Visiting Scholar Program

The Susan B. Meister Child Health Evaluation and Research Center (CHEAR) welcomes visiting scholars to join CHEAR for traditional sabbaticals or other flexible visiting opportunities. The goal of the program is to provide an opportunity for academic researchers to join our Center at the University of Michigan for visits as short as one to two days or as long as a year and to engage in a collegial, diverse, and inclusive environment that will provide feedback and advice from scholars in the field.

The Visiting Scholars program can provide the following benefits based upon availability and timing of the sabbatical/visit:

  • Engage with the Pediatric research community at the University of Michigan,
  • Opportunities to present your research within relevant departments and schools across campus,
  • Opportunities to present and participate in CHEAR seminars: Health Services Research, Fellows, Methodology, and Work-in-Progress,
  • Itinerary to meet with faculty across Michigan schools, colleges, departments, centers, institutes, and campuses,
  • Access to the University of Michigan Libraries,
  • Shared office space and computing resources.

Our program is designed to be flexible to support Visiting Scholars diverse schedules. Duration of this program can be tailored as needed. Here are some examples of previous scholars’ schedules:

  • Traditional semester or year-long sabbatical,
  • 1 month,
  •  4 weeks across the school year,
  • 1-2 weeks,
  • 1-2 days.

Recent Visiting Scholars have included:

  • Félice Lê-Scherban, PhD, MPH, Associate Professor, Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Drexel University, spent her 2022-2023 sabbatical at CHEAR.
  • Beth Potter, PhD, Associate Professor and University Research Chair in Health Services for Children with Rare Diseases, University of Ottawa, spent a portion of her sabbatical at CHEAR during 2018.  
  • Kim Dalziel, PhD, Senior Research Fellow, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia, visited CHEAR as a Harkness Fellow in 2018 for a traditional 1-year sabbatical.
  • Davene Wright, PhD, Assistant Professor at the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute and Harvard Medical School, visited CHEAR in 2018 for 1 week.
  • Jean Raphael, MD, MPH, Director of the Center for Child Health Policy and Advocacy, Associate Vice Chair for Community Health, and Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine joined as a Visiting Professor in April of 2021 for 2 days. 
  • Alex Kemper, MD, Professor and Division Chief of Ambulatory Pediatrics, The Ohio State University and Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, OH, visited CHEAR as a Visiting Professor in May 2019 for 2 days.
  • Hadar Samuel, MA is Senior Health Care Researcher, Brookdale Institute, Jerusalem, Israel, visited CHEAR in October 2018 for 1 day.
  • Rita Mangione-Smith, MD, MPH, Professor and Chief of General Pediatrics and Hospital Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, visited CHEAR as a Visiting Professor in October 2018 for 2 days.
  • Harriet Hiscock, MD, Professor at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, The Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, visited CHEAR in November 2017 for two weeks. Dr. Hiscock is Director, Health Services Research Unit, and Director, Unsettled Babies Clinic.
  • Peter Polverini, DDS, DMsc, the Jonathan Taft Distinguished University Professor of Dentistry and Dean Emeritus of the Dental School, University of Michigan, spent his sabbatical year at CHEAR in 2015.
  • Tina Cheng, MD, Given Foundation, Professor and Chair of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Washington, DC, visited CHEAR as a Visiting Professor for 2 days.

Please direct inquiries to Katherine Luppino, at kluppino@med.umich.edu.