Study Center: Arkansas
The Arkansas Center for Birth Defects Research and Prevention is a collaboration between the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and the Arkansas Reproductive Health Monitoring System at Arkansas Children’s Hospital. The Arkansas Center has been and is supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a Center for Excellence in Birth Defects Research.
The Arkansas Center’s mission is to reduce the prevalence of birth defects in Arkansas and the nation and to reduce the economic, social, and psychological impact of birth defects at a state and national level. To accomplish this goal, the Center conducts research on the etiology and prevention of birth defects through the successful completion of high-caliber epidemiologic studies.
Contact
Phone: 501-214-2222
E-mail: ar@nbdps.org
Website: publichealth.uams.edu
Current and Former Investigators
Wendy Nembhard, MPH, PhD
Director
Wendy Nembhard, MPH, PhD is the current Principal Investigator (PI) and the Director of the Arkansas Center for Birth Defects Research and Prevention at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Dr. Nembhard is also a tenured Professor and Chair of the Department of Epidemiology at Fay W Boozman College of Public Health at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) and a tenured Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, UAMS College of Medicine. She joined the Center as a Co-Investigator in 2014 and became the Center Director in 2017. She has more than 25 years of experience in birth defects research, including serving as the Scientific Director of the Arkansas Reproductive Health Monitoring System, the state’s birth defects registry from 2014 until 2018. Her research interests focus on the etiology of and long term-outcomes for children and adults with birth defects with a particular interest in congenital heart defects. As PI and Director, she oversees the analyses and dissemination of NBDPS data, storage and analyses of the biological samples, participation in the BD-STEPS, and the research activities of the Center.
Charlotte Hobbs, MD, PhD
Former Director
Charlotte Hobbs, MD, PhD was the Director of the Arkansas Center for Birth Defects Research and Prevention from the Center’s establishment in 1997 until her retirement from at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in 2017. She was the recipient of the Pamela D. Stephens Endowed Chair for Birth Defects Research and Chief of the Section of Birth Defects Research in the Department of Pediatrics in the College of Medicine at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Dr. Hobbs’ primary research interests were the genetic and gene-environment factors that influence the development of congenital heart defects in the fetus. She led several studies on the genetic epidemiology of congenital heart defects using data from the NBDPS. Dr. Hobbs continues to collaborate with the Center on NBDPS projects.
Local Activities and Research
- Genetic and metabolic determinants of congenital heart defects
- Epigenetics of birth defects
- Maternal cigarette smoking and occurrence of congenital heart defects
- Understand the long-term outcome for children with birth defects
- Developing a biorepository for birth defects research
Notable Research Findings
Patel J, Politis MD, Howley MM, Browne ML, Bolin EH, Ailes EC, Johnson CY, Magann E, Nembhard WN, and the National Birth Defects Prevention Study. Fever and Antibiotic Use in Maternal Urinary Tract Infections during Pregnancy and Risk of Congenital Heart Defects: Findings from the National Birth Defects Prevention Study. Birth Defects Res. 2023 Dec 13. doi: 10.1002/bdr2.2281. Online ahead of print. [PMID: 38093546]
Huang M, Lyu C, Liu N, Nembhard WN, Witte J, Hobbs CA, and Li M. (2023) A Gene-based Association Test of Interactions for Maternal-fetal Genotypes Identifies Genes Associated with Non-syndromic Congenital Heart Defects. Genet Epidemiol 2023 Jun 21. doi: 10.1002/gepi.22533. Online ahead of print. [PMID: 37341229]
Weber KA, Yang W, Carmichael SL, Collins II RT, Luben TJ, Desrosiers TA, Insaf TZ, Le MT, Pruitt Evans S, Romitti PA, Yazdy MM, Nembhard WN, Shaw GM, and the National Birth Defects Prevention Study. Assessing associations between residential proximity to greenspace and birth defects in the National Birth Defects Prevention Study. Environ Health Sci Nov 7;216(Pt 3):114760. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2022.114760. Online ahead of print. [PMID: 36356662]
Richard MA, Patel J, Benjamin RH, +Bircan E, Canon SJ, Marengo LK, Canfield MA, Agopian AJ, Lupo PJ, and Nembhard WN. Prevalence and Clustering of Congenital Heart Defects among Boys with Hypospadias (2022) JAMA Open Network 2022 Jul 1;5(7):e2224152. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.24152. [PMID: 35900762]
Rashkin SR, Cleves M, Shaw GM, Nembhard WN, Nestoridi E, Jenkins MM, Romitti PA, Lou XY, Browne ML, Mitchell LE, Olshan AF, Lomangino K, Bhattacharyya S, Witte JS, Hobbs CA and the National Birth Defects Prevention Study. A genome-wide association study of obstructive heart defects among participants in the National Birth Defects Prevention Study (2022) Am J Med Gen A. 2022 Apr 22. doi: 10.1002/ajmg.a.62759. Online ahead of print. [PMID: 35451555]
Hsu PC, Maity S, Patel J, Lupo PJ, and Nembhard WN. (2022) Metabolomics Signatures among Mothers with a Congenital Heart Defect-Affected Pregnancy. Metabolites 2022, Jan 21;12(2). https://doi.org/10.3390/metabo12020100. [PMID: 35208175; PMCID: PMC8877777]
Bolin EH, Gokun Y, Romitti PA, Tinker SC, Summers AD, Roberson PK, Hobbs CA, Malik S, Botto LD, Nembhard WN and the National Birth Defects Prevention Study. (2021) Maternal Smoking and Congenital Heart Defects, National Birth Defects Prevention Study, 1997-2011. J Pediatrics 2022 Jan;240:79-86.e1. doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2021.09.005. Epub 2021 Sep 8. [PMID: 34508749]
Patel J, Nembhard WN, Politis MD, Rocheleau CM, Langlois PH, Shaw GM, Romitti PA, Gilboa SM, Desrosiers TA, Insaf T, Lupo PJ and The National Birth Defects Prevention Study. (2020) Maternal Occupational Exposure to Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and the Risk of Isolated Congenital Heart Defects among Offspring. Environ Res. 2020 Jul;186:109550. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2020.109550. Epub 2020 Apr 18. [PMID: 32335433]