Georgetown University and MedStar Health Launch Center To Rapidly Improve the Health and Well-being of Children in Washington and Beyond

WASHINGTON – Georgetown University Medical Center and MedStar Health today announce the launch of a large, multidisciplinary, innovative center designed to rapidly advance equitable systems of care and support that enable children, families and communities to thrive.

The Thrive Center for Children, Families and Communities brings together new innovative projects with long established programs at Georgetown University Medical Center and its academic health system partner, MedStar Health, with a particular emphasis on underserved children, families, and individuals with developmental disabilities.

“There’s an average of a 17-year gap between the development of innovative approaches in research settings and the implementation of those approaches in ways that improve people’s daily lives. The Thrive Center is determined to close that gap because our children, their families and our communities deserve better,” said the center’s director, Matthew Biel, MD, MS, the Marriott Chair of Child, Adolescent and Family Mental Health and professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at Georgetown University School of Medicine. Biel also serves as vice chair and division chief of child and adolescent psychiatry at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital.

The Thrive Center facilitates and amplifies the work of a growing cadre of experts in child and family mental health and disability, including the center’s 40 researchers, clinicians and educators specializing in a range of areas including psychiatry, pediatrics, family medicine, clinical psychology, developmental psychology, physical therapy, occupational therapy, special education, social work, law, disability studies and public health.

The center leverages community-engaged, family-centered systems of care through research and partnerships to transform policies, practices and perspectives; by providing technical assistance; leading workforce development through education and training; and guiding health and educational policy consultation locally and nationally.

“The main thrust of the Thrive Center is to discover the most effective, efficient and innovative ways to ensure that young people grow and thrive with the support of their families and within the communities where they live,” adds Biel.

Georgetown and MedStar Health’s shared ethos of cura personalis, or care of the whole person, provides the overarching guiding principle for the center’s work in the areas of childhood development, child, adolescent and family mental health; health equity and cultural competence; digital health interventions; and developmental disabilities.

“The time is now and Georgetown is primed to accelerate this critical work alongside our MedStar Health partners,” says Norman J. Beauchamp Jr., M.D., MHS, executive vice president for health sciences and executive dean of the School of Medicine, “All people deserve health and hope, and it is why health equity is a top priority.”

“Matt Biel and his team bring unparalleled expertise to this space,” said Stephen R. T. Evans, M.D., executive vice president, medical affairs and chief medical officer of MedStar Health. “They are further supported by the partnership between MedStar Health and Georgetown University, which allows us to build a unique health system that bridges across all the communities we serve.” 

The core of the Thrive Center incorporates and expands on work from the former Center for Child and Human Development (CCHD), a nationally renowned program at Georgetown established decades ago and led for the last 40 years by pediatric psychologist Phyllis Magrab, PhD.

“I am truly enthusiastic for the direction of the Thrive Center,” said Magrab, who stepped down as director of the CCHD in the summer. “The vision for the new center aligns and builds great synergy by bringing together the nationally focused work of the CCHD with the programs Matt has led that have a long and deep history in the District of Columbia.”

The Thrive Center’s programs are well-funded by local and federal agency grants and international organizations. A cohort of generous donors are supporting the Thrive Center’s launch and expansion including Shelley and Allan Holt, the J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation, the Lambert Foundation and the A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation. In addition, the Clark Foundation is providing funding for a novel approach to expand the focus on children called the Innovation Hub, which will launch in 2025.

Modeled after accelerators for early stage technology companies, the Innovation Hub allows for a three month fellowship for small cohorts of early stage organizations that have innovative ideas in areas such as mental health, disability and early childhood.

“Our team will provide structured consultation around different aspects of work, and help nonprofit and for-profit organizations to develop and scale research plans for their work,” according to Biel. “The organizations will benefit from the expertise and consultation of our faculty, and we'll benefit by learning about new innovative practices that are happening out in the field.”

The Innovation Hub adds to the primary focus of Thrive Center which includes research evaluation, technical assistance, workforce development, education and training, health and educational policy consultation locally and nationally. 

“The overarching goal of our Thrive Center is to look at the entire spectrum of what helps people thrive across the lifespan, beginning in childhood,” said Biel.

“We want our work to be in service to individuals and families everywhere, with a focus on equitable care and better outcomes for all.”