Overview
photo of Will McMillan and Randy Blakely, PhD, looking at DNA model
Will McMillan checks out a DNA model with Randy Blakely, Ph.D.

The mission of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development is to improve the quality of life of persons with disorders of thinking, learning, perception, communication, mood and emotion caused by disruption of typical development. We are dedicated to improving the lives of children and adults with disabilities by embracing core values that include:

The Center was founded in 1965 at Peabody College as the second nationally designated National Institutes of Health Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center. Today, it is part of a national network of 14 centers supported in part since its inception by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. In 2005, the Center was designated a University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, Education, Research, and Service by the U.S. Administration on Developmental Disabilities, a network of 64 centers in all U.S. states and territories.

The Vanderbilt Kennedy Center has evolved into an interdisciplinary research, training, diagnosis, and treatment institute, embracing faculty and resources available through Vanderbilt University Medical Center, the College of Arts and Science, and Peabody College. The Center brings together scientists and practitioners in behavior, education, genetics, and neuroscience to work together in unique ways to solve the mysteries of development and learning.

View list of VKC Members and Investigators