Fenwick Institute | Overview
The mission of the Boston Children's Hospital Sandra L. Fenwick Institute is to improve the health outcomes for all children. By leveraging Boston Children’s national and international reputation as a pediatric research institution, the Fenwick Institute will:
- Perform, collaborate or support pioneering, actionable research that catalyzes innovations in pediatric clinical care;
- Provide leadership development for current and future health care and research leaders; and
- Set standards of practice to improve health outcomes for all children.
The institute is named in honor of Sandra L. Fenwick, Boston Children’s’ emerita Chief Executive Officer, who retired in early 2021 after more than 20 years in leadership roles at the hospital.
How health equity enhanced research
“When we changed our recruitment methods, we found more subjects from every subset of our patient population willing to enroll.”
The Fenwick Institute is led by Valerie Ward MD, MPH, Boston Children’s Senior Vice President, Pediatric Health Equity Strategies and Director, Fenwick Institute.
Performing, collaborating and supporting pioneering research studies
The purpose of the Sandra L. Fenwick Institute’s research program is to perform pioneering actionable clinical pediatric research to improve health outcomes for all children.
Providing leadership development for current and future health care and research leaders
The Fenwick Institute’s innovative approach to healthcare leadership development is through it’s Fenwick Leadership Development Fellows Program. The educational objectives of this program include the development of the essential expertise for excellence in current and future healthcare leaders. To learn more about this healthcare leadership development program please email FenwickInstitute@childrens.harvard.edu
Setting the standards of practice to improve health outcomes for all children
The Fenwick Institute is now in its fourth year of the annual Sandra L. Fenwick Institute’s Pediatric Health Policy and Research Symposium (October 22-23, 2025)