Centers for Excellence in Birth Defects Research and Prevention

The Slone Epidemiology Center is participating in the Massachusetts Center for Birth Defects Research and Prevention, one of seven such centers currently funded by the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (CDC). These centers conduct surveillance and research aimed at the prevention of birth defects. The Center’s work includes two national case-control studies to identify risk factors for birth defects. The first, conducted between 1997 and 2013, was called the National Birth Defects Prevention Study (NBDPS). It was followed in 2014 by the Birth Defects Study to Evaluate Pregnancy Exposures (BD-STEPS). Only well-defined major defects with unknown or uncertain etiology are included. Slone’s role involves contributing to the overall planning and conduct of the Massachusetts Center, participation in the design and analysis of the national study, and conduct of birth defect research that is not part of the national study but contributes to the centers’ objectives.