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Our Research

Our team conducts research, essentially in the field of perinatal health; we began in 1975 as INSERM Unit 149 (directed by Claude Rumeau-Rouquette and then Gérard Bréart) and continued as Inserm Unit 953 (directed by François Goffinet). In January 2014, this unit became the EPOPé research team (directed by Pierre-Yves Ancel), part of the Center for Epidemiology Research and Statistics Sorbonne Paris-Cité (CRESS).
Our unit includes about 80 people, including about 35 researchers or clinician-researchers, 15 doctoral students, and 25 staff members who are responsible for study coordination, data collection, and statistical analysis. Our research focuses on the health of women during and after pregnancy, the health of children as it relates to pregnancy and birth, and general pediatrics.
We have three principal objectives:

  • to assess practices and health policies and their implementation in the population,
  • to identify the determinants of perinatal complications in mothers and babies, and
  • to study the influence of events of the perinatal period (such as prenatal exposures, very preterm birth, and malformations) on the health and long-term development of the children and on the health and well-being of mothers and families.

Our projects take place in France and also internationally, principally in Europe. We seek to provide results that are useful for the implementation of effective care practices and policies, in the perinatal domain and for children’s health. Our research is conducted in close interaction with clinicians both within the team and outside.

Themes

Our project is structured around five themes defined by major perinatal and child health issues: