Decision Sciences for Child Health Collaborative (DSCCo) at the Society for Medical Decision Making (SMDM)

The Decision Sciences for Child Health Collaborative (DSCCo) is a special interest group within the Society for Medical Decision Making (SMDM) dedicated to advancing decision sciences in child health through research, education, practice, and policy. We connect through monthly virtual or in-person events that foster collaboration, learning, and discussion.

DSCCo was originally founded by Ellen Lipstein, MD. Jody Lin, MD, and Davene R. Wright, PhD are the immediate past co-chairs. DSCCo is currently co-chaired by Tran T. Ðoan, PhD and Shireen Hayatghaibi, PhD.

Mission: To support the use of decision sciences methods for child health research by: 

  1. Fostering collaborations between clinicians, researchers, practitioners, patients, and caregivers, 

  2. Educating pediatric researchers about decision sciences methods,

  3. Highlighting excellent pediatric decision sciences research, and 

  4. Identifying areas where decision science can improve pediatric research, practice, and policy.

Partner Organization

AcademyHealth Child Health Services Research Interest Group (CHSRIG)

Child Health Services and Outcomes Research (CHSOR) Network

Family Well-Being Research Network (FAMNET)

Meetings and Events

DSCCo meets in-person twice annually at the Pediatric Academic Societies meeting in April and at the Society for Medical Decision Making North American Annual Meeting in June. At these in-person meetings, we host in-person lunches, symposia, or other types of networking events. 

In between in-person meetings, we host monthly virtual events, including research talks, training workshops, or journal club discussions. We publicize child health decision sciences-related research, job postings, and training opportunities through SMDM.org and our mailing listserv.

Do you want to have an opportunity to disseminate your research findings and/or get feedback on your approach? Submit your proposed talk using this form.

Upcoming Events

Check here for the latest SMDM DSCCo events.

Manuscripts

2026

Kim DeLuca, Ellen, Ann Chen Wu, Fang Zhang, Davene R. Wright, Anjali Kaimal, and Ted Lee. "Impact of Prenatal Cell‐Free DNA Screening on Sex Chromosome Aneuploidy Diagnoses in Infants and Children." Prenatal Diagnosis (2026).

2025

Shen, Ye, Benjamin D. Sommers, Laura A. Hatfield, Catherine Hayes, Ankur Pandya, and Nicolas A. Menzies. "Insurance dynamics during childhood in the fragmented US health system." JAMA 334.17 (2025): 1533-1540.

Doan, Tran T., David W. Hutton, Davene R. Wright, and Lisa A. Prosser. "Cost-Effectiveness of Universal Routine Depression Screening for Adolescents in Primary Care." In JAMA Health Forum, vol. 6, no. 5, pp. e250711-e250711. American Medical Association, 2025.

Anderson, Chelsey B., Isabella K. Pallotto, Lindsay Dominguez, Mary Anne Ammon, Adam Carle, and Ellen A. Lipstein. "Evolving Roles: Adolescent perspectives on shared decision making with their parents and healthcare providers." Academic Pediatrics (2025): 102778.

Lin, Jody L., Tsivya Devereaux, Tamara D. Simon, Kimberly A. Kaphingst, Angela Zhu, Unni Narayanan, Andrew BL Berry et al. "Caregiver Values and Preferences Related to Surgical Decision-Making for Children with Medical Complexity." The Journal of Pediatrics 276 (2025): 114366.

2024

Janusz, Cara B., Tran T. Doan, Acham Gebremariam, Angela Rose, Martha A. Keels, Rocio B. Quinonez, George Eckert, Emily Yanca, Margherita Fontana, and Lisa A. Prosser. "A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Population-Level Dental Caries Prevention Strategies in US Children." Academic Pediatrics (2024).

Kim DeLuca, Ellen, Kim Dalziel, Eve Wittenberg, Angela M. Rose, and Lisa A. Prosser. "Deriving the PedsUtil health state classification system to measure health utilities for pediatric populations based on the PedsQL: a confirmatory factor analysis." Health and Quality of Life Outcomes 22, no. 1 (2024): 85.

Wright, Davene R., Tom Chen, Kristen D. Chalmers, Seema K. Shah, P. Joyce, Jessica L. LeBlanc, Katharine Garvey, Kirsten D. Senturia, Catherine Pihoker, and Faisal S. Malik. "Adolescent-Preferred financial incentives to promote type 1 diabetes Self-Care: A discrete choice experiment." Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice 215 (2024): 111798.

2023

Burns, Sarah K., Tamar Krishnamurti, Tran T. Doan, Jeremy M. Kahn, and Kristin N. Ray. "Parent care-seeking decisions for pediatric acute respiratory tract infections in the United States: a mental models approach." Academic Pediatrics 23, no. 7 (2023): 1326-1336.

Thorpe, Alistair, Rebecca K. Delaney, Nelangi M. Pinto, Elissa M. Ozanne, Mandy L. Pershing, Lisa M. Hansen, Linda M. Lambert, and Angela Fagerlin. "Parents’ Psychological and Decision-Making Outcomes following Prenatal Diagnosis with Complex Congenital Heart Defect: An Exploratory Study." MDM Policy & Practice 8, no. 2 (2023): 23814683231204551.

Hayatghaibi, Shireen E., Cecilia G. Cazaban, Sherwin S. Chan, Jonathan R. Dillman, Xianglin L. Du, Yu-Ting Huang, Osama I. Mikhail, and John M. Swint. "Pediatric outpatient noncontrast brain MRI: a time-driven activity-based costing analysis at three US hospitals." American Journal of Roentgenology 220, no. 5 (2023): 747-756.