Meeting Information

Why Attend the BDRP 61st Annual Meeting?



Birth defects and developmentally-mediated disorders constitute a major public health concern in the world today. Human development can be affected by drugs, chemicals, infectious diseases, diet, genetics, and maternal health as well as and socioeconomic factors. Understanding and protecting against potential hazards to developing embryos, fetuses, and children requires advanced scientific knowledge from diverse and novel fields such as cell and molecular biology, developmental biology and toxicology, computational modeling, genetics, and epidemiology. The science is put into practice in the areas of prenatal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics, neonatology, medical genetics, counseling, product safety, risk assessment, and governmental regulations.

Our Annual Meeting provides the opportunity to promote our shared vision and scientific identity as researchers focused on the causes, manifestations, intervention, and prevention of birth defects and disorders of developmental origin. Scientific sessions highlight the latest scientific research in birth defects, diseases of developmental origin, and cutting-edge technologies.


The theme of the 2021 meeting is “Building Bridges in Birth Defects Research and Prevention: From Innovation to Application” and will cover basic, epidemiologic, and clinical research and the application of new technologies to the understanding and prevention of birth defects, and postnatal/functional effects. If your research and/or daily activities involve any of the items below, you should participate!

Researchers whose cutting-edge science can be applied to birth defects research such as research with stem cells, adverse outcomes pathways, computational toxicology, genomics/genetics, mechanistic toxicology, proteomics, or metabolomics.

Clinicians involved in early diagnosis of birth defects, technologies to identify birth defects or adverse pregnancy outcomes, identification of chemicals and pathogens that affect pregnancy and development.

Epidemiologists working to recognize developmental disabilities.

Regulators responsible for interpreting and managing regulations based on reproductive and developmental endpoints.

Developmental and Reproductive Toxicologists who develop and/or test pharmaceuticals or chemicals for development and reproductive effects.

Pharmacologists who develop and design new drugs and chemicals for use during pregnancy and early childhood.

Educators teaching developmental and reproductive biology/toxicology, serve as mentors to students, or develop training materials for scientists, clinicians, or pregnant women.

Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Fellows with a desire to learn more in developmental or reproductive toxicology, and diseases of developmental origin, and who want a career in government, academia, or industry in the field of birth defects research.

Register early and save.