The Morgan Leary Vaughan Fund Announces Plans for First Regional Conference on Necrotizing Enterocolitis

The Morgan Leary Vaughan Fund announces plans for the inaugural Speaking of NEC: Unplugged event, a one-day regional conference focused on identifying practical solutions for reducing the devastating effects of Necrotizing Enterocolitis (NEC) on premature infants and their families, to be held in Greater Hartford, Connecticut during the spring of 2018.

Naugatuck, CT, September 14, 2017 --(PR.com)-- The Morgan Leary Vaughan Fund (Morgan’s Fund), www.morgansfund.org, today announced plans for the inaugural Speaking of NEC: Unplugged event, a one-day regional conference focused on identifying practical solutions for reducing the devastating effects of Necrotizing Enterocolitis (NEC) on premature infants and their families, to be held in Greater Hartford, Connecticut during the spring of 2018.

“We are excited to extend the concept behind our Speaking of NEC podcast series to a live event in Greater Harford with the goal of expanding the Speaking of NEC: Unplugged conference into other regions of the country,” said Stephanie M. Vaughan, Co-founder and President, Morgan’s Fund.

Speaking of NEC: Unplugged will bring together relevant NEC experts (neonatologists, clinicians, and researchers) and influencers (parents, patient advocates, medical and nursing students, media, and policy makers) to engage and learn from each other’s experiences across the full continuum of NEC: its impact on patients and their parents, the cost to the hospitals that treat it, and the methods to improve both its short- and long-term outcomes.

The inaugural conference will feature an impressive line-up of speakers to provide practical education and to inspire community engagement and action in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of NEC. Proposed topics include:

· The parent’s perspective
· Rate of NEC - Current data on the national and local rates of NEC
· Impact of NEC on local communities - Presentations and discussions with elected/government officials and government relations individuals
· Clinical/Socio-economic burden of NEC - Clinical information and data on the long-term impacts of NEC on infants, their families, and society,
· Inclusion of an Exclusive Human Milk Diet as the standard of care - Clinical information and data on the benefits of an exclusive human milk diet in the reduction of NEC, other diagnoses and co-morbidities, and healthcare costs.

The Greater Hartford area is centrally located between Boston and New York City. The ten largest cities in New England and New York City are within approximately two hours driving distance (or 100-mile radius) - and encompass ten of the United States Neonatal-Perinatal Training Program Centers including Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital, and Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital; plus, more than 50 medical and nursing schools.

The Morgan Leary Vaughan Fund appreciates the support of Prolacta Bioscience for this important event and welcomes other experts, influencers, and sponsors who share our mutual mission.

For more information, visit morgansfund.org

About The Morgan Leary Vaughan Fund
The Morgan Leary Vaughan Fund emerged from a need to establish a mechanism for:
· Disseminating credible and timely information about Necrotizing Enterocolitis (NEC) to parents whose infants are most at risk for developing NEC
· Raising the level of public awareness about NEC and the potentially devastating effects it can have on infants and their families
· Advancing research to prevent, diagnose, treat, and ultimately, cure NEC.

Currently, it is headquartered in Naugatuck, Connecticut with a satellite office in Austin, Texas.

Background
NEC is a rare disease that leads to necrosis (death) of the intestine. It is predominately due to prematurity and its statistics are startling:
· NEC is the second leading cause of death in premature infants
· NEC affects about 9,000 of the 480,000 infants born preterm each year in the United States
· For very low birth weight babies, who weigh less than 3 lbs, the chance of developing NEC is approximately 1 in 14
· All newborn infants born preterm or born with a low birth weight (less than 5.5 pounds) are at increased risk for NEC. The smaller the infant or the more premature the delivery, the greater the risk.

(Sources: UC Davis Health System and NICHD.)

About Prolacta Bioscience
Prolacta Bioscience, Inc. is a privately-held life sciences company dedicated to Advancing the Science of Human Milk®. The company pioneered the development of human milk-based neonatal nutritional products to meet the needs of critically ill, premature infants in the NICU. Prolacta leads the industry in the quality and safety of nutritional products made from donor breast milk and operates the first and only pharmaceutical-grade manufacturing facility for the processing of human breast milk.
Contact
The Morgan Leary Vaughan Fund, Inc.
Stephanie M. Vaughan
203-606-4873
www.morgansfund.org
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