Fetal, Infant, Toddler Neuroimaging Group (FIT'NG): Uniting Clinical, Computational, Engineering, and Neuroscience to advance discoveries for the young child.

Neurodevelopmental disorders, including psychiatric symptoms and learning disabilities, and substance use, remain public health concerns as they can lead to suboptimal educational and occupational outcomes in adolescence and adulthood. Human brain development is a complex process that begins in the weeks following conception and undergoes rapid development through the first two years of postnatal life. Advancing understanding of early neurodevelopmental processes, and the conditions which foster healthy versus maladaptive development, represents a critical means of addressing these challenges. The rapidly growing field of fetal, infant, and toddler neuroimaging demonstrates potential to contribute to this area, with an increase from 160 to 530 publications per year during the 1990's to 2021. Yet, a myriad of challenges hinder progress of the field including methodological issues related to data acquisition and processing; rapid changes in available technology and tools with limited resources for dissemination to users; and underrepresentation of minoritized individuals among research participants and researchers. We considered the growing pains of the community and responded to the need for a bridge organization that brings together those with expertise in developmental neuroscience, clinical-science, and computational and biomedical engineering to facilitate advances in data quality and image processing tools for the young brain. The Fetal, Infant, and Toddler Neuroimaging Group (FIT'NG), non-profit academic society established in 2018, aims to bring together interdisciplinary researchers with a focus on neurodevelopment during the first years of life. An annual meeting focused solely on this field is essential to keep up with technological advances, establish and share best practices to address methodological challenges, and increase diversity at every level. We propose a multi-year conference application to support the following specific aims: to (1) stimulate new research and collaboration between FIT'NG scientists across disciplines; (2) increase the opportunity for scientists from racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse backgrounds, with particular attention to underrepresented minority scientists, to highlight their work, and engage effectively in this field of research; and (3) promote and support the development of the next generation of FIT'NG researchers by providing financial and career support for young investigators to attend the meeting. The timing of the meetings aligns with the Healthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) initiative of eight NIH institutes, a groundbreaking study involving neuroimaging with thousands of newborns across the United States that will be prospectively followed from birth through childhood. The FIT'NG meeting will provide a forum for U.S. investigators both within and outside of the HBCD network to exchange information and collaborate, and engage with the international community of scientists conducting fetal, infant and toddler neuroimaging research.