BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk// X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Neurodevelopmental risk assessment in the COVID-19 Mother Baby Out comes (COMBO) Initiative at Columbia University - Dr. Dani Dumitriu\, Colu mbia University Iriving Medical Center DTSTART:20220613T143000Z DTEND:20220613T153000Z UID:TALK175598@talks.cam.ac.uk CONTACT:Elizabeth Weir DESCRIPTION:Abstract:\nFetal exposure to perturbation of the intrauterine environment is implicated in altered brain development and longterm offspr ing vulnerability for neurodevelopmental and psychiatric sequalae. Globall y\, around 300 million infants have been born since the onset of the COVID -19 pandemic\, with a substantive proportion exposed to maternal SARS-CoV- 2 infection during pregnancy. Therefore\, there have been global calls to action urging the evaluation of the neurodevelopment of infants born durin g this crisis. Efforts focus on assessing two hypothesized pathways: direc t effects mediated through viral infection (either via vertical transmissi on or via maternal immune activation) or indirect effects mediated through maternal stress during pregnancy. In this talk\, I will detail our effort s to uncover the independent and/or interactive effects of these two mecha nisms on infant neurodevelopment in our COVID-19 Mother Baby Outcomes (COM BO) Initiative (www.ps.columbia.edu/COMBO)\, spearheaded at Columbia Unive rsity in New York City in the spring of 2020. To date\, our data shows sub tle but significant effects on the neurodevelopment of infants born during the pandemic do exist\, and that these effects are more likely to be attr ibutable to maternal stress. In a recent published report (Shuffrey et al\ , JAMA Pediatrics\, 2022)\, we showed no differences exist in the neurodev elopmental scores of 6 month old infants with and without fetal exposure t o maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection as measured by maternal report on the Ages and Stages Questionnaire 3rd Ed (ASQ-3)\, but the combined pandemic-born cohort has slightly lower scores on motor and social skills compared to a cohort born at the same institution in the preceding 3 years prior to the pandemic. I will also present unpublished follow up data supporting the la ck of an effect of maternal viral infection in a novel observational asses sment conducted via Zoom at 6-12 months of age\, as well as data showing t hat as the pandemic progresses\, there is a promising normalization of the initial effects observed in infants that were in utero during the first w ave in the spring of 2020. \n\nBio:\n\nDani Dumitriu\, MD\, PhD\, is a ped iatrician and neuroscientist at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. She completed her physician-scientist training\, pediatric residency\, an d a pediatric environmental health fellowship at the Icahn School of Medic ine at Mount Sinai and was the first female to secure R01-level independen t funding from the NIH during clinical training. She currently spends 20% time as a hospitalist in the Well Baby Nursery and 80% time conducting re search into the mechanism of emotional connection and resilience across sp ecies and investigational scales in her dual roles as Principal Investigat or of the Developmental Origins of Resilience (DOOR) lab and as the newly appointed Director of the Nurture Science Program. Her most recent researc h focus has been to investigate the role of the COVID-19 pandemic on the g eneration born during these uncertain and changing times\, and she is the founder and Chair of Columbia University's COVID-19 Mother Baby Outcomes ( COMBO) Initiative. \n LOCATION:https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85130861934?pwd=c1l1czdNSFVaUzdtRDRPSlU 3Q0VmZz09 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR