October 2018

Advocating for Newborn CMV Screening through Hospital-Based Initiatives

Author: Maggie Kettler, AuD CMV newborn screening has increased tremendously in the past decade, with many states implementing the screening through legislative efforts. However, CMV screening legislation is not a realistic avenue in all states. In this blog post, we hear from Maggie Kettler, AuD, who has helped to lead successful efforts to increase CMV newborn screening in her home state of Ohio. In this post she discusses successes, challenges, and advice she has for advocates in other states. 

Compete 4 CMV Spotlight: Jeff Rich

Meet Jeff Rich. A longtime friend of founders, Kristen and John Spytek. Father of three. And, soon-to-be Compete 4 CMV - NYC Marathon finisher!

Board Member Spotlight: Albert Park

Author: Dr. Albert Park Meet Dr. Albert Park. Dr. Park is Chief of Pediatric Otolaryngology at the University of Utah and principle investigator for the ValEAR study. His focus is in pediatric hearing loss, identifying a great number of babies with congenital CMV. 

Compete 4 CMV Spotlight: Pete Zoob

Meet Pete Zoob. A longtime friend of founders, Kristen and John Spytek, and soon-to-be eight-time marathoner! We're grateful he's making #8 a Compete 4 CMV race.

Raising Awareness of Congenital CMV in New Jersey

Meet 2018 Public Health Awareness Mini Grant Recipients Allison Goldschlag-Reinking and Laurie Navin of The Central Jersey Family Health Consortium, and learn more about their project to implement a comprehensive educational program about congenital CMV in their region.

What I Took Away from the CMV Public Health & Policy Conference

Author: Kristen H Spytek Our community of parents, advocates, early interventionists, state health employees, clinicians, researchers, scientists, and stakeholders, were well-represented in Burlington last week, and what was extremely encouraging to me, is that both individually and together, we all continue to operate on full cylinders at the very epicenter of what we’re each trying to ultimately do – save babies and prevent birth defects due to congenital CMV.