Sioban Harlow and Sofia Merajver, both professors in the Medical School and the School of Public Health, will receive the 2017 Sarah Goddard Power Award.

The Academic Women’s Caucus presents the award to faculty members who have demonstrated an unwavering commitment to the betterment of women, and who have shown success and achievement in research and scholarship, distinguished leadership and mentoring women.

The award ceremony will take place at 4 p.m. Feb. 8 in the Henderson Room at the Michigan League.

Harlow, professor of epidemiology, School of Public Health, and professor of obstetrics and gynecology, Medical School, is the director of the Center for Midlife Science and a founding editor-in-chief of the Women’s Midlife Health journal. She also directs the Michigan branch of the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation.

According to provided citations, her scholarly work focuses on reproductive epidemiology, and “a major thrust” of it has been understanding patterns of menstrual function and gynecological morbidity across the lifespan.  

Harlow spearheaded the Stages of Reproductive Aging Workshop+10 collaborative group, which led to the development of a staging system for reproductive aging used in both research and clinical contexts.

Harlow’s work is at the “forefront” of understanding the relationship between ovarian aging and chronic disease, as well as the development and application of statistical methods to understand poorly characterized physiologic patterns across the lifespan.

Female U-M faculty say Harlow has been committed to women’s health and the career development of women across life changes like motherhood, retirement or graduation. As an “outstanding mentor,” they said Harlow is always eager to provide guidance and share knowledge with colleagues.

They said she has also worked to document and advocate for women who have been impacted by various forces like human rights abuses and gender-based violence.

Merajver, professor of internal medicine, Medical School, and professor of epidemiology, School of Public Health, is an internationally recognized breast cancer researcher, according to citations.

She is the scientific director of the Breast Oncology Program and the director of the Breast and Ovarian Cancer Risk Evaluation Program.

Merajver has contributed to a variety of research areas, including basic studies in the genetics of breast cancer and the development of a novel treatment for breast cancer.

She has more than 275 peer-reviewed publications to her name, and her research subjects range from the genetic determinants of aggressive breast cancers to fear of insurance discrimination as a result of genetic risk assessment and perception of risk for breast cancer.

Among her accomplishments, Merajver and her team identified the first oncogene that controls metastatic cancer cell motility.

Merajver has received a U-M Distinguished Mentor Award and the Medical School dean’s Basic Science Research Award, and has been inducted as a member of the American Clinical and Climatological Association.

She has also pursued research and action in health disparities and worked in Africa and South America to improve systems to care for cancer patients.

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• Academic Women's Caucus
• Sarah Goddard Power Award