Christopher B. Forrest, MD, PhD
Areas of expertise: Theory and measurement of child health, learning health systems, pediatric outcomes and effectiveness research, life course health science
About Christopher B. Forrest, MD, PhD
Dr. Forrest is a general pediatrician and health services and outcomes researcher. He leads several multi-institutional collaborations that are advancing our knowledge on how to improve children’s health and well-being.
He is the Executive Director and Founder of PEDSnet (pedsnet.org), a national pediatric learning health system, which is one of the PCORnet Clinical Research Networks. PEDSnet is the only PCORnet network devoted exclusively to pediatric research. The network includes 9 pediatric academic health systems, relationships with disease- and specialty-specific networks, and local health plans and national data partners.
PEDSnet has created an analysis-ready database for >7 million children, with data from 2009 to present and updated quarterly, by transforming source institutional EHR data into both the PEDSnet and PCORnet Common Data Models. The network has conducted or is currently supporting >90 observational studies and clinical trials (>$80M in grant support) that use the health provider organization standardized EHR data and/or recruit patients from clinical care settings.
Chris also serves as the Director of the CHOP Applied Clinical Research Center, which is the institutional home for PEDSnet. He led the development of the AHRQ Learning Health System Scientist Competencies, which served as the basis for 11 K12 Centers of Excellence, one of which Forrest leads (PEDSnet Scholars).
He played a seminal role in advancing the PROMIS Pediatric initiative, and is dedicated to ensuring that PROMIS becomes a standard for assessing children’s self-reported health. Forrest served as the Chair of the Executive Committee for the NIH Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (2009-2014), led a large pediatric research site for the second phase of the initiative, and received an NIH award to conduct clinical validation of PROMIS measures as part of the PEPR Consortium, which he leads as Chair of the Steering Committee. His research group has developed >50 pediatric patient-reported outcome measures, both child self-report and parent-proxy versions.
Finally, he is working with colleagues across the US to catalyze the new field of life course health science (LCHS), which is concerned with how an individual’s dynamic interactions with their environments produces health over the lifespan. Life course health science is the theoretical basis for inclusion of children in lifespan studies and for understanding the origins of many chronic diseases. He co-edited the new Handbook of Life Course Health Development, which has been downloaded over 550,000 times from the Springer web site.
Forrest received his BA and MD degrees from Boston University, and his PhD (Health Policy and Management) from Johns Hopkins University. He is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Academic Pediatric Association, and the American Pediatric Society, and an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine.
Titles
Academic Investigator, Healthy Weight Program
Director, Applied Clinical Research Center
Scientific Director, PEDSnet
Program Director, PEDSnet Scholars
Senior Scholar, Leonard Davis Institute
Professor of Pediatrics, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
Certifications
Pediatrics – American Board of Pediatrics
Awards and Honors
2024, National Library of Medicine, Board of Regents, Appointed by US Secretary of Health & Human Services
2023, Elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM)
2019-2023, Scientific Board, Botnar Research Centre for Child Health, Switzerland
2021, Secretary-Treasurer (elected), Board of Directors, International Society of Quality of Life Research.
Leadership and Memberships
1997-present, Academic Pediatric Association
1997-present, American Academy of Pediatrics
1997-present, AcademyHealth
2000-present, International Society for Quality of Life Research
Research Interests
- Thriving across the life course; its measurement, description, explanation, and improvement
- Multi-center pediatric applied clinical research, child health services and outcomes research
- Epidemiology of child health and wellbeing
- Pediatric person-reported outcome measure development and application
Education & training
Graduate Degree
PhD - Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
Medical Degree
MD - Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA
Internship
Pediatrics - Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
Residency
Pediatrics - Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
Fellowship
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
Publications
Publications
2025
Forrest CB, Koenigsberg LJ, Eddy Harvey F, Maltenfort MG, Halfon N. Trends in US Children's Mortality, Chronic Conditions, Obesity, Functional Status, and Symptoms. JAMA. 2025. Epub 20250707. doi: 10.1001/jama.2025.9855. PubMed PMID: 40622733.
Lorman V, Bailey LC, Song X, Rao S, Hornig M, Utidjian L, et al. Pediatric Long COVID Subphenotypes: An EHR-based study from the RECOVER program. PLOS Digit Health. 2025;4(4):e0000747. Epub 20250410. doi: 10.1371/journal.pdig.0000747. PubMed PMID: 40208885; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC11984710.
Ellison JS, Chu DI, Nelson CP, DeFoor WR, Ziemba J, Huang J, et al. Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy vs Ureteroscopy for Kidney Stones in Children. JAMA Netw Open. 2025;8(6):e2516749. Epub 20250602. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.16749. PubMed PMID: 40540269; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC12181786.
Chen J, Lei Y, Wu Q, Zhou T, Zhang B, Becich MJ, et al. Vaccine Effectiveness Among 5- to 17-year-old Individuals with Prior SARS-CoV-2 Infection: An EHR-Based Target Trial Emulation Study from the RECOVER Project. medRxiv. 2025. Epub 20250208. doi: 10.1101/2025.02.07.25321814. PubMed PMID: 39974088; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC11838676.
2024
Razzaghi H, Forrest CB, Hirabayashi K, Wu Q, Allen A, Rao S, et al. Vaccine Effectiveness Against Long COVID in Children. Pediatrics. 2024. Epub 20240116. doi: 10.1542/peds.2023-064446. PubMed PMID: 38225804.
Forrest CB, Chen CP, Perrin EM, Stille CJ, Cooper R, Harris K, et al. Pediatric Medical Subspecialist Use in Outpatient Settings. JAMA Netw Open. 2024;7(1):e2350379. Epub 20240102. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.50379. PubMed PMID: 38175643; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10767594.
