Post by Edward Park

My research at Boston Children's Hospital (Harvard Medical School) has been officially selected for an oral presentation at the 2026 Society for Birth Defects Research and Prevention (𝐁𝐃𝐑𝐏) 𝐀𝐧𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐌𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠  in Washington, DC I am grateful to the BDRP selection committee for this opportunity. As a medical student undertaking a research internship at Boston Children’s Hospital, being able to present the research in a highly regarded society is hugely meaningful. It is an honour to present the ideas exploring qualitative brain abnormalities in children with oesophageal atresia, and I am deeply grateful to the clinicians, patients, parents, and guardians whose experiences continue to inspire and shape this research. I hope that these findings may serve as an initial step toward developing structured post-operative neurological/ neurodevelopmental assessment and intervention pathways for children with oesophageal atresia. I would like to sincerely thank my principal investigator Dr Dusica Bajic, Senior Anesthesiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital and Associate Professor of Anaestheiology at Harvard Medical School, for her invaluable support and academic guidance throughout this project. I am also grateful to Juliana Coronado, Linhai Cheng, Dr Duy Trong Dao and Dr Benjamin Zendejas for their important contributions. I am excited to present this work in person in Washington, DC, this June as the 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫 of this work, and I am truly honoured to have been awarded the 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝, financially supporting my attendance from London