Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

CHOP, home of the Department of Pediatrics for the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, is the community hospital and primary care hub for children in West and South Philadelphia and a major tertiary referral center for the greater Delaware Valley area with an estimated population of 10 million. CHOP serves a diverse population of children that includes large numbers of racial and ethnic minorities, healthy newborns, infants, children and adolescents. Annually, CHOP receives nearly 30,000 inpatient admissions in its 546-bed Main Building, more than 81,000 emergency room visits, and approximately 1.24 million outpatient visits. CHOP’s Healthcare Network includes 31 Pediatric and Adolescent Care Centers, sixteen Specialty Care Centers, four urban Primary Care Centers, and partners to provide neonatal care at fifteen community hospitals. Over the past 40 years Safe Place: the Center for Child Protection and Health at CHOP has developed one of the nation’s most comprehensive programs to address the critical issues of child maltreatment. The Safe Place team provides over 200 inpatient consults and over 700 outpatient assessments per year.

Site PI and DCC Director: Joanne N. Wood, MD, MSHP

Joanne N. Wood is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, a faculty member at PolicyLab at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), and an attending physician in the Division of General Pediatrics. She is also the Director of Research and the Child Abuse Pediatrics Fellowship Director for Safe Place: Center for Child Protection and Health at CHOP. Since her medical training at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Wood has committed to improving quality of care and outcomes for vulnerable children, especially abused and neglected children. She has conducted research aimed at improving occult injury screening practices for children suspected of being victims of physical abuse, along with understanding the use and utility of such practices in the evaluation of abusive injuries. Dr. Wood’s research in the field of child maltreatment extends beyond hospital-based care to the child welfare, behavioral health and primary care systems. Her current work includes supporting families and decreasing risk of maltreatment through positive parenting interventions.

DCC Coordinator: Devon Kratchman, BS

Devon Kratchman is a clinical research coordinator at PolicyLab and The Center for Pediatric Clinical Effectiveness at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She has been conducting clinical research with vulnerable populations since 2014 and is committed to improving outcomes for underserved individuals. In addition to her involvement in CAPNET, she oversees the implementation and evaluation of a positive parenting intervention, PriCARE, which aims to improve young children’s behaviors and strengthen parent-child relationships in order to reduce harsh parenting. Ms. Kratchman also volunteers as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for abused and neglected children in the Philadelphia foster care system and advocates for their needs and wishes. She is passionate about conducting research and providing clinical services in order to best support under-resourced youth and families in accessing evidence-based, equitable services.

Grants Chair: M. Katherine Henry, MD, MSCE

Dr. Henry is an Instructor in Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and an attending physician in Child Abuse Pediatrics at Safe Place: The Center for Child Protection and Health. Dr. Henry’s research focuses on optimizing the imaging evaluation of children undergoing evaluations for abuse to allow for timely identification of injuries to inform care. Her prior research and current work include evaluation of the role of screening neuroimaging in detection of occult abusive head trauma, use of advance spinal imaging in children with traumatic brain injury, and evaluation of radiation-free alternatives to CT in abdominal imaging.

Steering Committee: Philip V. Scribano, DO, MSCE

Dr. Scribano is an attending physician and Section Chief of Safe Place: The Center for Child Protection and Health at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Dr. Scribano’s areas of interest and research involve the epidemiology and prevention of child maltreatment and intimate partner violence, technology use in healthcare, and health services to children in foster care.