# Research Center for Child Well-Being

> **NIH NIH P20** · UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA AT COLUMBIA · 2020 · $2,235,000

## Abstract

The prevalence rates for children’s mental, emotional, and behavioral (MEB) disorders, as well as for childhood
obesity, are at alarmingly high levels and constitute major public health concerns. To address these critical
problems in childhood, the University of South Carolina Research Center for Child Well-Being focuses on
prevention and intervention research aimed at reducing risk for MEB and obesogenic problems in children
ages 2-10. The two overall goals are: (1) to create and cultivate a high-impact research center composed of
adept early-stage investigators supported by accomplished senior scientific adviser-mentors, committed to
research on the prevention and reduction of mental, emotional, behavioral, and lifestyle-related risk factors in
childhood; and (2) to strengthen the infrastructure that will facilitate greater contributions to scientific progress
and innovation aimed at improving child well-being by reducing risk for MEB disorders, childhood obesity, and
other adverse conditions. Accomplishment of the Center’s goals are being pursued through three specific aims.
Aim 1 is to establish a strong infrastructure to buttress and advance the Center’s research and programmatic
goals to develop capacity and to support early-stage investigators who will conduct preventive intervention
outcome trials and associated studies. Aim 2 is to nurture and expand a critical mass of early-stage faculty
researchers via: (a) thematically linked research projects by the promising scientists; (b) scientific mentoring
from dedicated and expert senior advisers; (c) two research core facilities (Clinical Trials Logistics Core;
Statistical and Data Management Core) integrally involved in supporting the research projects; (d) a local
Community Advisory Board to enhance engagement of communities and schools; and (e) a Pilot Seed Project
program. Aim 3 is to expand research capacity through targeted recruitment and cultivation of additional early-
stage faculty researchers in multiple disciplines and areas central to the Center’s mission and focus, backed by
cogent institutional support for targeted hiring of new faculty. Key cross-cutting themes of the research projects
and the Center as a whole emphasize preventive intervention strategies to promote more nurturing
environments for healthy child development, to strengthen children’s self-regulation, to ensure that the
interventions benefit children from lower SES backgrounds without stigmatizing them, and to study and bolster
quality of implementation for the interventions. The Research Center for Child Well-Being is poised to
accelerate the trajectories of early-stage investigators to independent researcher status, adding to the nation’s
workforce for the next generation of prevention scientists. The Center has considerable potential through
innovative research to progress the scientific basis for joint prevention of mental/behavioral and obesogenic
problems, leading to greater well-being of children.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9852054
- **Project number:** 1P20GM130420-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA AT COLUMBIA
- **Principal Investigator:** RONALD J PRINZ
- **Activity code:** P20 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $2,235,000
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-03-15 → 2025-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9852054

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9852054, Research Center for Child Well-Being (1P20GM130420-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9852054. Licensed CC0.

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