The Teratology Society will hold its 50th Annual Meeting in Louisville, Kentucky on June 26-30,2010. The scientific program covers a wide-range of current issues in reproductive anddevelopmental health and disease, with special emphasis on the safety of drugs used duringpregnancy. The meeting attendees historically come from a diverse professional backgroundincluding basic and clinical scientists from the academic, industrial and government researchsectors. The Teratology Society recognizes the importance of this diverse mix of professionalsmeeting annually in an informal setting to exchange ideas and the latest experimental findings.The 2010 Program Committee of the Teratology Society, with input from the Organization ofTeratology Information Specialists (OTIS) and Neurobehavioral Teratology Society (NBTS),arranged for an outstanding and expansive scientific program that includes education courses(3), a workshop (1), scientific symposia (8), special lectures (7), and an exchange session (1),as well as opportunities for open research communications as platform talks and posterpresentations. The session topics address newer concepts in the field and are likely to generatelively interaction.The Annual Meeting provides a place and time for attendees to network, and indulge indiscussions from philosophical to practical with established experts in the field, new researchers,and students. It is also a place and time to promote and express our scientific diversity as aSociety of fellow clinicians, scientists and science policy regulators from academic, industrialand government sectors. In this proposal, we are requesting funds to defray part of the speakerand session expenses for 2010-2014 Teratology Society Annual Meetings.
For fifty years, the Teratology Society has brought together academic, industrial and governmental scientists interested in birth defects research and prevention. The theme for the 2010 meeting is Healthy Lifestyles for Parents and Children. Considerations of how to ensure drug safety, both during pregnancy and in children, will encompass approaches that range all the way from the use of psychiatric drugs or herbal supplements during pregnancy to computational toxicology.