Blog

Q&A with Mama Hu Hears

We had a chance to chat with Michelle Hu. Aud, Pediatric Audiologist. Michelle has turned her love for all things hearing and personal experience with hearing loss into an online presence for educating parents and professionals - Mama Hu Hears. Michelle shares her clinical perspective and experience with congenital CMV related hearing loss.

Early Career Research Award Update: Dr. Maria Talavera-Barber

Dr. Talavera-Barber, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine, was a 2019 recipient of a National CMV Foundation Early Career Research Award. In this blog post, she discusses the impact of her research on CMV antibody levels in pregnant women and newborns.

Update: cCMV Nomination for the Recommended Uniform Screening Panel (RUSP)

The most recent update about our nomination for congenital CMV (cCMV) for inclusion on the Recommended Uniform Screening Panel (RUSP) by the Advisory Committee on Heritable Disorders in Newborns and Children (ACHDNC) by Megan Pesch, MD, MS, FAAP, President-Elect National CMV Foundation. 

Newborn Screening and Congenital CMV

Author: Patrick Fleming, M.D. Candidate Early detection of congenital CMV infection in newborns is essential to providing the best possible care. Unfortunately, cCMV is not yet included in universal newborn screening (NBS) programs in the United States. Read more to learn about the history of NBS as it relates to congenital CMV.

Late-Onset Hearing Loss Awareness

Author: Diana Hanson, MS CCC-A Late Onset Hearing Loss (LOHL) is hearing loss that follows a passed newborn hearing screening up until age 5-6 years. LOHL Awareness Week was established in May 2021 to shine a spotlight on a population of young children who are often undiagnosed until later in childhood.

COVID-19 Vaccine in Children With Disabilities and Complex Healthcare Needs

Author: Dr. Kathleen Muldoon & Dr. Megan Pesch The kid-sized Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine was recently authorized for children 5 to 11 years of age. 28 million children are now eligible for vaccination, including approximately 1 in 6 children with a developmental disability. [1]  Recent statistics show why pediatricians and infectious disease experts at the National CMV Foundation support the vaccine for younger children, including for children with disabilities.

Recommended Uniform (Newborn) Screening Panel (RUSP) Update

Author: Dr. Megan Pesch In the fall of 2018, the National CMV Foundation formed a sub-committee including CMV parents, researchers and public health experts, to create a nomination package. The shell of the application was submitted, however additional data was requested by the Committee. Read more to learn about our application's status.

Early Career Research Award Recipient: Dr. Pesch

Dr. Megan Pesch is a Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrician at the University of Michigan and one of our 2020 early career CMV research award recipients! Dr. Pesch's research will investigate social-emotional and behavioral concerns in children with congenital CMV.

Early Career Research Award Recipient: Dr. Kakkar

Dr. Fatima Kakkar is a pediatric infectious disease specialist and clinician-researcher at CHU Sainte-Justine in Montreal and her research will focus on determining the best newborn screening test for the province of Quebec. She is one of our 2020 early career CMV research award recipients! 

Early Career Research Award Recipient: Jennifer Jenks

Jennifer Jenks is an MD PhD student in the Medical Scientist Training Program at Duke University School of Medicine and is one of our 2020 early career CMV research award recipients! Jennifer's research investigates the rational design of CMV vaccines.