Office of Epidemiology and Research (OER)

We conduct and fund research that scientists, medical professionals, and policy makers use to advance the health and well-being of Maternal and Child Health (MCH) populations.

Our office has two divisions:

Division of Epidemiology (DOE)

• Funds and directs the National Survey of Children’s Health
• Provides training and resources to build the skills of data users and MCH epidemiologists

Division of Research (DOR)

• Funds and oversees research in maternal and child health with a special focus on autism
• Sets out Strategic Research Issues guidance for existing and potential grantees that defines what we want to accomplish through our funded research

Key Accomplishments

Broadly, we advance MCH population health through:

Child health surveys

• Funding and directing the National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH), an annual household survey of children’s health and well-being. The NSCH provides national- and state-level data on a variety of key child health indicators, including:
  • Medical home access
  • Presence and impact of special health care needs
  • Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)
  • Healthy and Ready to Learn
• Partnering with the U.S. Census Bureau to sponsor content on the Household Pulse Survey. This monitors the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children's mental health.
• Funding and designing the NSCH Longitudinal Cohort to follow up with 2018-2019 NSCH respondents. This will provide publicly available data on longer-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on U.S. children and their families.

Building MCH epidemiological capacity

• Graduate Student Epidemiology Program (GSEP)
• Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Epidemiology Training Course
• Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Epidemiology Doctoral Training
• Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Epidemiology Conference
• Data Resource Center for Child and Adolescent Health
• Strengthen the Evidence for Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Programs

Funding research

In addition to our NSCH, we have funded over 400 awardees since 2000 through:

• Research Networks
• Field-Initiated Innovation Research Studies (FIRST)
• Secondary Data Analysis Research Studies (SDAR)
• Single Investigator Innovation Program (SIIP)

Resulting in:

• Over 2,000 peer-reviewed research journal publications

In Fiscal Year 2024, our Research Network and Single Investigator Innovation Program grantees have:

• Distributed 8 clinical guidelines to transform care
• Conducted over 280 studies across 287 research sites
• Enrolled more than 2 million individuals in primary and secondary research

Supporting Researchers

Consider joining our Engaging Research Innovation and Challenges (EnRICH) webinar series which:

• Provides a national forum for researchers to discuss new solutions to maternal and child health research and practice
• Provides guidance on how to improve both the grant-writing and research process and respond to emerging issues
• Engages an average of more than 200 participants from the fields of public health, medicine, nursing, epidemiology, nutrition, psychology, social work, and special education