Our Mission 

At the Arkansas Children's Hospital Research Institute (ACHRI), our mission is to improve children's health, development and well-being through high quality research.

OUR VISION

Our vision is to be a leader in cutting-edge research that improves the health and well-being of children and their families.

In support of our vision, we aim to

• Recruit and retain highly qualified scientists;
• Provide an exceptional environment for research;
• Seek and obtain appropriate funding for research;
• Manage and leverage resources to succeed in our mission;
• Support transfer of discoveries to industry to create jobs in Arkansas;
• Form productive collaborations with other institutions, especially those in Arkansas;
• Promote a strong research capability to support recruitment of the best possible physicians for the campus; and
• Serve as a key learning laboratory for various trainees to learn the disciplines and methodologies of research.

History

ACHRI is a not-for-profit corporation owned by Arkansas Children's Hospital (ACH). ACH is a full-service state-of-the-art medical facility, offering a complete array of clinical services ranging from well-baby care to the medical management of critically ill children requiring such sophisticated procedures as heart or kidney transplantation and extra corporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). ACH is a teaching hospital of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), the only medical school in Arkansas. It is dedicated to offering medical services to all children regardless of their race, religion, or ability to pay, medical and community education, and research. Essentially, all the physicians officed on the ACH campus are UAMS faculty.

Research is a major component of the missions of both UAMS and ACH. ACHRI was created to provide a research environment on the ACH campus to meet the needs of the UAMS faculty. The ACH Board of Trustees established ACHRI in 1989. By 1991, an agreement between ACH and UAMS was reached that combined the strengths of these two major Arkansas institutions to enhance the capability of ACHRI. ACHRI officially opened in May of 1992. It is located one block south of the main hospital building. ACHRI's total research grant base in 1997 was $7.5 million. Today its researchers bring in over $21 million yearly in grants and contracts from federal and private agencies and industry and from philanthropic donations and professional organizations.