2023
Lemke KW, Forrest CB, Leff BA, Coyd CM, Gudzune KA, Pollack CE, et al. Patterns of Morbidity Across the Lifespan: A Population Segmentation Framework for Classifying Health Care Needs for All Ages. Medical Care. 2023.
Amaral S, Schuchard J, Claes D, Dart A, Greenbaum LA, Massengill SF, et al. Patient-Reported Outcomes Over 24 Months in Pediatric CKD: Findings From the MyKidneyHealth Cohort Study. Am J Kidney Dis. 2023;82(2):213-24 e1. Epub 20230307. doi: 10.1053/j.ajkd.2022.12.014. PubMed PMID: 36889426.
2020
Forrest CB, McTigue KM, Hernandez AF, Cohen LW, Cruz H, Haynes K, et al. PCORnet(R) 2020: current state, accomplishments, and future directions. J Clin Epidemiol. 2021;129:60-7. Epub 20200928. doi: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2020.09.036. PubMed PMID: 33002635; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7521354.
Thakrar AP, Forrest AD, Maltenfort MG, Forrest CB. Child Mortality In The US And 19 OECD Comparator Nations: A 50-Year Time-Trend Analysis. Health Aff (Millwood). 2018;37(1):140-9. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2017.0767. PubMed PMID: 29309221.
2021
Forrest CB, McTigue KM, Hernandez AF, Cohen LW, Cruz H, Haynes K, Kaushal R, Kho AN, Marsolo KA, Nair VP, Platt R, Puro JE, Rothman RL, Shenkman EA, Waitman LR, Williams NA, Carton TW. PCORnet® 2020: current state, accomplishments, and future directions. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology. 2021; 129:60-67. PMID: 33002635.
2018
Forrest CB, Meltzer LJ, Marcus CL, de la Motte A, Kratchman A, Buysse DJ, Pilkonis PA, Becker BD, Bevans KB. Development and validation of the PROMIS Pediatric Sleep Disturbance and Sleep-Related Impairment item banks. Sleep. 2018; 41(6). PMID: 29546286.
Halfon N, Forrest CB, Lerner RM, Faustman EM (eds). Handbook of Life Course Health Development. Springer, 2018. Freely available at: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-47143-3. Downloaded 550,000+ times.
2017
Forrest CB, Simpson L, Clancy C. (1997). Child health services research. Challenges and opportunities. JAMA, 277(22), 1787–1793. PMID: 9178792.
Forrest CB, Chesley FD Jr, Tregear ML, Mistry KB. Development of the Learning Health System Researcher Core Competencies. Health Serv Res. 2018;53(4):2615-2632. PMID: 28777456.
2014
Forrest CB. (2014). A living systems perspective on health. Medical Hypotheses, 82(2), 209-214. PMID: 24368035.
Kahn MG, Bailey LC, Forrest CB, Padula MA, Hirschfeld S. Building a common pediatric research terminology for accelerating child health research. Pediatrics. 2014;133(3):516-525. PMID: 24534404.
Forrest CB, Weiner JP, Fowles J, et al. Self-referral in point-of-service health plans. JAMA. 2001;285(17):2223–2231. PMID: 11325324.
Forrest CB, Bevans KB, Pratiwadi R, Moon J, Teneralli RE, Minton JM, Tucker CA. (2014). Development of the PROMIS ® pediatric global health (PGH-7) measure. Quality of Life Research, 23(4):1221-1231. PMID: 24264804.
Forrest CB, Crandall WV, Bailey LC, Zhang P, Joffe M, Colletti, RB, Adler, J, Baron, HI, Berman, J, del Rosario, F, Grossman, AB, Hoffenberg, EJ, Israel, EJ, Kim SC, Lightdale, JR, Margolis PA, Marsolo K, Mehta DI, Milov, DE, Patel, AS, Tung J & Kappelman MD (2014). Effectiveness of anti-TNFα for Crohn disease: research in a pediatric learning health system. Pediatrics, 134(1), 37-44. PMID: 24935993.
Forrest CB, Margolis P, Seid M, Colletti RB. (2014). PEDSnet: How A Prototype Pediatric Learning Health System Is Being Expanded Into A National Network. Health Affairs, 33(7), 1171–1177. PMID: 25006143.
Bailey L.C., Forrest C.B., Zhang P., Richards T.M., Livshits A. & DeRusso P.A. (2014). Association of antibiotics in infancy with early childhood obesity. JAMA Pediatrics, 168(11), 1063-1069. PMID: 25265089.
2013
Forrest CB, Fiks AG, Bailey LC, Localio R, Grundmeier RW, Richards T, Karavite DJ, Elden L, Alessandrini EA. (2013). Improving adherence to otitis media guidelines with clinical decision support and physician feedback. Pediatrics, 131(4):e1071-81. PMID: 23478860.
Bailey LC, Milov DE, Kelleher K, Kahn MG, Del Beccaro M, Yu F, Richards T, Forrest CB. (2013). Multi-Institutional Sharing of Electronic Health Record Data to Assess Childhood Obesity. Public Library of Science One, 8(6):e66192. PMID: 23823186.
Forrest CB, Bevans KB, Riley AW, Crespo R, Louis TA. Health and School Outcomes During Children's Transition into Adolescence. Journal of Adolescent Health. 2013; 52:186-94. PMID: 23332483.
2012
Forrest CB, Bevans KB, Tucker C, Riley, AW, Ravens-Sieberer U, Gardner W, Pajer K. (2012). The patient-reported outcome measurement information system (PROMIS®) for children and youth: application to pediatric psychology. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 37(6), 614–621. PMID: 22362923.