By Deborah Gilbert
News and Information Servcies
After decades of neglect, women’s health has finally hit the top of the public policy agenda.
In that spirit, interested faculty from a range of departments, with the support of the Office of the Vice President for Research, have launched the Women’s Health Initiative—an interdisciplinary “thinktank” of medical, biological, behavioral and public policy researchers interested in women’s health.
“The Initiative has two basic objectives,” says Inititative Director Patricia Z. Levine: “to stimulate research in women’s health and to present the most up-to-date findings to the public.” A third objective, she adds, is to encourage mentoring relationships between junior and senior faculty studying women’s health issues.
The first Women’s Health Initiative symposium will be 2–5 p.m. Friday (Sept. 25) in the Henderson Room, Michigan League.
Speakers will include:
—Elizabeth G. Nabel, associate professor of internal medicine and member of the Human Genome Project, who will present research on women and heart disease.
—Barbara Weber, assistant professor of internal medicine and researcher at the Cancer Institute and Human Genone Project, who will discuss research on women and breast cancer.
—MaryFran R. Sowers, assistant professor of epidemiology, who will present the latest findings in her research on women, hormones, fluoride and osteoporosis.
—Irene H. Butter, professor of public health policy and administration, who will discuss “Women and Their Medicalization.”
—Rosemary A. Sarri, professor of social work and faculty associate, Center for Political Studies, who will discuss “Poverty and Women’s Health.”
The Initiative is planning future symposia and brown-bag lunches that will focus on women and substance abuse, gender and the brain, and generating funding for research on women’s health.
