Advances in pediatric medicine begin with a vision for a future in which all children can grow up to be healthy adults. Arkansas Children's Hospital Research Institute (ACHRI) researchers share this common vision and have devoted their lives to making this vision a reality. At ACHRI, children are at the center of everything that we do.

Researchers at ACHRI are addressing a broad spectrum of children’s health concerns, such as the biological mechanisms underlying birth defects; diabetes-related complications; and numerous childhood diseases, including asthma and cancer. Research expertise is diverse, ranging from basic science to clinical and community-based research. Researchers are improving the health of children, families, and their communities through clinical, basic science, health promotion, health outcomes, health services, and prevention research.  

ACHRI was established in 1989 to provide a biomedical research environment for the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) faculty conducting research on the Arkansas Children’s Hospital campus. A majority of ACHRI’s research community are faculty of the UAMS College of Medicine Department of Pediatrics. ACHRI is a not-for-profit corporation owned by ACH.

• Researchers at ACHRI recently received a five-year $2 million NIH grant to determine if some children are at higher risk for toxicity associated with acetaminophen. The study will track patients who have been prescribed therapeutic doses of the over-the-counter drug by physicians as a part of standard inpatient treatment at six US hospitals. Data from these patients will be compared with data from diagnosed cases of acetaminophen toxicity that are seen in emergency rooms at the same sites. The research could lead to a profile of biomarkers that would designate some children as facing a higher risk for acetaminophen toxicity.
  
  
• For children with a severe peanut allergy, inadvertent exposure to peanuts is always a possibility, and the fear of a fatal or near fatal reaction is always present. Read about a child participating in a clinical study on a peanut allergy treatment that Dr. Stacie Jones and her colleagues are conducting. 
  
  
• Dr. Kartik Shankar, a researcher at the Arkansas Children’s Nutrition Center (ACNC), was recently awarded a five-year, $1.6 million grant recently awarded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to examine how a mother’s weight at conception may predispose her child to a life of obesity. Dr. Shankar and his fellow ACNC scientists are interested in finding out if the actions of the hormone insulin in a newborn are different if his mother is overweight. The researchers will also look at whether increased physical activity in overweight pregnant women might reduce the risk of obesity in their babies.