Pregnancy Study Online - "Presto"

08/25/2025

ONLINE WATCH NOW: America’s Declining Birth Rate: A Public Health Perspective — Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health brought together a panel of and policy experts at the school to explore the drivers of declining , examine whether the U.S. needs more , and discuss innovative strategies to improve the health of and . https://www.youtube.com/live/SwF6GcFOOxc?si=9C39bvP7rDIalCFW

08/22/2025

Dr. Julio Landero at the conference in Atlanta describing his method for estimating concentrations of trace elements such as lead, mercury, and cadmium in microsampled blood from participants in the PRESTO cohort.

08/16/2025

❗️New paper out now❗️

Female sexual function is important for reproductive health, relationship satisfaction, and positive sexual expression. Sexual function may be sensitive to environmental chemicals, but remains largely understudied in EH.

In their new paper, Dr. Samantha Schildroth and colleagues investigated associations of preconception phthalate exposure with validated measures of female sexual function in Pregnancy Study Online (PRESTO). These findings suggest a complex relationship between phthalate exposure and sexual function, highlighting the need for additional research on female sexual function to inform clinical practice.

Dr. Schildroth will be presenting on these findings at ISEE/ISES next Wednesday in the “Environmental chemicals and reproductive outcomes” session.

https://lnkd.in/g6qnutUw

08/14/2025

“Human eggs don't accumulate as many mutations with age as we thought
Mitochondrial mutations don't seem to build up in women's eggs as they age, which suggests they may have evolved a mechanism to avoid this.”

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2491490-human-eggs-dont-accumulate-as-many-mutations-with-age-as-we-thought/?fbclid=IwQ0xDSwMIcLVleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHqKpj1XA3jk__6pvB3wS4n-D9k3epFDE_AdGTQ0dbJ75n_5jeCr7cY3Widfo_aem_M2XD5FEDXqWvcuJppQJ2ng&deeplink_ref_surface=instagram_direct&direct_share_include_copy=1&fb_entity_type=unknown

Mitochondrial mutations don't seem to build up in women's eggs as they age, which suggests they may have evolved a mechanism to avoid this

06/14/2025

Congratulations to Dr. Sharonda Lovett on being awarded the SPER Student Prize Award for her doctoral dissertation research on residential segregation and in PRESTO!

06/08/2025

“With cannabis now legal in much of the US, the focus is shifting from the ethics of using the drug to the health implications. New research suggests smoking cannabis doesn't lower s***m quality, challenging the results of some previous studies.”

https://www.sciencealert.com/does-cannabis-lower-s***m-quality-new-study-reveals-a-surprise-result

05/24/2025

Boston Globe article: Why Massachusetts women have fewer children and Trump’s $5,000 ‘baby bonus’ won’t help. To better understand what’s behind Massachusetts’ baby bust, we spoke with leading demographers, epidemiologists, and public health researchers.” Principal investigator of PRESTO. Dr. Wise, is interviewed in this article. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/05/08/metro/massachusetts-birth-rate-baby-bust/

05/08/2025

RESOLVE’s Federal Advocacy Day will be on May 20, 2025. To learn more and sign up, click here: https://resolve.org/events/advocacy-day/

04/20/2025

National Infertility Awareness Week® is here! April 20–26, 2025

Infertility is a challenge no one should face alone. This week, invites us to stand with us for advocacy, support, and empowerment under our 2025 theme: .

04/02/2025

This is happening today, Wednesday, April 2 from 12 PM to 1 PM EST! Please join us to celebrate the official launching of the PROGRESS initiative at Boston University School Public Health! The Zoom link is available at the QR link below!

03/05/2025

Register today! This event, in honor of the 30th Anniversary of the BUSPH Center of Excellence in Maternal and Child Health Education, Science, and Practice, will explore how we as a public health profession and broader society can more holistically advance the longstanding goal of health equity among birthing people and their families. Speakers will reflect on recent advances, persistent challenges, and point to new directions for advancing equity in childrearing and family health in the United States.

For questions or accommodation requests, please reach out to sphevent@bu.edu.

https://publichealthconversation.org/conversations/health-inequities/birthing-and-raising-the-next-generation-holistic-approaches-to-advance-racial-and-social-equity/

02/15/2025

How Federal Funding Propels the SPH Research Making a Difference in People’s Lives — With federal research funding cuts looming for academia and medical centers across the US, we take at look at how federally funded research at SPH has produced tangible results that benefit real lives in real communities. https://www.bu.edu/sph/news/articles/2025/nih-funded-research-drives-innovation-at-sph/