Office for Prevention of Prematurity and Stillbirths
With the generous support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Office for Prevention of Prematurity and Stillbirths at Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center is relentlessly pursuing discoveries to reduce the rate of premature birth and solve the painful puzzle of stillbirth.
Every day, mothers worldwide give birth to premature children or suffer the agonizing effects of stillbirth. These devastating challenges affect whole families, communities and entire countries. When a baby is born too early and does not receive the care it needs, death is often the result.
Yet children and families have reason to hope.
Potential through global partnerships
Bringing together the research literature and the world’s leading stillbirth and prematurity scientists will allow us to build a critical research agenda for the future.
~ Dr. Craig Rubens, director
In collaboration with respected partners, such as the March of Dimes, the Office for Prevention of Prematurity and Stillbirths brings together some of the world’s most accomplished researchers and scientists to identify, describe and solve these problems in childbirth.
Experts from around the world – the United States, Pakistan, Brazil, South Africa, and elsewhere – are uniting to fight these problems and renew a sense of hope for millions of children and their families. Under the leadership of Craig Rubens, MD, PhD, and Thomas Hansen, MD, a team of scientists, technicians and other research staff is working together with these leading experts in perinatal science and health to implement the program initiatives.
Major initiatives
- A literature review of published and unpublished data about stillbirth and premature birth
- An intensive "gap analysis" of unanswered questions from the literature reviews
- The creation of a Washington state research network and clinical databank and tissue repository
- An annual International Prematurity and Stillbirth Summit
For more information about the Office for Prevention of Prematurity and Stillbirths, please contact Tiffany Overton, program assistant, at (206) 884-7332.