The 'Northern Plains Prenatal and Infant Health Consortium' is comprised of three institutions that each have existing links to communities across South and North Dakota and an Advisory Board with representatives from numerous community agencies and disciplines. The primary purpose behind the formation of this consortium is to provide a structure in which collaborative research projects can be conducted to clarify the role prenatal alcohol exposure plays in fetal death, stillbirth, and sudden infant death syndrome. Deciphering the impact of prenatal alcohol exposure on fetal/infant mortality and development will require the input of individuals from a variety of disciplines, in addition to input regarding community needs and concerns. The Northern Plains Consortium is committed to participating in the multidisciplinary steering committee that will result from this RFA and will work in a cooperative manner with the other Comprehensive Clinical Sites, the Developmental Biology and Pathology Center, the Data Coordinating and Analysis Center, and the NIH to design protocols that can be implemented across numerous clinical sites. It is hoped that this collaborative effort will result in answers that will decrease fetal and infant mortality rates, thereby improving child health in the communities we serve. The primary goal for Phase I of this project will be to formalize the collaborative relationships, with both the Steering Committee and the Northern Plains Advisory Board, which will serve as the basis for conducting multi-site research projects. These relationships will be formed through meetings which will occur 4 times in the first year for the Steering Committee and twice with the Advisory Board. We will meet with our advisory board twice each year, coincident with the bi-annual meetings of the Aberdeen Area Perinatal Infant Mortality Review Committee (PIMR). These meetings will lead to the creation of the collaborative structure and processes through which research projects suitable for multi-site implementation will be designed. Furthermore, the Advisory Board, which contains many community leaders, will help develop ways to strengthen the functional community partnerships that will be necessary to successfully carry out this research agenda. A final goal will be to refine the design of a potential pilot study that draws upon our expertise in the areas of exposure assessment and measurement of physiologic function during the fetal and early newborn period.
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