Princeton University

The Policy Research Institute for the Region (PRIOR) released the publication “Summit for Children’s Health in New Jersey.” The report is drawn from the conference held in the fall of 2008. 

Children’s health care in New Jersey continues to encounter serious challenges, as evidenced by the state’s bottom-quartile ranking in the Commonwealth Fund’s recent Child Health System Performance State Scorecard.

In response, the Woodrow Wilson School’s Policy Research Institute for the Region and Princeton University’s Department of Molecular Biology convened a symposium that brought together scholars, practitioners and leaders in the field to examine topics of prenatal care; infant mortality; the pediatric workforce; children’s hospitals; the medical home; SCHIP; and fragile families.

Speakers were: Dr. Edward L. Schor, Vice President, the Commonwealth Fund; Dr. Renee Jenkins, President, The American Academy of Pediatrics; Dr. James M. Perrin, Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School; Dr. Irwin Redlener, President, The Children’s Health Fund, and Professor of Clinical Population and Family Health, Columbia University; Nancy Reichman, PhD, Professor of Pediatrics, UMDNJ – Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Visiting Professor, Princeton University; Deborah S. Briggs, Senior Vice President, Health Policy and Advocacy, New Jersey Council of Teaching Hospitals; Sara McLanahan, Ph.D. Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs, and Director for Research on Child Well Being, Woodrow Wilson School; Mary Sibley, Deputy Commissioner, Department of Human Services, State of New Jersey; and Dr. Daniel A. Notterman, Professor of Molecular Biology, Princeton University.

The Summit explored best-practice models, presented the opportunity for comparative analysis, allowed for a consideration of the measures required to achieve progress, and to made recommendations for practical and effective policies that will lead to better health care in New Jersey.