Newsletter 1

Newsletter

		September 1999 Society for Pediatric and Perinatal Epidemiologic Research
Presidents Corner This is an exciting time to serve as president of SPER. I am still on a 'high' from the annual meeting in Baltimore. In a wonderful setting near the Harborfront area, we had perhaps the best meeting in our history. A record number of attendees (141) participated. The Keynote Speaker, Dr. Barry Pless of McGill University, gave a talk on an area of epidemiology new to many of us, the epidemiology of childhood injuries. He forcefully made the point that these injuries are not 'accidents' and that epidemiologists working together with public health officials can make a real impact on preventing these injuries. The student prize paper was presented by Maria Coronado, 'Neurosensory impairment in a nationwide cohort of very low birthweight Jamaican children'. Ms. Coronado's work demonstrated ingenious and impressive strategies of obtaining sophisticated follow-up testing of children in rural areas of a developing country, living in households not accessible by telephone, post, or usual means of tracking.	Interesting reports also were made of results from the Pregnancy, Infection and Nutrition (PIN) study in North Carolina, including excellent platform presentations by Amy Sayle, Nancy Dole, and Anna Maria Siega-Riz. Claudia Holzman presented new and interesting results correlating MSAFP and CRH levels from large-scale pregnancy screening. The success of CRH assays in this stored blood is new and unique. Perhaps the most impressive feature of the meeting was the abundance of excellent work presented by young investigators who were presenting at SPER for the first time. It bodes well for the future of pediatric and perinatal epidemiological research. As we announced at the business meeting, this is an open Society, with no cliques or group of insiders running the show. The Society welcomes volunteers for the Executive Committee, and for assisting with ongoing activities. Specifically, volunteers for office contact Suzan Carmichael sca@cbdmp.org , those interested in reviewing abstracts for the Annual Meeting contact Pat Shiono p.shiono@futureofchildren.org ,		those interested in helping with our web-site contact Cande Ananth anathcv@epi.umdnj.edu , and submit ideas for changes in the format of the Annual Meeting to me pmeis@bgsm.edu . I am looking forward to our 2000 meeting in Seattle. This will be a wonderful opportunity to visit the beautiful Northwest at a lovely time of the year. I believe I can promise that, even in the face of global warming, we will experience cooler weather than the heat of Baltimore! – Paul Meis
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Finances As a society, we are doing well financially. A Scientific Research Meeting grant of $5,000, generously awarded by The March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation, supported our meeting costs for the second year in a row. And more good news—NICHD has just awarded us an R13 grant of $5,000/year to support the costs of the student prize paper, the Heinz Berendes International Travel Award and the Keynote Speaker. Many thanks to Paul Meis for submitting the successful application! Heinz Berendes International Travel Award Upon inspiration from Mark Klebanoff, the Executive Committee decided to rename SPER's Travel Award in honor of Heinz Berendes’ contributions to the field of perinatal epidemiology. Dr. Berendes came to NIH in 1960. During the 1960s and 1970s he directed the Collaborative Perinatal Project at the National Institutes of Neurological Diseases and Stroke, and from 1979 to 1988 he was Director of the Division of Epidemiology, Statistics, and Prevention Research at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. He spent his career working to improve the health of mothers and children the world over. He passed away in May, 1999.	We have also made some changes in the award itself. The NICHD grant has allowed us to increase the amount of the award, such that it will now cover the recipients' travel expenses, in addition to an honorarium of $250. We will require that applicants submit a manuscript, not just an abstract; and papers that emphasize populations in developing countries will be encouraged. Detailed application instructions will be published in the next newsletter or may be obtained from Suzan Carmichael sca@cbdmp.org. The submission deadline will be mid-February. Officers for 1999-2000 The 1999-2000 Executive Committee includes the following individuals: Paul Meis, MD, President Cande Ananth, PhD, MPH, Treasurer Suzan Carmichael, PhD, Secretary Edem Ekwo, MD, MPH, President-Elect Mark Klebonoff, MD, MPH, Past President Members-at-Large Mary Hediger, PhD Ken Schoendorf, MD, MPH Pat Shiono, PhD Martha Werler, ScD		Liaison with AAP’s Epidemiology Section: Linda van Marter Liaison with SER: David Savitz Our three newest officers are: Edem Ekwo, Cande Ananth and Mary Hediger. Congratulations to the new officers, and thanks again to the officers whose terms just ended: Mark Klebanoff, MD, MPH (President), Pauline Mendola, PhD (Treasurer), and Michael O'Shea, MD, MPH (Member-At-Large). Allen Wilcox's term as SER's President has ended. David Savitz, PhD, the new President-Elect for SER, has graciously agreed to serve as our new liaison. Contact Information for the New Treasurer We will greatly miss Pauline Mendola as our treasurer, but we welcome Cande Ananth as our new officer and thank him for taking on the job. You may submit membership renewals and change of addresses to Cande at: Department of OB/GYNU MDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School 125 Paterson St New Brunswick, NJ 08901 Phone: (732) 235-7940 Fax: (732) 235-6627 Email:ananthcv@epi.umdnj.edu

