Patient Care Programs

Patient care is the hallmark of The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's history and remains the core of its mission. Children's Hospital specialists have made immeasurable contributions to the fields of cardiology, oncology, gastroenterology, plastic surgery and neurosurgery, among others.

A cornerstone of CHOP's excellence in pediatric medicine, and what sets it apart from most other children's hospitals, is its commitment to family-centered care. We strive to provide resources, access, and information to families to fully involve them in the care of their children. In addition to the best medical treatments available anywhere, their children also receive support and services that strive to meet all their needs—developmental and emotional, as well as physical.

CHOP's collaboration with corporations and foundations is often focused on supporting family-centered programs at the Hospital, such as social work, chaplaincy, temporary housing and financial support, palliative care, survivorship, and a variety of quality of life programs (art therapy, education, play, entertainment, and others) for pediatric patients.

Research

The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia seeks to be the preeminent institution in the world dedicated to translational research for children. For more than 80 years, CHOP's "bench to bedside" approach to pediatric healthcare research has pioneered life-saving vaccinations for the whooping cough, influenza, mumps, and the rotavirus and has contributed countless innovations related to pediatric healthcare therapies and interventions.

Today, CHOP's Research Institute and the Ruth and Tristram Colket, Jr. Translational Research Building house dozens of collaborative centers focused on turning basic science discoveries into better treatments and cures for childhood cancer, diabetes, autism, asthma, sickle cell and many other diseases and conditions. CHOP researchers are also unlocking the genetic causes of disease, preventing childhood injuries, developing better health-information technologies, conducting health policy research, and more.

Children's Hospital has established ten Centers of Emphasis: Applied Genomics, Autism Research, Biomedical Informatics, Cellular and Molecular Therapeutics, Childhood Cancer Research, Developmental Biology and Pediatric Disorders, Injury Research and Prevention, Mitochondrial and Epigenomic Medicine, Pediatric Clinical Effectiveness, and PolicyLab. These centers were established to target resources to areas of research that will have the greatest impact on the development of therapies, interventions to prevent injury and cures for childhood disease.

Ongoing investments from like-minded corporations and foundations are critical to CHOP's vision of saving and improving the lives of children through scientific investigation.