Immediately following the 2016 SPER Annual Meeting, the 4th Epidemiology Congress of the Americas was held. For the first time, SPER was an official sponsor of the Congress, joining the American College of Epidemiology (ACE), the American Public Health Association (APHA), the International Epidemiology Association (IEA), and the Society for Epidemiologic Research (SER).
SPER’s sponsorship of the Epi Congress allowed the society to play a more formal role and actively engage in the planning and execution of the Congress. This involvement allowed us to expose the benefits of SPER membership to a wider audience, with the goal of continuing to grow as a society. We “sweetened” the deal with an ice cream cart at the SPER booth at the Congress!
SPER sponsored a symposium, “A Critical Period? Fetal Exposures and Adult Health”, chaired by Samantha Parker and Martha Werler. The symposium included three speakers – Abigail Fraser, Edwina Yeung, and Pam Factor-Litvak – who covered fetal exposures such as maternal health during pregnancy and environmental exposures, and outcomes including early childhood development.
The presidents of each sponsoring society were asked to give a presentation, and on the final day of the Congress, Suzan Carmichael delivered the SPER Presidential Address during the morning plenary session.
Yeyi Zhu, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Kate Best, Institute of Health and Society, Newcastle University
Student Prize Paper Award: Rema Ramakrishnan
University of South Florida, College of Public Health
“Exploratory Factor Analysis of the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative: Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS), 2009 – 2011”
Mentor: Russell Kirby
Co-authors: Russell Kirby, Kathleen O’Rourke
Heinz-Berendes International Travel Award: Carolyn E. Cesta
Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
“Depression, Anxiety, and Antidepressant Treatment in Women: Association with In-Vitro Fertilization Outcome”
Mentor: Anastasia N Iliadou
Co-authors: Alexander Viktorin, Henrik Olsson, Viktoria Johansson, Arvid Sjölander, Christina Bergh, Alikistis Skalkidou, Karl-Gösta Nygren, Sven Cnattingius, Anastasia N. Iliadou
Rising Star Award: Ann Marie Jukic
Yale School of Public Health
Mentoring Award: Enrique Schisterman
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
President’s Award: Nigel Paneth
Michigan State University
Inaugural Trainee Poster Awards
Thank you to our poster judges, who helped make this year’s Inaugural Trainee Poster Awards a success! These awards recognized posters whose first author was a student at the time the research was conducted.
We would like to congratulate this year’s winners:
Carolyn E. Cesta, Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
“Depression, Anxiety, and Antidepressant Treatment In Women: Association with In-vitro Fertilization Outcome”
Co-authors: Alexander Viktorin, Henrik Olsson, Viktoria Johansson, Arvid Sjölander, Christina Bergh, Alikistis Skalkidou, Karl-Gösta Nygren, Sven Cnattingius, Anastasia N. Iliadou
Nicholas P. Deputy, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
“Pre-Pregnancy Body Mass Index and Gestational Weight Gain: How Well Do the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System and Birth Certificate Agree with the Medical Record?”
Co-authors: Andrea J. Sharma, Jennifer Bombard, Timothy L. Lash, Laura Schieve, Usha Ramakrishnan, Aryeh D. Stein, Michael Nyland-Funke
Trainee Poster Award Honorable Mention:
Rose G. Radin, Epidemiology Branch, Division of Intramural Population Health Research, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
“Preconception Weight Change and Pregnancy Loss Among Fecund Women”
Co-authors: Sunni L. Mumford, Lindsey A. Sjaarda, Robert M. Silver, Neil J. Perkins, Laurie L. Lesher, Torie C. Plowden, Stefanie N. Hinkle, Chandra W. Swanson, Keewan Kim, Enrique F. Schisterman
Amanda E. Janitz, The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
“Traffic-related Air Pollution and Childhood Acute Leukemia in Oklahoma”
Co-authors: Campbell, Sheryl Magzamen, Anne E. Pate, Julie A. Stoner, Jennifer D. Peck
June 20 – 21, 2016 – Miami, Florida
Meeting archives available here.
Meeting Quick Stats
Attendees at our regular meeting: 268
Attendees at the Advanced Methods Workshop: 58
Day 1: Advanced Methods Workshop
The Advanced Methods Workshop provided a thought-provoking jump-start to the meeting for the almost 70 participants who attended. Janne Boone-Heinonen and Sheila Markwardt focused on latent growth curve analysis in perinatal and pediatric epidemiology, followed by Ashley I. Naimi who covered doubly robust g-estimation of structural nested models. Slides from both presentations are now available for SPER members; you must sign in to the SPER web site to access them (click here).
Many thanks to our wonderful presenters!
