The New York University Child Study Center (CSC) was founded in 1997 at Bellevue Hospital Center. The CSC was established with a mission to improve the treatment of child psychiatric disorders by:
- Eliminating the stigma of being or having a child with a psychiatric disorder
- Conducting research and disseminating scientific findings to improve the practices of professionals serving children
- Influencing child-related public policy
Initially, the Center was devoted to scientific research in the field of child and adolescent psychiatry while its clinicians practiced under the Bellevue Department of Psychiatry umbrella. In 1998, the Center moved to its current site at 577 First Avenue, effectively housing clinicians and researchers under one roof. Over the last ten years, the Center established offices in five locations in New York City, Rockland County and Long Island. Another was recently opened in Hackensack, N.J.
In 2006, the CSC was named the second independent Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in the nation and was designated as the only New York State Center of Excellence in Mental Health. Plans are now underway to consolidate the majority of CSC services and research under one roof in a new 120,000 square-foot building on First Avenue between 25th and 26th Streets in New York City.
The Child Study Center is built around a group of research Institutes with associated clinical arms, a structure that allows recruitment of patients for research studies and then provides "real-world" testing for successful controlled-environment findings. These research initiatives have advanced understanding of the causes and treatments of child and adolescent psychiatric disorders.
Over the past ten years, the research results of the Child Study Center have been disseminated through more than 400 peer-reviewed journal articles and thousands of presentations at national and international scientific meetings. Starting in 1998 with a total research portfolio of under $1 million with all research focused on ADHD, the Child Study Center currently has $40 million in research grants in seven different areas. Newly established relationships with the Nathan Kline Institute (NKI) and the Rockland Children's Psychiatric Center have greatly expanded the Center's research capability.
In addition to the Child Study Center's research and clinical programs, its Institutes, in ongoing collaboration with community resources, have identified unmet psychological needs of children and their families and established innovative new services. Over the last few years, CSC has developed:
- Asperger Institute, established in 2006, which provides research, clinical and educational programs for adolescents with Asperger Syndrome
- HOPE (Harris Obesity Prevention Effort), established in 2007, an interdisciplinary obesity prevention effort that focuses on family and school intervention with urban, ethnic minority youth
- STEPS (Screen, Test, Evaluate to Prevent Suicide), established in 2007, a program for high school students that utilizes state-of-the-art internet-based self-help and assessment technology
The Child Study Center also offers advanced training to prepare the next generation of mental health professionals to help ensure that tomorrow's children will continue to benefit from advanced clinical care and effective treatments that are the result of scientific research. Outreach programs translate research into everyday skills for parents and educators, and into practical applications for pediatricians and mental health professionals around the country.
Child Study Center at-a-glance
- After an initial home at Bellevue Hospital Center, the First Avenue facility opened in the spring of 1998
- Six locations featuring over 35,000 square-feet of family-friendly clinical facilities and 30,000 square feet of research facilities.
- Seven endowed faculty chairs
- $19.5 million in endowment funding
- Fifty current research programs with federal, foundation, and corporate support
- Research focused on Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder; violence prevention; depression; anxiety and mood disorders; Tourette and movement disorders; trauma, stress, and bereavement; autism; Asperger Syndrome; and pediatric neuroscience
- Post-graduate training and continuing medical education in child and adolescent psychiatry and psychology
- An award-winning website - AboutOurKids.org
The Child Study Center is the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry within the NYU School of Medicine.
NYU School of Medicine
- Founded in 1841
- Approximately 4,488 faculty members
- Annual enrollment of more than 680 students in the M.D. program; 69 M.D.-Ph.D. candidates; 1055 house staff members (resident physicians) and fellows
- Students receive clinical training at NYU Hospitals Center (Tisch Hospital; Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine; and NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases), the Department of Veterans Affairs New York Harbor Health Care System; and Bellevue Hospital Center, America's oldest and most renowned public hospital
- Faculty members are attending physicians at Tisch Hospital, Rusk Institute, Bellevue Hospital Center, and Hospital for Joint Diseases
