Research In Action

Last month, CHOP was pleased to host members of the Industry Advisory Board (IAB) of the Center for Child Injury Prevention Studies (CChIPS) for our bi-annual IAB Meeting. Principal investigators from CHOP and our partner research site at The Ohio State University (OSU) presented proposals for the next year of research supported through CChIPS, a child injury research consortium focused on advancing the safety of children and adolescents. 

The newly funded 2024-2025 CChIPS portfolio includes a variety of projects within our core areas of focus: child passenger safety, pediatric and young adult biomechanics, and young driver safety. As examples, one new project led by CHOP’s Thomas Seacrist, MBE and Elizabeth Walshe, PhD will utilize CHOP’s validated virtual driving assessment (VDA) with eye tracking recording to understand how scanning varies across the learner period during specific driving scenarios and relate these scanning behaviors with performance on the VDA. Another project led by OSU’s Gretchen Baker, PhD aims to fill a knowledge gap by conducting a targeted investigation on the influence of anthropometric variation on posture and belt fit outcomes of a cohort of 60 adolescent and young adult females (ages 10–21) in a rear seat environment. Another project, led by CHOP’s Declan Patton, PhD, builds on and enhances prior CChIPS research on the interactions between rearward-facing child restraint systems (CRS) and the front row seatback during frontal impacts. 

Two Decades of Research

The 2024-2025 CChIPS portfolio also marks an important milestone for CChIPS as the 20th year of research projects funded through the consortium. CChIPS was founded in 2005 as a National Science Foundation Industry University Cooperative Research Center. Since CChIPS’ inception, over 200 projects have been funded and led by 38 different investigators from CHOP and OSU, over 100 peer-review papers have been published, and 29 members companies from industry, nonprofit, and government have been part of our IAB. 

I spoke with Kristy Arbogast, PhD, CChIPS’ co-director, about this achievement. She said, “As I reflect on the past 20 years of CChIPS, I think about two main things. First, CChIPS has stimulated conversation and collaboration among multiple stakeholders who care about child safety in cars – linking vehicle manufacturers, child seat manufacturers, government, and non-government organizations. It is bringing all these people around the same table that advances safety. Second, I am so proud about the imprint CChIPS has made on the scientific foundation of our field. At multiple traffic safety conferences, any session on child safety is packed full of CChIPS-generated science. We are truly leading the field. This is only possible through the long-standing commitment of our members, who over multiple ups and downs of the automotive industry across the last 20 years have prioritized child safety and collaborative discoveries.” 

We look forward to the impact these newly funded projects will make on the field of child injury prevention as we continue the CChIPS mission.