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 and developmental health and disease, with special emphasis on the safety of drugs used during pregnancy. The meeting attendees historically come from a diverse professional background including basic and clinical scientists from the academic, industrial and government research sectors. The Teratology Society recognizes the importance of this diverse mix of professionals meeting 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 of Teratology 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 poster presentations. The session topics address newer concepts in the field and are likely to generate lively interaction. The Annual Meeting provides a place and time for attendees to network, and indulge in discussions 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 a Society of fellow clinicians, scientists and science policy regulators from academic, industrial and government sectors. In this proposal, we are requesting funds to defray part of the speaker and 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.
