The Johns Hopkins University Women's and Children's Health Policy Center will convene a one-day invitational meeting of state maternal and child health leaders working in the public sector and national experts in child health research to explore venues for strengthening science-based practice and policy with respect to children's health through greater integration with research efforts. The specific objectives of the conferences are to: 1. promote new collaborations between public health maternal and child health leaders at the state level and child health researchers; 2. promote new and strengthen existing collaborations among researchers interested in the study of pediatric populations; 3. engage in focused discussion of specific contemporary challenges in child health research, practice, and policy as they related to patient management, community interventions, research, practice, and systems, structures, and organization of services on a population basis; and to 4. identify barriers to translating research into practice and develop strategies for overcoming these barriers. Represented on the meeting's Steering Committee are the Association of Teachers of Maternal and Child Health, the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs, the Association for Health Services Research, the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. A set of contemporary issues will be addressed in both plenary presentations of the morning session, and in afternoon breakout groups. The beginning of the meeting will feature plenary presentations that outline the foundation for conference discussions, and focus on past successes and future opportunities in collaborative research to solve problems and questions faced by program directors and state policy- makers. Research traditions and agency perspectives on the issues will be featured. The views of state MCH directors likewise will be prominent throughout, particularly with respect to current urgent questions faced in MCH practice at the state level, as well as barriers encountered in accessing and utilizing research in policy and program development. At the conclusion of the meeting, a series of recommendations will be put forward by participants regarding specific actions that, if implemented will support structures and processes to strengthen and nourish connections between child health research, programing, and policy. Based on the WCHPC's successful experience related to translation and dissemination of scholarly material to reach policymakers and the public health professionals in practice, we propose preparing a set of concurrent and focused products, each with a targeted audience. These include: 1) two journal articles one targeted to the MHC research, policy and practice audience, and the other to child health services researchers; 2) two policy research briefs. Thee articles and briefs might focus on 1) barriers to successful collaboration among child health researchers and state MHC leaders and strategies to overcome these barriers as identified as identified during the conference; and 2) a historical approach to solving population-based child health problems highlighting the current """"""""disconnect"""""""" between practitioners and researchers.
