Research for North Carolina: The Birth Defects Detective

Each year in North Carolina, more than 4,000 children are born with birth defects. Doctors still don’t know what causes most birth defects, even the ones—like spina bifida—that we can take some measures to prevent.

At UNC, epidemiologist Andy Olshan leads the N.C. Center for Birth Defects Research and Prevention, one of seven U.S. centers that investigate the patterns and causes of more than 30 structural birth defects, such as heart defects, neural tube defects, limb defects, and cleft lip/cleft palate. Read more…