About the Georgia Center for Birth Defects Research and Prevention
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) coordinates BD-STEPS and serves as the Georgia study site. CDC brings a lot of experience to BD-STEPS, like studying medication use among pregnant women and finding new ways to look at the data. In addition, CDC keeps track of birth defects in Atlanta through the Metropolitan Atlanta Congenital Defects Program (MACDP). MACDP has collected data in Atlanta since 1968 and serves as a model for other state surveillance systems.
More than 3,000 women from Georgia have helped us understand the causes of birth defects by taking part in the NBDPS, and more than 700 women from Georgia have participated in BD-STEPS so far.
Team
Dr. Elizabeth Ailes
Principal Investigator
Dr. Elizabeth Ailes is the Scientific Lead for the collaborative Centers for Birth Defects Research and Prevention (CBDRP) and the Principal Investigator (PI) of the Georgia Center. Dr. Ailes works with a team of computer programmers, communication specialists, and other scientists that coordinate the overall study logistics and combine the data from the individual Centers. In her role as the Georgia Center PI, she focuses on the collection of high-quality data from local study subjects. Dr. Ailes’ research focus is on infections and medication use and their relation to birth defects.
I’m honored to be part of such an important study and thankful for the time and effort by the study participants and staff who make such critical work possible.
Dr. Elizabeth Ailes
Mary Jenkins, PhD
Epidemiology Team Lead
Dr. Jenkins is the team leader for the CDC team that is responsible for BD-STEPS, and the Collaborative Centers for Birth Defects Research and Prevention. She manages the study staff and provides oversight to all aspects of the study, including key administrative and financial components. Dr. Jenkins’ research interests include understanding the roles that genetics and gene-environment interactions play in the causes of birth defects, as well as understanding ethical issues in genetic research and the impact of specimen collection on these studies.
I feel fortunate to be part of a group of scientists and staff who dedicate themselves daily to understanding genetic and non-genetic causes of birth defects and stillbirths.
Dr. Mary Jenkins
Jennita Reefhuis, PhD
CDC Birth Defects Monitoring and Research Branch Chief
Dr. Reefhuis is the Branch Chief for CDC’s Birth Defects Monitoring and Research Branch, where the CBDRP work is located. She was the principal investigator at the CDC for the collaborative BD-STEPS Centers for Birth Defects Research and Prevention from 2006-2018. Dr. Reefhuis’ research interests include the use of medications in pregnancy and their relation with birth defects, especially fertility treatments and antidepressants.
I think every child deserves the best possible start in life, and I want to do everything I can do to help make that possible.
Jennita Reefhuis
Notable Research Findings
The following are selected examples of important research publications led by the Georgia Center.
Pruitt Evans, S., Ailes, E. C., Kramer, M. R., Shumate, C. J., Reefhuis, J., Insaf, T. Z., Yazdy, M. M., Carmichael, S. L., Romitti, P. A., Feldkamp, M. L., Neo, D. T., Nembhard, W. N., Shaw, G. M., Palmi, E., & Gilboa, S. M. (2023). Neighborhood Deprivation and Neural Tube Defects. Epidemiology, 34(6), 774-785.
Van Buren, K. W., Rocheleau, C. M., Chen, I. C., Desrosiers, T. A., Sanderson, W. T., Politis, M. D., Ailes, E. C., & National Birth Defects Prevention Study (2023). Maternal occupational exposure to selected organic and chlorinated solvents and delivery of small-for-gestational age or preterm infants. American journal of industrial medicine, 66(10), 842–853.
Siegel, M. R., Rocheleau, C. M., Hollerbach, B. S., Omari, A., Jahnke, S. A., Almli, L. M., Olshan, A. F., & National Birth Defects Prevention Study (2022). Birth defects associated with paternal firefighting in the National Birth Defects Prevention Study. American journal of industrial medicine, 66(1), 30-40.
Siegel, M. R., Rocheleau, C. M., Broadwater, K., Santiago-Colón, A., Johnson, C. Y., Herdt, M. L., Chen, I. C., Lawson, C. C., & National Birth Defects Prevention Study (2022). Maternal occupation as a nail technician or hairdresser during pregnancy and birth defects, National Birth Defects Prevention Study, 1997-2011. Occupational and environmental medicine, 79(1), 17–23.
Simeone, R. M., Reefhuis, J., Jamieson, D. J., Drews-Botsch, C. D., Lash, T. L., Fisher, S. C., Howley, M. M., Evans, S., Howards, P. P., & National Birth Defects Prevention Study (2022). Delayed entry into prenatal care among women with pre-pregnancy health conditions, National Birth Defects Prevention Study, 1997-2011. Preventive medicine, 164, 107272.
Interrante JD, Scroggs SLP, Hogue CJ, Friedman JM, Reefhuis J, Jann MW, Broussard CS; National Birth Defects Prevention Study. (2021) Prescription opioid use during pregnancy and risk for preterm birth or term low birthweight. J Opioid Manag. 2021 May-Jun;17(3):215-225.
Tinker, S. C., Gilboa, S. M., Moore, C. A., Waller, D. K., Simeone, R. M., Kim, S. Y., ... & National Birth Defects Prevention Study. (2021). Modification of the association between diabetes and birth defects by obesity, National Birth Defects Prevention Study, 1997–2011. Birth Defects Research. 113(14):1084-1097.
Anderson, K. N., Ailes, E. C., Lind, J. N., Broussard, C. S., Bitsko, R. H., Friedman, J. M., . . . & National Birth Defects Prevention, S. (2020). Atypical antipsychotic use during pregnancy and birth defect risk: National Birth Defects Prevention Study, 1997-2011. Schizophr Res, 215, 81-88
Contact
BD-STEPS Overall and Georgia Center Principal Investigator:
Elizabeth Ailes, PhD
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Phone: 404-498-3946