Industry

Industry

Drug Safety Monitoring & Surveillance | FDA Commitments

Post-marketing surveillance is crucial to determine if medications prescribed to a woman can be safely used in pregnancy. For over 15 years we have successfully partnered with pharmaceutical companies who have a post-marketing drug safety surveillance requirement, by conducting rigorously designed pregnancy exposure registries to evaluate the safety of both medications and vaccines. Learn how we can help you meet your post-marketing surveillance requirement.

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The Center Hosts Zika Symposium Featuring Renowned Experts

Center for Better Beginnings hosts Zika Virus Microcephaly: Risks, Mechanisms and Prevention symposium as a leader in the fight against Zika virus.

How Safe Is Your Medication While Breastfeeding?

90% of breastfeeding women take at least one medication, but there is little to no information about whether or how much of the medicine will reach her nursing baby. The safe use of medications during breastfeeding is not an easy subject to study, but, as this Nature editorial contends, it has a bright future because of our program: Mommy’s Milk Human Milk Research Biorepository.

 

Learn why our mission of contributing to drug safety information for lactating moms is so necessary.

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Validation of the Pregnancy Asthma Control Test

Effective management of asthma is believed to reduce the risk for pregnancy-related complications. In an article published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice, lead author Dr. Kristin Palmsten and others from the Center for Better Beginnings explored how reliable telephone questionnaires were in assessing a mom’s control over her asthma during pregnancy using The Asthma Control Test (ACT).

 

What did our research team find — and is this in agreement with US guidelines?

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Dr. Chambers Receives Patricia Rodier Mid-Career Award

Dr. Chambers receives the Patricia Rodier Mid-Career Award for Research and Mentoring, a joint award of the Teratology Society and the Developmental Neurotoxicology Society.

Birth Defects

Birth Defects

Reducing the Leading Cause of Infant Deaths

We are pioneering the way for birth defects research as it relates to surveillance as well as identifying their environmental, genetic, and unknown causes.

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Alcohol

Alcohol

Understanding the Devastating Effects on Pregnancy

In 1973, our co-director, Dr. Kenneth Lyons Jones, was one of the first physicians to identify the detrimental effects of prenatal alcohol exposure when he published the 1st scientific paper on fetal alcohol syndrome. Since then, our Center has been dedicated to researching ways to improve the prevention and identification of alcohol-exposed pregnancies locally, nationally, and internationally.

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Breast Milk

Human Milk

Liquid Gold for Scientists & Babies

People have been nourishing their babies with nature’s best nutrition since the dawn of time. Yet in this modern day and age, we still have more questions than answers about what exactly makes human milk “liquid gold” for babies. Our researchers are exploring the powerful benefits of human milk, and how it influences child health and development. Discover how our Mommy’s Milk Human Milk Biorepository is building the first-ever research database of human milk—and find out what this means for the future of science.

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Exposures in Pregnancy

Exposures in Pregnancy

Getting the Answers You Need

Moms-to-be are women who may be living with health conditions that require taking medicine, social beings who may use recreational substances like alcohol or marijuana, and community members who may get a vaccination to keep themselves (and those around them) healthy. Yet there is a major lack of research on the safety of medications and other exposures for pregnant women. We strongly believe that every mom-to-be (and every healthcare provider treating her) deserves to know whether the things she may be exposed to could affect her pregnancy or her developing baby. Here’s what we’re doing about it.

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Professional Training

Professional Training

Outstanding Public Health & Medical Education

The Center for Better Beginnings is part of UC San Diego’s highly acclaimed School of Medicine. World renowned, the UC San Diego School of Medicine is ranked 18th among 118 research-intensive medical schools by U.S. News & World Report. Housed within the Pediatrics Department in the Division of Dysmorphology & Teratology, the Center focuses on training the next generation of pediatricians specializing in dysmorphology and the next generation of scientists with research interest in teratology, perinatal epidemiology, or other aspects of maternal health and child development.

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