Day 1: Panel Discussion – Epidemiologic perspectives on precision medicine
Pauline Mendola moderated the discussion of the lively panel, which included Sandro Galea, Michael Joyner, and Nigel Paneth, on the current funding focus on precision medicine and the implications for public health. Following remarks by each of the panelists, the audience eagerly joined in the conversation.
Day 2: Round Table Discussions
As the sun rose over Miami, the two SPER roundtable discussions were already well underway. Brigitta Essen and Russ Kirby led a discussion on the topic of immigration and perinatal and pediatric outcomes, while Sarah Tinker led a discussion on the Zika virus and the many unique challenges its emergence has presented.
Day 2: Plenary Sessions
This year’s plenary sessions covered a wide-range of topics touching on many different aspects of pediatric and perinatal epidemiologic research. New this year was a 30 minute “Speed Poster” session, in which authors were given about 5 minutes to present on their posters – just enough time to pique interest and increase traffic at the full poster sessions later in the meeting.
Day 2: Keynote Address by Sandro Galea
The principles of population health science: Implications for perinatal and pediatric epidemiology research
Poster Sessions
There were 255 posters presented during the two poster sessions. The first poster session was held on Monday night in conjunction with the Welcome Reception; the second session was held over lunch on Tuesday.
A huge thanks to everyone who made our 29th Annual Meeting in Miami this past June a success. This includes all of the presenters, moderators, the reviewers and the engaged audience. In particular, I would like to thank those working behind the scenes – the Executive Committee, especially Suzan Carmichael, our outgoing president who organized a wonderful, intellectually stimulating meeting. I also want to thank our out-going officers: Sonia Hernandez-Diaz (past president), Una Grewal (secretary – who, graciously offered and has been elected to serve another term), Lynne Messer (member-at-large) and Cassie Gibbs-Pickens (Student Representative).
The meeting kicked off with a thought-provoking session related to an issue of importance to all epidemiologists, precision medicine. Discussants Michael Joyner, Nigel Paneth and Sandro Galea commented on the rise of precision medicine, along with the potential challenges and concerns for public health. They noted the limitations of this approach in being able to prevent a substantial proportion of disease. The next day, Dr. Galea continued this line of thinking in his Keynote Speech entitled “The principles of population health science: Implications for perinatal and pediatric epidemiology research” in which he commented on the divergent goals of overall improvement of health in a population, while simultaneously minimizing disparities within the population.
Our roundtable sessions were well-attended, even though they were early in the morning, especially for those coming from the West Coast. The timely nature of their topics, focusing on the emerging public health crisis associated with Zika infection and with the implications of immigration to pediatric and perinatal outcomes, was a huge draw. Other highlights of the meeting included the initiation of speed posters, which were well-received, and of trainee poster awards. All in all, it was a great meeting in which intellectual dialogue and networking were at the forefront.
However, unlike in past years, our work in Miami did not end with the Business Meeting at 6:00pm on Tuesday. The Society was welcomed, for the first time, as a full member of the 4th Epidemiology Congress of the Americas. We are grateful to past presidents Martha Werler and Robert Platt for spearheading our involvement in the Epi Congress, and we are proud to recognize another past SPER president, Russ Kirby, as Congress Chair. SPER members were engaged in a wide variety of Congress activities and sponsored a symposium entitled “A Critical Period? Fetal Exposures and Adult Health” moderated by Samantha Parker and Martha Werler.
I would also like to thank those of you who responded to our post-meeting survey. The survey provides the Executive Committee with answers to key questions so that we can build on the successes of the past to improve both the work of the Society and our annual meeting. Based on this feedback, I am hoping to work to ensure that the Society highlights a balance of methodologic work, and etiologic work related to pregnancy and perinatal outcomes, and pediatric conditions. I am also looking forward to reaching out to our international members and in working to ensure that the benefits of SPER membership last all year. Additionally, although I have some ideas for doing this that are still in the fetal stage, please send me other thoughts and ideas that you have.
As we look towards our 30th annual meeting in Seattle, next June, I trust that we will have a meeting that will be as intellectually stimulating and engaging as last year’s, and one that highlights our work over the past three decades. Although there has been discussion of expanding the length of next year’s meeting, it does not seem possible to do so, at this time, given the availability of meeting space. However, the Executive Committee is already hard at work to ensure that the meeting is packed full of scholarship and community-building. In the meantime, as Matthew Klingle said in Emerald City: An Environmental History of Seattle, “We need a … place, one that has room for salmon and skyscrapers, suburbs and wilderness, Mount Rainier and the Space Needle, one grounded in history.” I’m looking forward to seeing you all there.