2000 Congress passes the Children’s Health Act to create a National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities and to help states expand newborn screening.
2001 March of Dimes begins its NICU Family Support program in three pilot projects. This family-centered philosophy of care helps families during NICU hospitalizations, of which there are over 400,000 each year. By 2005, over 20 hospitals offer this service, to be expanded to 50 hospitals by 2007.
2001 March of Dimes launches a partnership with the Dutch-based de Waal Foundation to provide prenatal care and birth defects prevention information to women in Ecuador, Honduras, and Nicaragua.
2003 March of Dimes launches its Prematurity Campaign, a 5-year, multi-million campaign to fight premature birth and to raise awareness of its serious consequences.
2004 March of Dimes celebrates the 50th Anniversary of the Salk Vaccine Field Trials with an event at Franklin Sherman Elementary School in McLean, Virginia. This elementary school was the first site where the salk vaccine inoculations were administered in 1954.
2004 March of Dimes President Jennifer Howse testifies before a Senate subcommittee in support of the Premature Research Expansion and Education Act for Mothers who deliver infants Early Act (PREEMIE Act) to expand research, education, and services to fight premature birth.
2005 March of Dimes establishes Share website, an online community for NICU families. March of Dimes board approves inclusion of “premature birth” in foundation mission statement.
2005 The North Building of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies is dedicated to March of Dimes volunteers, as part of the 50th anniversary of the Salk polio vaccine.
2006 March of Dimes Office of Global Programs releases Global Report on Birth Defects: The Hidden Toll of Dying and Disabled Children, the first comprehensive report on birth defects from an international perspective.
2006 Nobel Prizes are awarded to March of Dimes grantees Drs. Roger K. Kornberg and Craig Mello for their discoveries on RNA and its role in human development.
2006 December 22, 2006 – The Premature Research Expansion and Education Act for Mothers, known as the PREEMIE Act is signed into law to expand research, education, and services to fight premature birth. March of Dimes advocacy led to passage of the PREEMIE Act to bring together experts from the private and public sectors to speed development of prevention strategies for preterm labor and delivery.
2006 March of Dimes changes its name to “March of Dimes Foundation.”
2007 March of Dimes volunteer efforts lead to increase in newborn screening. Nearly 90 % of all babies born in the U.S., more than double the percentage in 2005, live in states that require screening for at least 21 of 29 life-threatening but treatable disorders.
2007 Three recipients of the March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology are awarded Nobel Prizes: Mario R. Capecchi, Sir Martin I. Evans, and Oliver Smithies.
2008 March of Dimes re-brands WalkAmerica as “March for Babies.”
2009
