COVID-19 ALERT
In light of the current COVID-19 restrictions and precautions, the leadership of the FASD Study Group has decided to plan for a virtual meeting for June 2021. The expanded and interactive format will allow for Keynote presentations, FASt Data Oral presentations and poster sessions to allow researchers at all levels to present their work to the Study Group. ​​​ 
FASDSG Annual Meeting
Date: June 15 & 16, 2 - 6 pm EDT
Location: Virtual
Meeting Agenda: available here

Theme: Role of Parental Experiences in Offspring Outcomes

MEETING FORMS AND REGISTRATION
Meeting registration now closed
Registration costs: Members: $25; Non-Members: $50
​Attendee Guide available here

Trainee Awards: FASt Data and Merit Awards
Application form available here
Deadline: Now closed (deadline: March 19, 2021)
**Free FASDSG & RSA registration will be provided to all awardees.
Note: abstracts are not required to be related to the meeting theme.

*NEW* Poster Abstract: 
We encourage FASD researchers at all levels to submit an abstract to present a virtual poster on their related research at the Study Group Meeting. Abstract can include data you plan to present at RSA and this will be a great opportunity to get focused attention from FASD researchers.
Application: Please use Trainee Award form above
​Deadline: Now closed (deadline: March 19, 2021)
**Free FASDSG registration will be provided to all poster presenters. 

Note: The virtual conference will be run using Pheedloop and this software is not compatible with Safari. Please consider downloading another web browser in advance of the meeting if you exclusively use Safari.

Rosett Award Nominations
​Information available here 
Deadline: Now closed (deadline: March 26, 2021)
The 2021 FASDSG meeting will take place using the virtual conference platform Pheedloop.

​Keynote Speakers

Dr. Catherine Monk
Professor in the Departments of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Psychiatry at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and Research Scientist VI at the New York State Psychiatric Institute.
Presentation Title: Women's Mental Health Matters: For Women, and the Next Generation
Dr. Catherine Monk is Professor of Medical Psychology in the Departments of Obstetrics & Gynecology (Ob/Gyn), and Psychiatry, Research Scientist VI at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, and founding director of the newly launched initiative to embed women’s mental health in Columbia’s Ob/Gyn Department (Women’s Mental Health @Ob/Gyn) where she and other mental health professionals help women with stress, depression, anxiety across the lifespan with a special focus on pregnancy and the postpartum period. Dr. Monk’s research brings together perinatal psychiatry, developmental psychobiology, and neuroscience to focus on the earliest influences on children’s developmental trajectories — those that happen in utero and how to intervene early to help women and prevent risk for mental health disorders in the future children. Dr. Monk completed her postdoctoral research training in the Psychobiological Sciences via a NIH T32 at Columbia University. Her research has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) since she had her first support as a ‘K’ Career Development awardee in 2001; she also has received funding from the March of Dimes, Johnson & Johnson, the Robin Hood Foundation, the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation, and the Bezos Family Foundation.
Dr. Edward Levin
Professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Professor in the Environmental Sciences and Policy Division
Associate Professor of Pharmacology & Cancer Biology
Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience
Duke University
Presentation Title: What Dads Do Is Important Too: Preconception Paternal Drug Exposure Impacts Neurobehavioral Development: Rat Model Studies
Dr. Levin's primary research effort is to understand basic neural interactions underlying cognitive function and addiction and to apply this knowledge to better understand cognitive dysfunction and addiction disorders and to develop novel therapeutic treatments. The three main research components of Dr. Levin's laboratory are focused on the themes of the basic neurobiology of cognition and addiction, neurobehavioral toxicology and the development of novel therapeutic treatments for cognitive dysfunction and substance abuse. Dr. Levin's research has documented the basic effects of nicotine on learning memory and attention as well as nicotine self-administration. Dr. Levin has ongoing studies to assess nicotine effects on attention, memory and mental processing speed in schizophrenics, Alzheimer's Disease patients and people with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. In the area of neurobehavioral toxicology, he has continuing projects to characterize the adverse effects of prenatal and adolescent nicotine exposure. The laboratory's primary project in neurobehavioral toxicology focuses on the cognitive deficits caused by the marine toxins including domoic acid, ciguatera toxin and pfiesteria. 

New Officer Election

Election of a new FASDSG officer will take place electronically prior to the annual meeting. The new officer will serve as Secretary for one year, and then serve one year terms as Treasurer, Vice-President, and President over the following three years. Nominations are due by May 1, 2021 to President@fasdsg.org
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Candidates for the 2021 election: ​​
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Scott Parnell is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Cell Biology and Physiology and a member of the Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies and the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities. He earned his Ph.D. at Texas A&M University in developmental neurobiology studying mechanisms of Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) under the guidance of Dr. James West. After grad school, he then moved to UNC for his postdoctoral training in embryology in the laboratory of Dr. Kathy Sulik where he started examining the stage-dependent effects of early gestational alcohol exposure and the mechanisms of how alcohol disrupts early developmental processes. The Parnell lab continues this developmental mechanistic research by studying how alcohol and other drugs affect key cellular events during early embryogenesis as well as genetic
factors underlying Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.
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New Advisory Board Member Election

The FASDSG Advisory Board is composed of the three immediate Past-Presidents and two members elected by the Regular FASDSG membership. Elected members serve two-year terms and each year one outgoing member is replaced by a new elected member. 

Candidates for the 2021 election : 

Dr. Jeff Wozniak

FUTURE MEETINGS

June 25, 2022: Orlando, FL
June 24, 2023: Bellevue, WA
June 22, 2024: Minneapolis, MN
June 21, 2025: New Orleans, LA

PAST MEETINGS

2020: Meeting cancelled due to COVID-19
2019: Minneapolis, MN. Program (pdf)
2018 : San Diego, CA. Program (pdf) 
2017 : Denver, CO. Program (pdf)
2016 : New Orleans, LA. Program (pdf)
2015 : San Antonio, TX. Program (pdf)