By Nadine Kasparian PhD MAPS and Cynthia Ortinau MD
CNOC Steering Committee Co-Chairs

As we kick off our tenure as Co-Chairs of CNOC, we would like to express our deep thanks to Kelly Wolfe PhD and Shabnam Peyvandi MD MAS for being exemplary leaders of CNOC. We are in awe of everything this organization has accomplished under your leadership. We hope to continue the same progress with our exceptional Steering Committee, Standing Committees, Special Interest Groups and, most importantly, every single member of the CNOC community.
This year we are excited to be hosting CNOC’s 13th Annual Scientific Sessions at Children’s Hospital Colorado September 17-19, including a new Post-Conference “Deep Dive” Summit on September 20. Our Program and Meetings Committee has been working hard to develop an amazing line-up of speakers. Stay tuned for upcoming communications about programming, nominations for the Newburger-Bellinger and Advocacy and Engagement Awards, hotel reservations, and more! Also, don’t forget to mark your calendars – the abstract submission portal will open on March 18. We can’t wait to see everyone’s exceptional science!

We are also thrilled to be endorsing an exciting webinar series from the Congenital Heart Academy and our very own Cardiac Newborn Neuroprotective Network SIG on “Advanced Strategies for Optimizing Neurodevelopmental Outcomes in Neonates and Infants with Critical CHD: State of the Art and Sharing Best Practices.” Click here for more information about topics and timing of these webinars.
Finally, you all have been working hard to elevate cardiac neurodevelopmental knowledge, expertise, and care. A few “happenings” that we would like to highlight:
- CNOC Talk (our official podcast) is seeking to bring together a multidisciplinary team to develop ideas for podcast topics as well as produce, host, and edit. For more information, contact the Communications Committee Co-Chair Chetna Pande: [email protected]
- The CNOC Research Committee is putting together a small working group to categorize genetic abnormalities for research studies. If you’re interested in learning more, please reach out to Research Committee Chair Justin Elhoff: [email protected]
- The request for applications (RFA) has just been announced for CNOC’s 2025 Investigator Award, which will provide funding to support research from our Clinical Registry data.