UC Network on Child Health, Poverty, and Public Policy
The goal of this UCOP-funded pilot program on Child Health,
Poverty and Public Policy is to lay the foundation for a UC-wide
network of scholars who are committed to rigorous cross-training
in multiple disciplinary-specific skills and “languages” that are
necessary to produce a comprehensive understanding of the
mechanisms by which health and nutrition programs (e.g. Medicaid,
SNAP, WIC) improve poor children’s life chances. Our
activities will facilitate knowledge exchange between economists,
psychologists, MD/PHD’s, sociologists, epidemiologists,
nutritional scientists and others, with the goal of generating
innovative research, and training graduate students to do
research that speaks across fields. In addition to building
two-way relationships across campuses and fields, we aim to
deepen connections between UC researchers and policymakers.
The network is composed of nationally recognized and emerging
experts on child health and public policy, who are committed to
advancing knowledge through cross-disciplinary approaches. In
addition to an extensive group of affiliates, each college has a
site lead that provides outreach to their campus colleagues and
advisory input.
In November 2019, the UC Network on Child Health, Poverty and
Public Policy requested proposals from graduate students for its
2019-2020 Small Grants Competition. The network seeks to fund
research that will expand our understanding of the causes and
consequences of child health disparities, and the effectiveness
of related interventions. The goal of this program is to
fund proposals that display sound research design and have the
potential for high impact. Learn more about the selected
students below.
Elisa Ugarte, a doctoral candidate in Human Ecology, and Lisa
Johnson, a doctoral candidate in Developmental Psychology,
recently published an article in New Directions for Child and
Adolescent Development. Ugarte and Johnson received a training
grant from the UC Network for Child
Health, poverty, and Public Policy for this research.
Marianne Page, professor of economics at UC Davis, will lead a
team of experts from UC Davis, UC Berkeley, UC Irvine, UCLA, UC
Santa Barbara and UCSF to shift from fragmented,
discipline-specific approaches of studying childhood disparities
to a multidisciplinary, comprehensive examination of the issue.
The project goal is to understand how health and nutrition
programs affect the health and development of disadvantaged
children, as well as build relationships with policymakers.
