Kao-Ping Chua Named Director of Renowned Child Health Research Center
Kao-Ping Chua has been selected to lead the Susan B. Meister Child Health Evaluation and Research Center (CHEAR) at the Medical School, stepping into the role previously held by interim director Jeremy Adler since July 2023.
Currently, Chua holds the title of Marilyn Fisher Blanch Research Professor of Child Health Policy and serves as an associate professor in both pediatrics at the Medical School and health management and policy at the School of Public Health.
In his new position, Chua aims to foster the growth and development of fellow CHEAR faculty members.
Reflecting on his journey, Chua remarked, “As a junior faculty member, I spent a lot of time building up my own career, meeting milestones I was supposed to meet and proving that I belonged,” acknowledging his tenure at U-M since 2017. “Now that I have had some success, I feel like it’s time for me to give back to CHEAR by supporting its faculty as much as I can.”
“I believe that by supporting their careers and augmenting their research, I can make more of an impact on the world and for child health than I could if I just continued doing my own research,” he added.
CHEAR is recognized as one of the largest pediatric health services research centers in the United States, comprising 17 investigators and over 30 staff members. The center is dedicated to enhancing the health and well-being of children, adolescents, and families through rigorous research and education.
Chua envisions expanding CHEAR’s influence, stating, “I’d like CHEAR to be a household name, not just in the pediatric health services research world but also in the greater health services research world. I’d like to be able to introduce myself to an adult-focused researcher at a conference and have them know that CHEAR does good research, even if they don’t know exactly what we do.”
To boost CHEAR’s national profile, Chua plans to improve external communications, strengthen its social media presence, and standardize the dissemination of research findings to the media.
Chua emphasizes the need for unified faculty efforts in establishing key initiatives, asserting, “It also means that we should really come together as a faculty and identify key core initiatives that we become known for, whether they’re new or existing initiatives. It’s really important that centers have those kinds of initiatives, so they can help brand themselves.”
Chua is an alumnus of Vanderbilt University, where he earned his undergraduate degree in neuroscience. He later obtained his medical degree from Washington University in St. Louis, followed by a pediatrics residency at Boston Children’s Hospital and Boston Medical Center. In 2015, he earned a Ph.D. in health policy from Harvard University.
His research, funded by the National Institutes of Health, addresses critical issues such as the U.S. opioid epidemic, healthcare affordability, the reduction of low-value care, and emerging trends in pediatric health care utilization.
Chua’s work has been featured in leading journals like NEJM, JAMA, BMJ, JAMA Internal Medicine, JAMA Pediatrics, and Pediatrics, as well as covered by The New York Times, CNN, and NPR. His accolades include the 2017 Academic Pediatric Association Young Investigator Award and the 2024 Nemours Child Health Services Research Award.
