Children’s Hospital Los Angeles is a non-profit hospital for pediatric care and one of America’s premier teaching hospitals. It has been recognized among the top five in the nation for clinical excellence.
In 2011, the Simms/Mann Family Foundation partnered with CHLA to develop the Simms/Mann Family Foundation Playground. The playground, located at CHLA, provides a place of play for both disabled and non-disabled children. The universal playground can accommodate children with wheelchairs, leg braces, crutches, and other barriers that usually leave them sidelined at traditional playgrounds. The play area also features sound and visual stimulation for children with hearing or vision loss. The playground addresses individual disabilities but provides a common area that is entertaining for nondisabled children as well.
In 2014, the Foundation funded an endowed chair for the director of the Developmental Neurogenetics program within CHLA’s Institute for the Developing Mind. The Developmental Neurogenetics program serves as a bridge between basic discoveries in the research lab and the development of important new prevention strategies and therapies for young patients.
The chair endowed by the Foundation is held by Pat Levitt, Ph.D. Levitt is an internationally renowned expert in brain development and neurodevelopmental disorders. Levitt’s basic and clinical research holds the promise of identifying how genetics and the environment come together to construct the healthy brain, and how alterations in this complex process can lead to neurodevelopmental disorders. Levitt’s visionary leadership will be key in helping to understand early brain development, and in particular, the development of learning, social behavior, communication, and emotional connection.