CERPOP • The SPHERE team

CERPOP, UMR 1295, Joint Research Unit: Inserm - University Toulouse III Paul Sabatier


Catherine ARNAUD - Leader @ +33 5 67 77 12 84
Valériane LEROY - Leader @ +33 5 61 14 59 57 +33 6 72 43 26 36


Our research explores health determinants of children and their mothers, during pregnancy and at the different stages of child development, in various contexts of vulnerability (social risk, drug exposure, chronic conditions, disabilities, resource-limited settings), in order to implement interventions aimed at improving their health outcomes. This includes studying the impact of medical practices, pre-, peri-, and postnatal interventions on mothers’ health, and the psychomotor, cognitive, social and emotional development of children and adolescents, including long-term comorbidities, and family and social repercussions. Specifically, our goal is to inform public health strategies and contribute to prevention and care recommendations.

There are five areas of research:

1/ Maternal and Foetal Health (led by Christophe Vayssière): pathophysiology analysis of foetal heart rate monitoring; means for inducing labour during delivery; prevention and screening of the risk of pre-eclampsia; management of twin pregnancies and prevention of premature delivery.

2/ Medicines, pregnancy and breastfeeding (led by Christine Damase-Michel): Monitoring of medicine exposure during pregnancy: quantification of teratogenic and foetotoxic risks, evaluation of long-term effects; identification of “risk profiles” in women taking medicines during pregnancy.

3 / Child development and disability (led by Catherine Arnaud): Vulnerable populations: early screening, early care and prevention of neurodevelopmental disabilities; epidemiology of neurodevelopmental disabilities; medical and social determinants of early-onset disabilities; individual, family and societal impact of disability.

4 / Frailties and mental health risk from babies to adolescents (led by Jean-Philippe Raynaud): Developmental trajectories and vulnerability factors: psycho-trauma (bereavement, migration, etc.); vulnerable parenting; use and misuse of psychotropic drugs in children and adolescents; prevention, screening and organization of care pathways.

5 / Global perinatal, child and adolescent health in Africa (led by Valériane Leroy) Development, integration and evaluation of strategies for the prevention and management of chronic infectious diseases in children (HIV, HBV, SARS-Cov2, pneumonia); evaluation of prevention programmes for adolescent global health.