Center for the Promotion of Maternal Health and Infant Development opens

On May 3, 2012, Rady Children's Hospital-San Diego and the UC San Diego School of Medicine launched the Center for the Promotion of Maternal Health and Infant Development. The new center, located on the campus of Rady Children's Hospital at 7910 Frost Street in San Diego, will focus on identifying the best ways to optimize pregnancy outcomes and to improve the health of children in San Diego through groundbreaking research and patient care.

Under the direction of Kenneth Lyons Jones, MD and Christina Chambers, PhD, MPH, professors in the Department of Pediatrics at UC San Diego School of Medicine, the center will be home to a number of programs, projects and services including:

*The California Teratogen Information Service (CTIS) Pregnancy Health Information Line, a state-wide non-profit organization offering evidence-based clinical information about exposures during pregnancy and breastfeeding through its toll-free hotline, 800-532-3749, and website, CTISPregnancy.org.

*The Organization of Teratology Information Specialists (OTIS) Research Center, which conducts groundbreaking research on the safety of various medications and vaccines used for the treatment of conditions such as autoimmune diseases and asthma, and to prevent influenza, meningitis and HPV infection in pregnant women throughout the U.S. and Canada.

*The National Children's Study (NCS) San Diego which aims to examine the effects of environmental and genetic factors on the growth, development, and long-term health of children, following them from before birth until age 21 years.

*A California study, called "Ready, Set, Go," that aims to understand how a child's learning and behavior may be affected by factors that happened before birth, including various environmental agents which the mother came into contact with during her pregnancy, such as the kinds of food that she ate and how much alcohol she consumed.

*A Genetics/Dysmorphology outpatient clinic to evaluate children with birth defects.

*Maternal and fetal health education and training programs.

"We are excited about the opportunity this new Center brings to combine the talents of UC San Diego and Rady Children's Hospital researchers and clinicians to improve the lives of women and children not only in the San Diego community, but across the country," said Chambers.