Mission

CIRWH was inaugurated in February 2002. The mission of this center is to promote, stimulate, and support interdisciplinary research related to the health of women across the life span. Such research includes conditions

• unique to women or a subgroup of women
• more prevalent in women than men
• where the intervention and care of women is different from that of men

Furthermore, the center promotes interactions between investigators from different backgrounds who can contribute different perspectives, training, and expertise to collaborative efforts. To that end, the center

• designs and seeks funding for collaborative grants,
• partners with existing programs to encourage investigations of sex/gender differences in health and disease, and
• provides structured mentoring to motivated junior investigators who are committed to women's health.

Poster Session

The 6th annual CIRWH poster session was held on April 22. We are pleased to announce the winners.

New NIH Grants

NIH grant opportunities in women's health research:

• Mechanisms of Functional Recovery After Stroke (R01) PA-08-099
• Optimizing Technologies for the Preservation of Fertility (R21) PAR-08-105
• Adverse Outcomes of Assisted Reproductive Technologies (P01) PA-08-103
• Leiomyomata Uteri: Basic Science, Translational and Clinical Research (R01) (PAR-08-102)
• New Interventions for Menopausal Symptoms (U01) (RFA-AG-08-004)
• Advancing Novel Science in Women’s Health Research (ANSWHR) [R21] (PAS-07-381)

Looking for something else to do
to defeat breast cancer?

For those who wonder what else they can do to defeat breast cancer, we suggest a visit to The Sister Study.

This study is the only long-term study of women 35 to 74 who have a sister who had breast cancer. It is a study, supported by the National Institute of Environmental health Sciences at the National Institutes of Health, to learn how environment and genes affect the chances of getting breast cancer. In the next 3 years, 50,000 women whose sister had breast cancer, and who do not have breast cancer themselves will be asked to join the study. This could include you or someone you know. Details are available at the above web site, but here is a very brief description of the study.

Who can join the Sister Study?

You can join the study if:

• Your sister, related to you by blood, had breast cancer.
• You are between the ages of 35 and 74.
• You have never had breast cancer yourself.
• You are a woman living in the U.S. or Puerto Rico.

Why is the Sister Study so important?

• The Sister Study is one of the first long-term studies to help us understand how women's genes and the things in their environment — homes, workplaces, and communities — influence risk of breast cancer. It is the first to collect such extensive and detailed information about environmental exposures.
• Women from different generations and from various racial and ethnic groups and geographic regions of the U.S. and Puerto Rico will take part in the study. Sister Study results can then be used to help as many women as possible.

Do your fingers, elbows, or knees hurt when you need them most? You may find information of interest at a site called Gender Joints.