Newborns to Young Adults, Well Care to Specialty Care

Safeguarding the well-being of the more than 73 million children in the United States is critical to securing both their health and our nation’s health.

The Challenge

While most children only experience routine childhood illnesses, one in five children will need advanced health care. The origins of these diseases often begin in prenatal and early postnatal life. Early exposure to adverse influences — social, economic, health, or environmental — can create health deficits that last a lifetime. 

Our challenge is twofold: to improve the lives of children and their families so that all children achieve their fullest potential, and to advance research and discoveries that enable us to diagnose and treat diseases before they start.

Why Duke?

Duke Children’s is one of the world’s foremost children’s hospitals, consistently ranking among the top U.S. hospitals year after year.   

Every day we meet brave children and families who are in need of hope, answers, and care. At every level we are committed to bringing the highest level of care and achieving the scientific breakthroughs that offer hope and healing to every family that walks through our doors. 

At Duke Children’s, we are working every day to ensure our children have a healthy future. We seek to:

• Foster interdisciplinary research to discover the root causes of disease.
• Lead the development of innovative early life interventions to improve health globally.
• Educate the next generation of pediatric health care professionals.
• Diagnose and treat rare genetic disorders, whether they are diagnosed before birth or later in life.
• Bring care directly to those who are often overlooked; we are one of the largest charity health care providers in the Southeast.

Duke Children’s is one of only a few hospitals in the U.S. verified as a Level I children’s surgery center and a Level 4 epilepsy center. Both designations recognize our commitment to providing the safest and highest-quality care to young patients. Duke Children’s is: 

• A leading innovator for pediatric heart transplants, performing the first U.S. “donation after circulatory death” heart transplant; the world’s first combined thymus tissue-and-heart transplant; and the world’s first partial heart transplant of living arteries and heart valves.
• Known for its innovative and curative treatments for rare pediatric diseases, including congenital athymia and Pompe disease. We are one of 31 medical centers to be designated centers of excellence for the treatment of rare diseases.
• Consistently highly ranked in pediatric funding from the National Institutes of Health reflecting the quality of our research and entrepreneurial spirit of our faculty.
• We care for some of the sickest children from all 50 states and 25 countries, from our tiniest babies in the neonatal intensive care unit, which outperforms national averages, to our teen and young adult cancer patients, who receive age-specific medical care including mental health services, peer connection opportunities, fertility counseling, and sexual health support.

The Opportunity

These achievements and others have allowed us to provide world-class care to children, advance science, train the next generation of leaders in pediatrics, and expand access to life saving care. 

We embody a commitment to excellence and a culture of inclusivity and respect. 

We invite you to join us in this important work. With your help, we will develop new and more effective therapies, treat more patients, and serve society as a global leader in promoting children’s health care around the world.

You Can Make a Difference

Philanthropic partners are essential to our success. Every expendable, endowed, or planned gift makes a difference. There are many ways you can help Duke Children’s change lives:

Invest in Clinicians

At Duke, our people are our most important resource. Your gift of $100,000 or more for pediatric health care clinicians — doctors, nurses, physical therapists, and child life specialists — helps Duke recruit and retain the very best people for our youngest patients.

Fund the Future of Research

Your gift of $100,000 or more for innovative research will help Duke Children’s pioneer revolutionary new treatments, therapies, and modifications to improve the lives of our patients and populations in Durham and across the globe.

Invest in Patient Support and Education

A trip to the hospital can be scary for children and disruptive to families. Your gift of $100,000 or more will support our patients and their families, directly improving patient outcomes and quality of life. 

Advance Technology for Patient Care

Your gift of $100,000 or more will expand the use of advanced technology and equipment to ensure delivery of the most innovative pediatric care.