Motherisk

Motherisk, created in 1985, is a clinical research and teaching program at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario, Canada that provides information and guidance to pregnant or lactating women^[1] and to health care professionals^[2] regarding risks to the fetus from exposure to drugs, chemicals, diseases, radiation and environmental agents.^[3]

Motherisk receives over 35,000 safety-related questions each year about maternal exposures during pregnancy and lactation.^[4] The program maintains several helplines, counseling hundreds of women and healthcare providers every day.^[5] Helplines include dedicated toll-free numbers for questions on Alcohol and Substance, Morning Sickness and HIV and HIV Treatment.^[6] Motherisk's multi-disciplinary team contributes to on-going research and clinical care and also maintains undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate training and educational programs in reproductive and developmental toxicology. Affiliated with the University of Toronto, Motherisk team members include experts in addiction research, clinical pharmacology, genetics, nutrition, obstetrics, preventive medicine and psychology.^[7] The program's mandate advocates an array of safeguards for mothers, unborn children and newborns that emphasize "risk management as a fact of life", seeking to "rescue generations of children from lives of illness and wasted potential".^[8] Motherisk's collaboration with the Breaking the Cycle program in the area of FASD continues to offer research insights into this prevalent form of prenatal brain damage.^[9]

Gideon Koren and colleagues for the Motherisk team were recognized as one of the two highest-ranking winners of the 2011 CIHR/CMAJ competition for Top Achievements in Health Research. The CMAJ published their Essay for the 2011 CIHR/CMAJ Award: Motherisk — caring for mothers, protecting the unborn (Gideon Koren, MD, Irena Nulman, MD, Katarina Aleksa, PhD, Joey Gareri, MSc, Adrienne Einarson, RN, Shinya Ito, MD for the Motherisk Program).^[10]

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