The Center on Media and Child Health (CMCH) was founded in 2003 by Michael Rich— a pediatrician, father, and ex Hollywood filmmaker. Located at Boston Children’s Hospital, CMCH is an academic research center with the mission “to educate and empower children and those who care for them to create and consume media in ways that optimize children’s health and development.” It is largely funded through grants and philanthropy and their projects fall into three categories:
- Understanding the positive and negative health impacts media can have and finding ways of making media the most positive possible influence in children’s lives.
- Investigating the positive and negative health effects of media on children, through research and by compiling research from around the world.
- Translating the research into practical, actionable guidance for parents, caregivers, and other stakeholders, through in-person presentations, publications, blogs, and other forms of outreach.
We commend all those involved in CMCH for this innovative transdisciplinary collaboration. The CMCH staff includes graduate and undergraduate students, interns, trainees, and other associates, that come from a variety of disciplines, such as medicine, psychology, education, library science, and film. We particularly enjoy Michael Rich in the role of “The Mediatrician”. Parents and teachers might find useful this 2-minute episode where the Mediatrician discusses stereotypes in the media.
You can follow CMCH on Twitter at @cmch_boston.