The newly established Center for Child Health Services Research, housed within The Mindich Child Health and Development Institute Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, serves as a pioneering hub for investigating pediatric healthcare systems. Our mission is to catalyze interdisciplinary collaboration, foster innovation, and drive impactful research within and beyond our institution. In partnership with various departments, institutes, and governmental agencies, we focus on enhancing the quality, efficiency, and equity of healthcare services for children. Our core areas of expertise include provider dynamics, payment systems, policy analysis, healthcare value assessment, and improving access for underserved populations. As the premier child health services research center on the eastern seaboard, we are dedicated to leveraging Mount Sinai's existing strengths in healthcare research and data analytics while cultivating a vibrant network of diverse experts. From clinicians to health economists, epidemiologists, and data scientists, our collective goal is to propel pediatric healthcare forward, ensuring the well-being of all children.
Key Areas of Focus
Providers, Payers, and Policy
The Center aims to transform the healthcare landscape by examining and enhancing the roles of healthcare providers, optimizing payer strategies, and influencing policy development.
Value and Effectiveness
The Center strives to identify innovative approaches that maximize the value of healthcare services while ensuring their effectiveness for pediatric patients.
Access and Equity
The Center is committed to working diligently to eliminate barriers and disparities in healthcare access, particularly among vulnerable populations.
Meet the Team
Brett R. Anderson, MD, MBA, MS
Director, Center for Child Health Services Research
Dr. Anderson is a pediatric cardiologist and Associate Professor, Pediatrics, and Population Health Science and Policy. She is an NIH-funded health services researcher who blends her medical, business, and statistical backgrounds to bring together interdisciplinary investigators and data for the purposes of identifying modifiable drivers of outcomes, value, and health inequities, with a particular focus on children with cardiac disease. She has examined the effects of provider characteristics, surgical timing, social determinants of health, and various measures of health care access. She is the founder and Director of the New York State Congenital Heart Surgery Collaborative for Longitudinal Outcomes and Utilization of Resources (CHS-COLOUR), an interdisciplinary collaborative that brings together leadership and data from all congenital heart surgical centers in New York State, health services researchers, and the Department of Health, to examine etiologies of health inequities and to plan for programmatic interventions.
Analytics Team
Sarah Crook, PhD
Director of Analytics
Dr. Crook is Assistant Professor, Population Health Science and Policy. She serves as the Director of Analytics for the Center for Child Health Services Research, with expertise in biostatistics, epidemiology, and health services research. Dr. Crook earned both her BS in Human Physiology and MS in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from the University of Leeds, United Kingdom. She then completed her PhD in Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Zurich and a training fellowship in Guidelines Methodology with Cochrane and the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence in the United Kingdom. She specializes in large data analytics, including linkage of clinical registry, administrative data, and data on social determinants of health.
Pengfei Jiang, MS
Senior Data Analyst
Mr. Jiang is the Senior Data Analyst for the Center for Child Health Services Research. He plays a pivotal role in cultivating a dynamic and efficient data environment for the Center. He oversees the design and management of the data infrastructure while also offering analytic support to the faculty within the Center. He completed an undergraduate degree in mathematics and economics at UCLA, a masters in biostatistics at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. He is currently undertaking a DrPH at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Current Projects
CHS-COLOUR
To explore long-term outcomes, expenditures, and potential mechanisms underlying health inequities, the New York Congenital Heart Surgeons Collaborative for Longitudinal Outcomes and Utilization of Resources (CHS-COLOUR) works with 10 of the 11 New York congenital heart surgical centers and the State Department of Health. We seek to link clinical congenital heart surgical registry data with longitudinal state Medicaid data to build a scalable resource to assess longitudinal outcomes and resource requirements; generate a methodology for investigations of long-term outcomes and value; and assess constructs of access to care as modifiable mediators of social determinants of health.
News and Events
September 18, 2023
Healio | Cardiology Today
"Medication Burden Persists for Years After Pediatric Heart Surgery."
Recent Publications
Woo JL, Nash KA, Dragan K, Crook S, Neidell M, Cook S, Hannan EL, Jacobs M, Goldstone AB, Petit CJ, Vincent R, Walsh-Spoonhower K, Mosca R, Kumar TKS, Devejian N, Kamenir SA, Alfieris GM, Swartz MF, Meyer D, Paul EA, Newburger JW, Billings J, Davis MM, Anderson BR; New York State Congenital Heart Surgery Collaborative for Longitudinal Outcomes and Utilization of Resources (CHS-COLOUR). Chronic Medication Burden After Cardiac Surgery for Pediatric Medicaid Beneficiaries. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2023 Sep 26;82(13):1331-1340.
Hannan EL, Wu Y, Cozzens K, Anderson BR. The Neighborhood Atlas Area Deprivation Index for Measuring Socioeconomic Status: An Overemphasis On Home Value. Health Aff (Millwood). 2023 May;42(5):702-709.
Crook S, Dragan K, Woo JL, Neidell M, Jiang P, Cook S, Hannan EL, Newburger JW, Jacobs ML, Bacha EA, Petit CJ, Vincent R, Walsh-Spoonhower K, Mosca R, Kumar TKS, Devejian N, Kamenir SA, Alfieris GM, Swartz MF, Meyer D, Paul EA, Billings J, Anderson BR; New York State CHS-COLOUR. Long-Term Health Care Utilization After Cardiac Surgery in Children Covered Under Medicaid. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2023 Apr 25;81(16):1605-1617.