Highlights from the 2018 Annual Meeting

Highlights from the 31st Annual Meeting
June 18-19, 2018 – Baltimore, Maryland
Meeting archives available [here]
Annual meeting summary: https://doi.org/10.1111/ppe.12502

Meeting Quick Stats:

  • Attendees at the Advanced Methods Workshop: 82
  • Attendees at the Regular Meeting: 277

 Day 1:  Advanced Methods Workshop

The advanced methods workshop provided an informative and stimulating start to our annual meeting.  Andres Cardenas (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health) discussed methodological considerations for high-dimensional, epigenetics research in perinatal epidemiology, and Sonia Hernandez-Diaz (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health) addressed the evaluation of epidemiologic evidence without p-values.  Slides from both presentations are available for SPER members (click [here]). Many thanks to our presenters!

Next year, we hope you will join us for an interactive advanced methods workshop on “Questions and Approaches for Causal Inference in Perinatal Epidemiology” led by Jonathan Snowden (OHSU).

Day 1:  Panel Discussion:  Advanced Causal Inference Methods – Taking Stock

The 31st Annual Meeting opened with a panel discussion on causal inference methods.  A focal point of the discussion included the theoretical and pragmatic implications of these frameworks to research in pediatric and perinatal epidemiology.  The session was moderated by Quaker Harmon (NIEHS), and included panelists Robert Platt (McGill), Jonathan Snowden (OHSU), and Penelope Howards (Emory).

Many thanks to our moderator and panelists for a great opening session!

Day 2:  Roundtable Discussions

Three engaging roundtables provided a great start to the second day of the annual meeting. Claudia Holzman (MSU) discussed the navigation of career paths in epidemiology, Allen Wilcox (NIEHS) moderated a discussion regarding the “most interesting” unanswered questions in perinatal epidemiology, and Megan Romano (Dartmouth) and Carmen Messerlian (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health) discussed windows of vulnerability from preconception to childhood.

Day 2:  Plenary Sessions

The plenary sessions featured a broad range of topics with relevance to parents, children, and families.   Themes included fertility and fecundity (e.g., anovulation, ovarian reserve), obstetric and neonatal health (e.g., preterm birth, neonatal inflammation), child health and development, and methods (e.g., propensity matching, cohort retention).  Thanks to our presenters for an engaging series of talks!

Poster Sessions

There were 203 posters presented across two poster sessions, spanning diverse topics in perinatal and pediatric epidemiology.  Prior to each of these sessions, five “speed posters” were highlighted in the plenary to further illustrate the breadth of topics represented at the meeting.

Day 2:  Keynote Address by Dr. Merete Eggesbø

Merete Eggesbø (Norwegian Institute of Public Health) gave a keynote address entitled “Gut microbiota: Early life determinants and potential health consequences.”   Her review of this burgeoning area of research spanned diverse literatures (e.g., epigenetics, epidemiology) and outlined several gaps in knowledge key to moving the field forward.

Thanks to Dr. Eggesbø for her engaging address!