About the Massachusetts Center for Birth Defects Research and Prevention

About 2,500 pregnancies are affected by birth defects in Massachusetts each year. The Massachusetts Center for Birth Defects Research and Prevention, which started in 1997, is a collaboration between the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, the Slone Epidemiology Center at Boston University, the Boston University School of Public Health, and the Genetics Unit at MassGeneral Hospital for Children. The Massachusetts Center has experts in many research areas including congenital heart defects, limb deficiencies, gastroschisis and other birth defects, in public health tracking of birth defects and emerging threats to pregnant women and infants such as the Zika virus epidemic, and in conducting health research studies of children and pregnant women, with a special expertise on medication use, nutrition, obesity and stillbirths with and without birth defects.

The Massachusetts Center is a national leader in studying the safety and risks of medications and the effects of other possible human teratogens. Massachusetts Center researchers showed that medication use during pregnancy has risen steadily over the past 30 years. The effects of medications – whether prescription, over-the-counter, or herbal remedies – on the developing fetus are often poorly understood. As part of the BD-STEPS, the Center continues to develop and refine the tools necessary to conduct sound research on the effects of medications and other substances, like e-cigarettes, during pregnancy.


Current and Former Massachusetts Center Principal Investigator

   

Mahsa Yazdy, PhD, MPH (pictured above left) is the Principal Investigator (PI) and the Director of the Massachusetts Center for Birth Defects Research and Prevention at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Dr. Yazdy joined the Center in 2016, bringing with her over 10 years of experience in birth defects research. Her areas of interest in the field of birth defects research are how medications and environmental exposures during pregnancy impact the risk of birth defects. Her recent publications focused on birth defects as a consequence of Zika virus infection in pregnancy, opioid and other medication use during pregnancy, and assisted reproduction. In her role as PI and Director, she oversees the Center’s participation in the BD-STEPS and sets the research agenda of the Center. Dr. Yazdy works closely with two Co-Principal Investigators: Allen Mitchell, MD, Director Emeritus of the Slone Epidemiology Center at Boston University, and Martha Werler, DSc, Professor and Chair of Epidemiology, at Boston University School of Public Health. Dr. Yazdy replaced Marlene Anderka, ScD, (pictured above right) who retired after 37 years of working in maternal and child health. Dr. Anderka played a key role in expanding the Massachusetts Center and served as the Principal Investigator and the Director for 15 years.

"With BD-STEPS, we can address new concerns that arise. We can also use the data to confirm findings between exposures and birth defects found in other studies. Finally, this study brings leading researchers from several states together, which makes it possible to solve problems that no one researcher could solve alone."
— Marlene Anderka


Notable Research Findings:

The following are selected examples of important research publications led by the MA Center. 

Werler MM, Guéry E, Waller DK, Parker SE. Gastroschisis and Cumulative Stressor Exposures. Epidemiology. 2018;29(5):721-8.

Parker SE, Van Bennekom C, Anderka M, Mitchell AA. Ondansetron for treatment of nausea and vomiting of pregnancy and the risk of specific birth defects. Obstetrics & Gynecology. 2018;132(2):385-94.

Dukhovny S, Van Bennekom CM, Gagnon DR, Hernandez Diaz S, Parker SE, Anderka M, et al. Metformin in the first trimester and risks for specific birth defects in the National Birth Defects Prevention Study. Birth Defects Research. 2018;110(7):579-86.

Yazdy MM, Werler MM, Feldkamp ML, Shaw GM, Mosley BS, Vieira VM. Spatial analysis of gastroschisis in the national birth defects prevention study. Birth Defects Research Part A: Clinical and Molecular Teratology. 2015 2015/04/06;103(6):544-53

Anderka M, Mitchell A, Louik C, Werler M, Hernández-Díaz S, Rasmussen S, and the National Birth Defects Prevention Study. Medications used to treat nausea and vomiting of pregnancy and risk of selected birth defects. Birth Defects Res A Clin Mol Teratol 2012; 94(1):22-30.

Mitchell AA, Gilboa SM, Werler MM, Kelley KE, Louik C, Hernández-Díaz S; National Birth Defects Prevention Study. Medication use during pregnancy, with particular focus on prescription drugs: 1976-2008. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2011; 205(1):51.e1-8.

 

 

Contact Information:

Principal Investigator:

Mahsa Yazdy, PhD, MPH

Director, Massachusetts Center for Birth Defects Research and Prevention

Massachusetts Department of Public Health

 

Phone: 617-624-6045

MA@bdsteps.org