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North Carolina receives renewed funding for Center for Birth Defects Research and Prevention
11-Feb-09 |
North Carolina was one of the five states to receive renewed funding for our Center for Birth Defects Research and Prevention; the 5 are MA, NC, AR, UT and CA, and the CDC is a 6th site. This was a very competitive application, and NC scored very high in the external review process. One of the strengths of the application that the reviewers consistently mentioned was the fact that our state was able to obtain additional funding from our legislature to expand our surveillance system, which is a critical piece of the center's research capability. March of Dimes lobbied for legislation to increase funding for NC's program which passed in 2007.
"I want to thank our advocates for their efforts to educate our legislators about the importance of birth defects surveillance," said Anna Bess Brown, Director of Program Services at the March of Dimes. "Our advocacy efforts were successful and helped the NC Birth Defects Monitoring Program receive a CDC research grant!"
Dr. Andrew Olshan, Professor and Chair of the Department of Epidemiology, UNC Gillings Global School of Public Health, has been awarded a $4.9 million dollar grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study the causes of birth defects. The grant provides 5 years of funding for research coordinated by the North Carolina Center for Birth Defects Research and Prevention. The Center is led by Dr. Olshan and Dr. Robert Meyer, Director of NC Birth Defects Monitoring Program, North Carolina Division of Public Health. Dr. Meyer is an adjunct professor, Department of Maternal and Child Health, UNC Gillings Global School of Public Health.
The UNC Center contributes data to the National Birth Defects Prevention Study (NBDPS). The NBDPS is an ongoing study that collects information from the states of Arkansas, California, Georgia, Iowa, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Texas and Utah on the pregnancies of mothers of children with and without birth defects. It is one of the largest epidemiological efforts ever undertaken in the United States to identify environmental and genetic causes of birth defects. The Center also assists other projects on the causes, prevention, and consequences of birth defects in North Carolina.
UNC co-investigators include Dr. Anna Maria Siega-Riz, Departments of Epidemiology and Nutrition, Dr. Amy Herring, Department of Biostatistics, and Dr Arthur S. Aylsworth, MD, Professor of Pediatrics and Genetics. Drs. Olshan, Siega-Riz, and Herring are also members of the Carolina Population Center and UNC Center for Environmental Health and Susceptibility.
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