Home  > Advocacy  > Parenting Support Programs  > International Child Health

Advocacy

The Yale Program in International Child Health

With the launching of the Yale Program in International Child Health in September 2002, the Department of Pediatrics has demonstrated a commitment to improving the health of children worldwide. This program coordinates and supports activities that mirror the three missions of the Department and Medical School (research, education, and clinical care), but with a specific focus on International Health. Faculty participants in the Yale Program sponsor collaborative research projects with international colleagues, support international clinical electives at overseas health care centers, and provide clinical care for international adoptees and refugees. Below is an outline of the current status of these major activities:

Research Examples of ongoing collaborations between members of the Department and international colleagues include:

These collaborative research projects provide Yale faculty members with the opportunity to share their expertise with colleagues from developing countries, thus building the capacity of these investigators and their institutions to conduct high quality research. Each of these collaborative projects seeks to have a direct impact on the health of children worldwide, which is central to the mission of Yale's Department of Pediatrics.

Education
The goal of the educational component of the Program is to provide Pediatric Physicians-in-Training with opportunities to experience health care delivery and/or clinical research abroad. Most electives are coordinated through the Yale-Johnson & Johnson International Health Scholars Program. Below is a list of Pediatric and combined Medicine-Pediatrics housestaff who have traveled internationally in the past 4 years:

Patient care
The Yale International Adoption Clinic continues to provide comprehensive pre- and post-adoption evaluations of children adopted from foreign orphanages or foster homes. Carol Weitzman MD, Director of the clinic, is currently engaged in prospective clinical research studies aimed at characterizing the developmental progress of children post adoption. This work involves close coordination with other specialists from within Yale, as well as adoption agencies from throughout the country.

The Yale Program in International Child Health is uniquely suited to providing state of the art research, education, and patient care. Yale Pediatric faculty continue to make major contributions to improving child health worldwide, and a primary objective of the Program is to continue this legacy of caring for the world's most vulnerable populations.

For more information about International Child Health at Yale, contact Michael Cappello MD (michael.cappello@yale.edu)