Arkansas Children's Hospital Research Institute Researcher Charlotte Hobbs, MD, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics at UAMS and Section Chief of Birth Defects Research, recently accepted an appointment to the National March of Dimes Scientific Advisory Committee on Prematurity. Hobbs is the director of the Arkansas Center for Birth Defects Research and Prevention. The center was established in 1997 to reduce the occurrence of birth defects and decrease their impact on the community. Hobbs has studied prematurity since 1996. Her research has concentrated on The National Birth Defects Prevention Study, folate metabolism and birth defects, as well as Down syndrome.