The Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center has been a pioneer in research, education, and service for people with developmental disabilities and their families for over three decades.

Founded in 1969, the Shriver Center was one of the first Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Centers (MRDDRC) and University Centers of Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) in the United States. Because of Eunice Kennedy Shriver's life-long commitment to improving the welfare of persons with mental retardation, the Center was named in her honor.

From its inception, the Shriver Center has been devoted to discovering the bases of developmental disabilities, as well as preventing its causes, and to supporting and facilitating the inclusion of people with developmental disabilities and mental retardation into society. Over the years scientists, researchers, and clinicians at the Shriver Center have accomplished many objectives in the pursuit of these goals, and this important work continues today.

Our Mission: Dedicated to improving the lives of individuals with developmental disabilities and their families, the Shriver Center promotes the understanding of neurological, cognitive and behavioral development associated with developmental disabilities, with an emphasis on mental retardation. To accomplish this mission, the Shriver Center conducts basic and applied research to determine the biological and environmental factors that influence typical and atypical development, and provides training and service programs that directly benefit people with developmental disabilities and their families.

Our Vision: To develop and promote interdisciplinary science and service programs on an international level that are of clear relevance and benefit to persons with developmental disabilities and their families. We are committed to maintaining programs of the highest merit that promote scientific integrity and human dignity and that are sustainable over the long term.

In 2001, the Shriver Center became a part of the University of Massachusetts Medical School and was designated as one of its Centers of Excellence. The merging of these two fine institutions strengthens and unifies a mission to pursue excellence in research, education and service in the field of developmental disabilities. The Shriver Center merged with the medical school under the auspices of Commonwealth Medicine, a unique organization within the medical school that provides specialized expertise to help public sector healthcare initiatives optimize their efficiency and effectiveness.

Sponsors

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration on Developmental Disabilities (ADD), Maternal and Child Health Bureau of the Department of Health and Human Services, Massachusetts Department of Mental Retardation, Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission, Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services, Massachusetts Department of Public Health