Our Research Investments

We invest broadly in maternal and child health research. Our Strategic Research Issues define what we want to accomplish through our funded research.

Recent funding

MCHB awarded funding through 3 different types of research projects in 2024 and through 4 different types of research projects in 2023.

Our main MCHB research investments

We award funding for these research programs:

• Field-Initiated Innovation Research Studies (FIRST)
  These studies collect new data and tests new intervention strategies.
• Single Investigator Innovation Program (SIIP)
  These studies focus on children with autism.
• Maternal health research collaborative for minority-serving institutions
  This research collaborative supports minority-serving institutions of higher learning to study the disparities in maternal health outcomes and methods for addressing them. 
• Research networks
  These research networks study mother and child health trends. Their findings improve health through informing policies and practices. 
• Secondary Data Analysis Research Studies (SDAR)
  SDAR supports research focused on maternal and child health (MCH) that only uses existing national databases and records that are publicly available.

Not all projects are competed annually. 
 

We conducts these research studies ourselves:

• National Survey of Children's Health
  We fund and direct the only survey on children's health and well-being that collects data at the national and state levels.  We analyze the data.  We make this data available so that policymakers, researchers, and others can use it to improve the lives of children and their families.
• National Survey of Children’s Health – Longitudinal Cohort
  The NSCH-LC is an extension of the annual National Survey of Children's Health. It collects information about the health and well-being of children and young adults, aged 3 to 24 years, in the United States. It focuses on the long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
   

More information

News & events

• Our EnRICH webinar series happens about four times a year. They give researchers and practitioners a chance to share new solutions to current challenges in applied and translational maternal and child health research and practice. Each event features one or more experts in the field.
   
• Stay up to date with the MCHB Division of Research. Sign up for the MCHB Research Listserv for alerts about grants, research, partnerships, and EnRICH webinars.
   
• Learn about the history of our research program.

Jobs

Find open positions with HRSA.

Contact us

Need more information, or have a specific question? Contact MCHBinfo@hrsa.gov