The Health Outcomes and Policy Effects (HOPE) Laboratory at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles is laying the groundwork to change paradigms in health outcomes, pain management and opioid prescribing for children. Our research focuses on using diverse data sources to create new knowledge that directly translates to hospital and policy-level interventions to improve pediatric health outcomes.
Research Focus
- Postoperative pain management in children
- Opioid-sparing strategies for infants, children and teens undergoing surgery
- Surgical clinical outcomes
- Pharmacoepidemiology
Research Overview
The HOPE Lab focuses on three primary areas:
- Health Services Research: We work with several large administrative and clinical datasets, including the Pediatric Health Information System (PHIS), Kids’ Inpatient Database (KID) and the Pediatric National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP Peds), placing our group in the unique position to answer meaningful clinical questions using diverse data resources.
- Team Science: We partner with the Western Pediatric Surgical Research Consortium (WPSRC) to conduct multi-institutional research among 10 freestanding children’s hospitals in the Western United States. Locally, we frequently collaborate with faculty within USC’s Department of Population and Public Health Sciences, USC’s Health Emotion and Addiction (HEAL) Lab, the USC Institute for Addiction Science and the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics.
- Clinical Outcomes Research: We are running several clinical projects at CHLA to better understand and reduce the risks associated with opioid use for infants, children and adolescents. Studies include prospective, longitudinal survey studies, qualitative analysis of patient and parent focus groups and randomized controlled trials. Our findings contribute to national efforts to expand principles of opioid stewardship in clinical practice.
Research Funding Sources
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development; National Institutes of Health (R01HD105656)
USC Institute for Addiction Science Early-Career Research Scientist Pilot Grant
Southern California Center for Translational Science Institute (UL1TR001855)
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development; National Institutes of Health Loan Repayment Program
