Carla Van Bennekom, M.P.H.

Carla van BennekomEpidemiologist
Slone Epidemiology Center

cvanben@bu.edu

Education:

B.S.N., 1974, Cornell University
M.P.H., 1986, Boston University School of Public Health

Research Interests:

Ms. Van Bennekom’s research interests focus on reproductive health issues and evaluation of risk management programs (REMS), in particular, programs for drugs that may cause birth defects if taken during pregnancy.  In 1990, she began work on a national survey evaluating the effectiveness of pregnancy prevention efforts for isotretinoin (Accutane) and later worked on similar evaluations for thalidomide and ambrisentan. She is interested in generalizing findings from these pregnancy prevention approaches to assist in the development of risk management programs for other drugs that are uniquely effective but that also have serious potential adverse effects.

Currently, Ms. Van Bennekom’s activities include participation in the Slone Birth Defects Study and the National Birth Defects Prevention Study.  In both, she studies the effects of medication use during pregnancy in relation to the risk of birth defects.