Other Scientific Output

COMBO Data’s Influence in National and Global Policy

• Whereas the start of the pandemic saw newborns separated from their mothers for fear of transmitting the virus, COMBO’s research influenced a turnaround in hospital policy at the national and global level.
  • Because of this policy reform, Dr. Dumitriu was asked to collaborate on a Dear Colleagues Letter to Senate leaders.
  • The letter laid out scientific reasons for funding to be directed to unfunded research areas, including child development and mental health.
  • This letter ultimately helped infuse $1.5 billion into the research that became the RECOVER Initiative.
• COMBO’s seminal finding that babies born during the pandemic are slower to develop certain developmental skills (at 6 months old) contributed to a global action plan to optimize brain health across the life course and establish brain health as a pressing global priority.
  • The JAMA Pediatrics publication of these findings is in the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric and has been cited in over 316 news stories from 223 outlets around the world, including PLOS Medicine, International Journal of Infectious Diseases, Washington Post, Scientific American, Science, Nature, NBC News, CNN, Today, Nouvelles du Monde, Espanol News, and the Times of India.

Position Papers

• The State of Healthy Parenting in Primary Care Interventions in Advancing Health Equity (National Academy of Medicine, 2025)
• Advancing early relational health: a collaborative exploration of a research agenda (Frontiers in Pediatrics, 2023)
• Updating Clinical Practices to Promote and Protect Human Milk and Breastfeeding in a COVID-19 Era (Frontiers Pediatrics, 2022).