July 31, 2018 – Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) impairs fetal neurodevelopment and ultimately causes fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). PAE has also been associated with low birthweight and a higher risk for development of childhood obesity and metabolic dysfunction including glucose intolerance and cardiovascular disease.
November 27, 2017 -In the Marvel movie Iron Man, Tony Stark (Iron Man) is a genius inventor who creates a suit of armor, giving himself enhanced strength and the ability to fly. Although Tony Stark carries the name “Iron Man” for his suit of metal armor, his name is also an apt description of the abundance of iron that he has in his body, especially in his brain. The human body requires iron to function normally, and without enough iron, adults feel fatigued and have difficulty concentrating. Iron is even more essential during pregnancy. If Tony Stark’s mother had not consumed enough iron during pregnancy, it is unlikely that he would have become a brilliant inventor, because iron is necessary for the proper development of the infant’s brain.
January 1, 2017 • Dr. Phil May’s research group at the NRI studies the prevalence of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) in humans. The recent addition to the NRI faculty of Dr. Susan Smith now provides an avenue toward understanding how maternal nutrition might affect the relationship between alcohol and FASD through the use of animal models. Two recent papers from these research groups illustrates this synergy […]
January 1, 2017 • After almost 40 years of research, Philip May, PhD, a leading expert in the field of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD), and his team have published their fifth study on FASD in a South African community. Equally as monumental is the recent endorsement by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), of the FASD diagnostic guidelines that were developed by May’s research team […]
February 17, 2016 • Watch an interview with Dr. Philip May on Time Warner Cable News. Dr. May is an expert in the field of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) and the epidemiology of a number of health-related behaviors.
August 25, 2015 • Noyce Scholar Brinsley Stewart of Boonville plans to be a math teacher after she graduates from Catawba College in May 2016, but her internship experience this summer at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Nutrition Research Institute in Kannapolis gave her some keen insights into just how important math and applied statistics can be in the world of research.
Stewart, a rising senior, interned under the tutelage of Dr. Philip May, a 1969 Catawba alumnus. May is a research professor for UNC at the Nutrition Research Institute, where he continues his National Institute of Health-funded research on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders.
Philip A. May, Ph.D., is this year’s recipient of the Henry Rosett Award, in recognition of his substantial contribution researching the field of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). Dr. May received the award at the annual meeting of the FASD Study Group of the Research Society on Alcoholism in June.
Research by Dr. Philip May shows that there’s a connection between maternal drinking during pregnancy and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). Nutrition, body mass and the general health of the mother also are risk factors for FASD in their offspring.