The overarching goal of the Berlin site is to accelerate the development and implementation of new strategies to improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of rare genetic and common chronic diseases in children and adolescents with a high unmet need. To achieve this goal, research and development at the Berlin site is aligned along the entire translational pipeline in close collaboration with other DZKJ sites, with a focus on rare genetic, chronic inflammatory and neurological diseases. In addition, the Berlin site uses its expertise and infrastructure in systems medicine to establish cross-organ and cross-disease research approaches. The aim is to better understand characteristics of health and mechanisms of disease development in children and adolescents and to implement precision medicine on this basis. Close cooperation with the German Center for Mental Health (DZPG) and the other German Centers for Health Research (DZGs) is promoted. In addition, the participation and empowerment of affected children and their families as well as the optimal training of early career and clinician scientists who will advance health research for children and adolescents in the coming generations will be a major priority for the Berlin site of the DZKJ.