National Birth Defects Prevention Network (NBDPN) Hosts Its 21st Annual Meeting in Atlanta, GA

With close to 250 attendees, the NBDPN Annual Meeting held March 12-14, 2018 was one of its largest, with about half being first time attendees! The meeting featured plenary sessions on advances in birth defects surveillance and breakout sessions on surveillance practices and data utilization. Networking opportunities were incorporated in many sessions, including mentoring, poster presentations and reception, social event, as well as NBDPN partners’ and committee meetings. Pre-conference trainings on scientific writing and medical record abstraction allowed participants hands-on experience.

NBDPN Network Awards
A time-honored tradition is the giving of Network Awards.  Each year, the NBDPN honors individuals and groups who distinguish themselves by their contribution to the field of birth defects and in service to the NBDPN.  The following 2017 award winners were acknowledged during the 2018 meeting:

Award	Recipient
Godfrey P. Oakley, Jr. Award	Margaret Honein. PhD, MPH
	Miguel Valencia-Prado, MD, FAAP
NBDPN President’s Award	Rachel Rutkowski, MSPH
Distinguished Service Award	Joan Ehrhardt, CGC
	Amy Nance, MPH
Birth Defects Education and Prevention Award	Minnesota Birth Defects Monitoring & Analysis Unit
	American Academy of Pediatrics
State Leadership Award	Massachusetts Birth Defects Monitoring Program