Hassenfeld Child Health Innovation Institute of Brown University
About the Hassenfeld Child Health Innovation Institute
Hasbro Children’s Hospital is a collaborator in Brown University’s Hassenfeld Child Health Innovation Institute.
Made possible by a gift from the family of Alan Hassenfeld, the retired chairman and CEO of Hasbro Inc., the institute is committed to having a transformative impact on the health of children, including targeting autism, asthma, obesity and other urgent problems affecting children.
Led by The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and Brown’s School of Public Health, the institute’s other key collaborator is Women & Infants Hospital. Researchers from other institutions, such as Lifespan’s Bradley Hospital, are also partners.
The institute’s three initial initiatives are:
- Healthy weight, nutrition and physical fitness
- Autism (a precision medicine approach)
- Childhood asthma research innovation
Hasbro Children’s Hospital pediatrician-in-chief Phyllis Dennery, MD, the Sylvia K. Hassenfeld professor and chair of pediatrics at Brown, serves as a member of the institute’s executive committee, which will help lead the institute’s work.
“These initiatives are at the heart of pediatric health,” Dennery said. “We have seen epidemics in all three areas and can attribute these in part to environmental factors facing vulnerable children and families. Clearly, the issues we have identified can be better addressed through targeted therapies and interventions. The institute will seamlessly coordinate our collective system-wide efforts to address these challenges.”
Hasbro Inc., under the Hassenfeld family’s leadership, served as a lead donor and catalyst for a community fundraising campaign that established Hasbro Children’s Hospital more than two decades ago.