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.

• Physicians and parents treating autistic children with vitamin and mineral supplements have anecdotally reported evidence of significant improvements in speech and behavior in some (but not all) of these children. While there is no scientifically established evidence to support these anecdotal reports, there is also no equivalent evidence to the contrary. Dr. Jill James, Director of the Autism Metabolic Genomics Laboratory, is conducting a study to establish whether or not nutritional supplementation is an effective intervention in these children.
  
  
• 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.
  
  
• Middle school students in the Delta will have the opportunity to work in new one-acre gardens with greenhouses thanks to a cooperative agreement between the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Research Institute and the USDA Agricultural Research Service’s (ARS) Delta Obesity Prevention Research Unit. With $1.8 million from ARS, ACHRI researchers led by Judith Weber, PhD, RD, will study how building new gardens — complete with greenhouses, budding crops and composting areas — can help adolescents cultivate green thumbs, log more physical activity, eat healthier and connect with their schools.