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
  • 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.

Six children lay on grass in a circle while making funny faces

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 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 its 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

Save the date for the annual Sandra L. Fenwick Institute’s Pediatric Health Policy and Research Symposium (Oct. 22-23, 2026).