Kids First resource brings together data from more than 38,000 children

A pediatric dataset does not have to end with the study that created it. The Gabriella Miller Kids First Data Resource Center has brought genomic and clinical data from individual studies into a shared cloud-based resource, and by the end of 2025 it had released data from 36 studies representing more than 38,000 children.

The result is a wider research network around the same evidence. Researchers had used Kids First data in 244 peer-reviewed publications. In 40% of those papers, none of the investigators from the original study was included, according to the analysis published in The American Journal of Human Genetics.

That reuse is the mechanism behind the program’s reach. New teams can work with data assembled across studies, diseases and institutions rather than treating each pediatric dataset as an isolated project. The analysis reports genetic connections across childhood cancer and congenital conditions, alongside findings that could support diagnosis, risk assessment and treatment research.

Adam Resnick, co-director of the Kids First DRC and a corresponding author, said the significance lies not only in discoveries already made but in expanding what researchers can investigate. David Higgins, the paper’s lead author and a program manager, said the work now spans disease-focused studies, cross-condition research and new analytical methods.

And then, concretely? More researchers can test questions against pediatric genomic and clinical data without belonging to the team that first assembled it. That creates a route toward insights that may inform risk assessment, treatment strategies and clinical trials. The wording remains prospective: the publication describes movement toward clinical application, not a deployed clinical tool.

The publication looks ahead to new datasets, genomic technologies and closer links between research and clinical care. The figures come from the program’s own analysis; the article establishes broad research use, while the clinical impact still has to be demonstrated in care settings.