Make sure to mark your calendars for the annual SER Meeting to be held June 15-17, 2000 at the Westin Hotel in Seattle, Washington. The meeting will include: Poster Sessions, Spotlight Sessions, Symposia, Roundtable Discussions, and much more. For information on submitting an abstract, please contact Jennifer Balzano at: jbalzano@jhsph.edu; (410) 223-1626 or see the instructions posted on the Web at www.sph.jhu.edu/pubs/jepi/ . For registration information, please contact Conferences and Institutes at (801) 581-5809.

Hope to see you in Seattle!

Annual Business Meeting Minutes
Baltimore -- June 9, 1999

The meeting was called to order at 5:20 pm by Paul Meis, President.
Recognition of outgoing and new officers

Mark Klebanoff thanked outgoing officers Pauline Mendola, Treasurer, and Mike O’Shea, Member-At-Large, for their contributions as officers. He then introduced Paul Meis as our new President, who in turn thanked Mark for his contributions.

Paul Meis introduced our new officers: Edem Ekwo, President Elect; Cande Ananth, Treasurer; and Mary Hediger, Member-At-Large.

Treasurer’s report – Pauline Mendola

As of June 4, 1999, our bank balance was $18,624.48. Considering upcoming expenses and bills (mostly meeting costs and journals for new members), we should have about $10,500 carry over.

Secretary’s report – Suzan Carmichael

141 people registered for this meeting, which is a record (123 in Chicago, 72 in Edmonton, and 137 in Boston).
99 abstracts were submitted (86 abstracts were submitted in Chicago, 78 in Edmonton, and 109 in Boston); 80 were accepted, 66 as posters and 14 as talks.

Miscellaneous business

Paul Meis encouraged members to:

Run for office or nominate people to run (email Suzan Carmichael at slc@a.crl.com).
Volunteer to participate in the abstract review process (email Pat Shiono at pshiono@futureforchildren.org).
Help Cande Ananth with the development of our website (email ananthcv@epi.umdnj.edu).

Changing the fiscal year

Pauline Mendola recommended that we change the start date for the fiscal year to January 1 from June 1. This will make reporting our financial status more clear, since most of our annual expenses occur around the month of June. The membership approved this change by vote.

Heinz Berendes International Travel Award

Paul acknowledged the recent renaming and dedication of the award and thanked Mark Klebanoff for initiating this effort. He also announced that Dr. Berendes’ family has indicated that they would welcome contributions to the award. The Executive Committee has decided to increase the amount of the award, to cover travel expenses up to $3,000 (the previous award was a flat amount of $500), and it will encourage papers that involve research that occurred in developing countries.

Grant proposal for meeting support

Paul Meis and Mark Klebanoff submitted an R13 grant for meeting support to NICHD. The proposal requested $5,000/year for 5 years to fund the student prize, international travel award and keynote speaker. The proposal scored in the 0.5 percentile. We do not know yet whether or how much support will be granted, but we are likely to receive at least some level of support.

Meeting format

Paul solicited suggestions for changes in the meeting format, which included a point-counterpoint type of discussion session, more presentations on reproductive health and on methods, discussants for selected papers or groups of papers and a poster symposium with discussion.

SER liaison

Allen Wilcox’s term as SER President is ending. David Savitz, who is the new President-Elect for SER, will be our new liaison.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:40 pm.