About The Owerko Centre

The Owerko Centre at the Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute (ACHRI) is dedicated to studying child neurodevelopment and mental health.

Understanding neurodevelopment, neurodevelopmental disorders, and child mental health requires collaboration and coordination and a multidisciplinary team science approach. The Owerko Centre was founded to bring together multiple parallel efforts within neurodevelopment research and serve as a multidisciplinary research hub with a broad translational focus on neurodevelopment, child mental health, and neurodevelopmental disorders. Researchers in the Owerko Centre advance knowledge about brain development and child mental health, from the cellular level to public policy, drawing upon a wide spectrum of research methods.

Launched in 2015, The Owerko Centre draws its support from a critical mass of multidisciplinary researchers across the University of Calgary with expertise encompassing a broad range of child neurodevelopment and mental health research in basic, clinical, health services and population health.

Owerko Centre membership consists of 50+ principal investigators representing departments across the University of Calgary including Psychology, Community Health Sciences, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pediatrics, Clinical Neurosciences, Medical Genetics, Anethesiology, Radiology, Biochemistry, Biology and Anatomy, Kinesiology, Nursing, Social Work, Education and Public Policy. In addition to our cross-disciplinary team of principal investigators, the Owerko Centre includes 300+ trainees from the undergraduate to post-doctoral levels.

The Owerko Centre is based at the Child Development Centre on the campus of the University of Calgary and is housed in a purpose built 930 square-meter facility. Along with special testing and play rooms with adjacent observation suites, The Owerko Centre also hosts a motor skills examination area and labs for the preparation and collection of biological samples.