; the role of breastfeeding and human milk in optimal infant nutrition; relationships between maternal nutrition and fetal/neonatal development; infant, child, and adolescent nutrition interventions supporting growth and healthy development; effects of nutrition on adolescent growth, puberty onset, and childhood obesity; and translational molecular and biochemical aspects of nutrition as they relate to infant growth and development.
Implementation Science and Community Engagement: Nutrition Interventions for Infant, Child, and Adolescent Growth: Supports nutrition studies that examine how physical activity, body composition, and other social, cultural, and environmental factors that influence health outcomes, across infancy, childhood, and adolescence. The program encourages dissemination and implementation science, community-based participatory research, and mixed-methods approaches to develop, adapt, test, and scale evidence-based interventions in domestic, and global settings. Special emphasis is placed on multi-level strategies that promote healthy lifestyles, improve assessable uptake of effective interventions, and improve outcomes in child and adolescent health.
Child Health Research Career Development Award (CHRCDA) Program: Supports pediatrician-scientists during their junior faculty years, with a focus on mentored projects to train clinicians in basic science and novel technologies to stimulate innovative research in pediatrics and provide a foundation for pursuit of an academic career.
Pediatric Scientist Development Program: K12 career-development program for promising pediatrician-scientists during their fellowship training years; supports training clinicians in basic science to stimulate innovative research in pediatrics and to provide junior investigators with a foundation to pursue academic career goals.
Nutrition for Precision Health (NPH) Program: PGNB leads NICHD's activities on this NIH-wide program, which is supported through the NIH Common Fund. The program seeks to develop algorithms that predict individual responses to food and dietary patterns by applying artificial intelligence, microbiome research, and other advances to the large, diverse participant group of the All of Us research program.
Bone Mineral Density in Childhood Study (BMDCS) (Historical/For Reference Only): This NICHD multicenter (5 centers and Data Coordinating center) contract (2001-2011) offered an unprecedented opportunity to identify predictors of the timing and magnitude of peak bone mass, a major determinant of osteoporosis in later adulthood. BMDCS investigators generated longitudinal age and sex-based reference curves for bone accrual and linear growth velocity. The reference curves generated by this carefully executed study provided the gold standard for normal bone mineral density and bone accrual velocity according to age and sex. Comparable to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention growth curves for children and adolescents, the BMDCS reference curves for bone mineral density, bone accrual, and linear growth velocities serve as a valuable tool for both clinicians and investigators. Data are available in NICHD’s Data and Specimen Hub (DASH).
Fels Longitudinal Study: This large study began in 1929 to evaluate human growth and body composition changes over the lifespan. NICHD funded data collection on more than 1,400 individuals enrolled at birth. The North American Standard Tables of Height and Weight and other standards of bone age and skeletal development used Fels data and are in widespread use in the United States and abroad.
National Collaborative on Childhood Obesity Research (NCCOR): This collaborative effort focuses on accelerating progress to reduce childhood obesity in America, especially among high-risk populations and communities. NCCOR provides a library of internal resources as well as online tools such as the Measures Registry, the Catalogue of Surveillance Systems, and the Youth Compendium of Physical Activities, which may be useful for investigators studying childhood obesity. NICHD is an NCCOR member and has contributed to the development of these materials.
Layla Esposito, Ph.D., Program Officer Main Research Areas: Behavioral, psychosocial, and environmental determinants of childhood obesity; multilevel approaches to childhood obesity prevention and treatment from infancy through adolescence
Sharon Ross, Ph.D., M.P.H. Program Officer Main Research Areas: Role of human milk components, including oligosaccharides and extracellular vesicle cargo, in infant growth and development; mechanisms linking diet and microbiome/microbial metabolites to maternal and infant health and disease; influence of nutrition on gene regulation/epigenetics in early life outcomes and chronic disease; relationships between diet and adiposity in child health and disease.
Janelle Walker, Ph.D., M.S., Program Officer Main Research Areas: Physical activity, body composition; social, cultural, and environmental factors that influence health outcomes, across infancy, childhood, and adolescence; dissemination and implementation science; community-based participatory research; and mixed-methods approaches to develop, adapt, test, and scale evidence-based interventions in domestic and global settings.
Karen Winer, M.D., Medical Officer Main Research Areas: Pediatric endocrinology including disorders of linear growth, pubertal timing, and tempo; disorders of the gonads and adrenal, pituitary, and thyroid glands; bone health and osteoporosis prevention including determinants of peak bone mass, genetic disorders of skeletal growth, and bone accrual; metabolic programming and metabolic syndrome leading to type 2 diabetes in children.
BEGIN Project Webinar Series. In early 2021, PGNB sponsored a series of meetings to examine the ecology of human milk and its functional implications for both lactating parent and infant. Visit the meeting page to access recordings of all five working group discussions.
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