Seed Selected to Join National Preterm Birth Research Initiative

Durham, N.C. (January 2009) — Patrick Seed, MD, PhD, an assistant professor in the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases and an assistant professor in Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, and Amy P. Murtha, MD, and Geeta K. Swamy, MD, of the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine have been invited to join 100 investigators from across the country to establish a new, national initiative to inspire more research into preterm birth and find workable solutions to this public health problem.

The new initiative is being funded by the March of Dimes and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund. "This comes at a critical time as the rates of preterm birth continue to rise and disparity between races increases," Murtha said. "This disparity is particularly important in the state of North Carolina, which just received an F grade from the March of Dimes onits 2008 Premature Birth Report Card."

The trio of researchers was invited to participate in the meeting because they are nationally recognized leaders in the area of preterm birth research. Currently, they are involved in several multidisciplinary research efforts designed to understand the etiology and consequence of preterm birth.