CDC Grand Rounds Presents “Understanding the Causes of Major Birth Defects: Steps to Prevention,” on Tuesday, January 20 at 1 p.m. (EST).

We are pleased to present the December session of CDC Public Health Grand Rounds, “Understanding the Causes of Major Birth Defects: Steps to Prevention.” This session will be available via live webcast from CDC headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia on Tuesday, January 20, at 1 p.m. (EST) at http://www.cdc.gov/cdcgrandrounds.

Birth defects are serious conditions that involve changes to the structure of one or more parts of the body. While the causes of many birth defects are still unknown, their importance and the impact on peoples’ lives are quite clear. Birth defects are common, occurring in 1 of every 33 babies born every year in the United States. Depending on the severity of the defect, the expected lifespan of a person with a birth defect can be greatly reduced. In 2011, of the 24,000 infants that died in their first year of life, 4,800 succumbed due to a birth defect. Additionally, birth defects are a leading cause of pediatric hospitalizations and medical expenditures. It is estimated that 2.6 billion US dollars are spent annually in caring for infants, children, and adults living with a birth defect.

CDC and its partners are working together to identify both genetic and environmental risk factors that may contribute to the development of birth defects. Folic acid fortification has been a major success in the prevention of some types of birth defects and there is ongoing research on the impact of interventions that target obesity, smoking, and diabetes. We have made great advances, but there is still much that can be done to understand and prevent birth defects.

Please join us for this session of Grand Rounds as we discuss some of the research underway to identify the risk factors for birth defects, and develop the key intervention strategies that can be used to help ensure that every child is born in the best possible health.

Future Grand Rounds topics include “Global Polio Eradication,” “Pediatric Emergency Preparedness Challenges” and “Prevention and Control of Skin Cancer.”

Email your questions about this topic before or during the session. Follow us on Twitter #cdcgrandrounds

Presented by:

Marcia L. Feldkamp, PhD, PA

Associate Professor, Division of Medical Genetics

Department of Pediatrics, University of Utah

“The Impact of Birth Defects and Current Understanding of their Causes”

Jennita Reefhuis, PhD

Epidemiology Team Lead, Birth Defects Branch

Division of Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities

National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, CDC

“Advancing Understanding of the Causes of Birth Defects”

Allen A. Mitchell, MD

Director, Slone Epidemiology Center and Professor of Epidemiology and Pediatrics,

Boston University Schools of Public Health and Medicine

“Birth Defects Research and Emergency Preparedness: The Vaccines and Medications in Pregnancy Surveillance System”

Suzanne Gilboa, PhD, MHS

Partnerships and Applied Epidemiology Team Lead, Birth Defects Branch

Division of Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities

National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, CDC

“Identifying What Else We Can Do To Prevent Birth Defects”

Facilitated By:

John Iskander, MD, MPH, Scientific Director, Public Health Grand Rounds

Phoebe Thorpe, MD, MPH, Deputy Scientific Director, Public Health Grand Rounds

Susan Laird, MSN, RN, Communications Director, Public Health Grand Rounds

For non-CDC staff or those outside of the CDC firewall:

A live external webcast will be available.  Presentations are archived and posted 48 hours after each session.  Due to security measures at CDC’s Roybal campus, non-CDC staff who wish to attend these sessions in person must have prior clearance and a U.S. state-issued photo ID (e.g., driver’s license, US passport).

Names of non-CDC staff (both domestic and international) should be submitted to the Grand Rounds Team. Please note that all information for international visitors must be submitted at least 10 days in advance.

Grand Rounds is available for Continuing Education.

ALL Continuing Education hours for Public Health Grand Rounds (PHGR) are issued online through theCDC/ATSDR Training and Continuing Education Online system.  If you have questions, e-mail or call Learner Support at 1-800-418-7246 (1-800-41TRAIN).

Those who attend PHGR either in person, Envision, IPTV, or “web on demand” and who wish to receive continuing education must complete the online seminar evaluation. Thirty days from the initial seminar the course number will change to WD2346 and will be available for continuing education until February 18, 2016.  The course code for PHGR is PHGR10.

Target Audience: Physicians, nurses, epidemiologists, pharmacists, veterinarians, certified health education specialists, laboratorians, others

Objectives: 

1. List key measures of burden of disease involving morbidity, mortality, and/or cost.
2. Describe evidence-based preventive interventions and the status of their implementations.
3. Identify one key prevention science research gap.
4. Name one key indicator by which progress and meeting prevention goals is measured.

CE certificates can be printed from your computer immediately upon completion of your online evaluation.  A cumulative transcript of all CDC/ATSDR CE’s obtained through the TCE Online System will be maintained for each user.  We hope that this will assist CDC staff and other public health professionals to fulfill the requirements for their professional licenses and certificates.

Learn more about continuing education on the Grand Rounds website.