Meeting Policies

Health and Safety

The Structural Birth Defects Meeting organizers  strongly encourage meeting participants to be vaccinated against respiratory illnesses, such as influenza, RSV, or COVID-19. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists authorized vaccines by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and those authorized by the WHO. Masking is optional while attending large group gatherings, especially indoors. This policy will be modified as needed based on local conditions.​ We will follow health and safety recommendations from the CDC and local authorities. Please visit their webpage for additional information, including isolation periods for those who test positive.

Code of Conduct

Structural Birth Defects Meeting participants will abide by the Society for Developmental Biology Code of Conduct. The Society for Developmental Biology supports an environment for the exchange of scientific ideas that is grounded in dignity and respect for all program participants.  The Society understands that a diverse, inclusive and collegial community culture promotes scientific creativity and progress, and it endeavors to adhere to this culture in all its educational, outreach, conference and awards activities.

No Harassment Policy
Program participants are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and to treat each other with respect.  This expectation applies to the Board of Directors, other volunteers, members, event attendees, employees, consultants, vendors, and others while at the Society office, while representing the Society elsewhere, and while attending events organized by the Society.

Program participants shall not engage in any behavior that interferes with another’s ability to participate fully in the Society’s activities.  In particular, program participants shall not make unwelcome sexual advances, make requests for sexual favors, or engage in other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual or offensive nature.

No Violence Policy
The Society has adopted a policy of “zero-tolerance” with respect to violence in the Society office, while representing the Society elsewhere, and while attending events organized by the Society.  The Society prohibits acts or threats of violence by any program participant.  In addition, the Society will not tolerate acts or threats of violence against program participants.

Reporting
If a program participant discovers any conduct which they believe violates this policy or is otherwise detrimental to the Society, they are asked to promptly report it to the SDB Executive Director, Ida Chow.

Meeting Photography/ Videography Policy

Photography and video recording of scientific presentations using any device, are prohibited without the explicit consent of the author(s) and presenter(s).

Upon registering for the 13th Structural Birth Defects Meeting, participants agree to allow official photographers to record their participation and reproduce their likeness for marketing and informational purposes.

Tweeting Policy

We invite you to share your 13th Structural Birth Defects Meeting experience by live tweeting! Please note, however, that tweeting of raw data presented at the conference and of photos of presenters' slides is prohibited without specific consent of the author. Meeting attendees may tweet generalities or publicly available information (e.g. talk titles, names of speakers, events and socials). Individuals who do not comply will be removed from the session.

Meeting hashtag: #13thSBD  #structuralbirthdefects