Mission:

The Pediatric Research Consortium (PeRC) is the primary care practice-based research network (PBRN) at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

This network is dedicated to improving the safety, quality and health outcomes of pediatric care through clinical research.

PeRC's mission is to provide the expertise and infrastructure needed to support two fundamental types of research within the primary care setting:

• Top-down research: Scientific and healthcare governing institutions, including funding bodies, most at the national level conceive and launch the studies.
• Bottom-up research: Physicians who directly workwith patients within the primary care facilities conceive and launch thestudies. These studies may also be collaborative efforts between theprimary care clinician and specialists researching subsets of patients.

PeRC's overall aim is to support primary care clinicians in the development of research, the results of which will transform the way care is provided within the network and will further enhance the quality and health outcomes of patients.

We will accomplish this goal by optimizing the ever-improving functionality of the electronic health record, developing mentoring relationships with established research methodologists and supporting research within the context of clinical care. As development continues, the PBRN will become a nationally and internationally recognized entity for the advancement of primary care research. As such, the PBRN will support and enhance the position of the Hospital as a national and international leader in pediatric research.

Primary Goals:

• Support high-quality research based on the clinical needs of all primary care practices within the Hospital's network.
• Contribute to the development of research questions posed by clinicians within the primary care network and supply the resources needed to carry out their studies.
• Support the development of currently available information technologies into a system that can function over a wide range of purposes, including clinical care, education, research and evaluation.
• Develop a mechanism to translate research into practice and evaluate its impact using the electronic health record as a starting point.