Our Mission in Mother-Child Health Research
The OPPaLE team is dedicated to advancing knowledge and care in the field of mother-child health, a domain marked by the deep interconnection between mothers, fathers, and children. We adopt a holistic approach spanning preconception, pregnancy, birth, childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood.
Our goals include:
- Understanding and preventing serious health issues during pregnancy, postpartum, childhood, and adolescence, as well as addressing their long-term consequences.
- Investigating how early life exposures, particularly during the first 1,000 days, shape the future health of both women and children.
- Developing strategies to predict and manage rare and serious health events in low-risk populations, while minimizing unnecessary medical interventions.
- Collaborating with families and stakeholders to create, test, and scale up public health initiatives that better support mothers, partners, and children.
We aim to translate our findings into practical solutions for healthier lives and stronger communities.
The OPPaLE team is organized into 5 research areas and 2 cross-cuting areas :
Leads: Camille Le Ray, Anne Chantry and Manik Kadawathagedara.
Research Area 1 examines maternal, fetal, neonatal, and infant complications, as well as their long-term health impacts. It focuses on parental behaviors (before, during, and after pregnancy), medical practices, and the organization of perinatal care to identify levers for promoting beneficial behaviors and optimizing healthcare within the health system.
Main objectives:
- Analyze the social and individual predictors of parental health behaviors from preconception to postpartum.
- Assess the effectiveness of prenatal care and preventive actions during pregnancy and childbirth.
- Optimize labor and delivery care by integrating women’s expectations.
- Measure women’s well-being and experiences around childbirth.
Leads: Catherine Deneux and Blandine de Lauzon-Guillain.
Leads: Jennifer Zeitlin, Mathilde Letouzey and Isabelle Monier.
Research Area 3 focuses on the etiology, prevention, management and long-term outcomes of vulnerable fetuses and children, particularly those exposed to preterm birth, intrauterine growth restriction, hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, or congenital anomalies. These complications are associated with a high risk of mortality and developmental disorders among survivor children. The research conducted within this area aims to better understand their determinants and long-term trajectories, in order to improve prevention strategies, healthcare organization and the follow-up of at-risk children.
Main objectives:
- To measure and characterise severe adverse events around birth and identify their clinical and familial determinants.
- To study health and developmental trajectories of children exposed to perinatal complications, from early childhood into the long term.
- To evaluate healthcare organization, medical practices and interventions aimed at improving management and outcomes in the short and long term.
- To compare practices and outcomes across regions and European countries to identify opportunities for improving health policies and healthcare systems.
Leads: Barbara Heude and Martin Chalumeau.
Leads: Stéphanie Goujon and Audrey Bonaventure.
Research area 5 works on three main themes:
- National childhood cancer surveillance, and production of reference figures for comparison with other countries
- Research on childhood cancer risk factors (aetiology)
- Research on long-term outcomes for patients, in particular survival, risk of relapse, sequelae and side effects
Our work relies on two national research infrastructures: 1/ the National Childhood Cancer Registry, led in the team, is a key infrastructure for surveillance and research, due to the rarity (2300 cases yearly in France in 0-17 year-olds) and diversity of childhood cancers; 2/ the Childhood Cancer Observation Platform (HOPE-EPI/CCOP), launched in 2013, is an infrastructure for research on the aetiology of childhood cancer and outcomes for the survivors.
Our research on risk factors also relies on case-control studies using complementary approaches:
- Population-based case-control studies with data collected through interviews and biological samples for genetic factors analysis (ESCALE, ESTELLE)
- Case-control studies based on geolocated data and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) focusing on environmental exposures and socioeconomic characteristics of the residence area at diagnosis (GEOCAP-Diag) and at birth (GEOCAP-Birth).
Leads: Sandrine Lioret and Élie Azria.
Contacts and location
Site Villemin
Faculté de Médecine - Site Villemin - Université Paris Cité
10 Avenue de Verdun
75010 Paris
Site port-Royal
Maternité Port Royal
53, avenue de l’Observatoire
75014 Paris
+33 (0)1 42 34 55 80
+33 (0)1 42 34 55 73
Fax : +33 (0)1 43 26 89 79
