No one said it’s easy being a woman. Compared with men, women are more likely to suffer from autoimmune diseases, may face a higher risk of developing lung cancer and are more likely to suffer depression. They may experience heart attacks differently, they wake up from anesthesia more quickly, and they are not as likely to experience the benefits of painkillers such as ibuprofen and acetaminophen. It’s a simple fact of science: men and women aren’t equal – at least not when it comes to medicine. But for years basic scientific research in the U.S.
Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Thank you. I want to thank Congresswoman SPEIER for leading this really important debate. We have been talking lately about how we are not going to be able tocompete for the economic development in research and biotechnology and all the things that we do at the NIH. But I also want to show how economically—with one of your charts—it reallydoesn’t work for us here at home as well.
In response to a recent New York Times article "Budget Battles Keep Agencies Guessing" (Business Day, September 4, 2013), Dr. Teresa Woodruff wrote the following response:
Sequestration is about more than red tape and bureaucracy. Huge budget cuts threaten the lives of millions of patients counting on medical innovation.
On June 19th, 2013 Teresa K. Woodruff, PhD, took office as the President of The Endocrine Society during the Society’s 95th annual meeting in San Francisco, CA. Dr. Woodruff brings a wealth of expertise to her new role having spent her career researching fertility preservation. She has also devoted herself to the advocacy of women’s health within the clinical, public health and research communities. Goals for her term include introducing a new award program through the Society titled “Leap”.
Young women who have cancer treatment often lose their fertility because chemotherapy and radiation can damage or kill their immature ovarian eggs, called oocytes. Now, Northwestern Medicine® scientists have found the molecular pathway that can prevent the death of immature ovarian eggs due to chemotherapy, potentially preserving fertility and endocrine function.
Hot flashes, night sweats, mood swings and other symptoms vary for every woman in menopause. So a new website seeks to personalize care.
Northwestern University's Women's Health Research Institute Tuesday unveiled an online tool for menopausal and pre-menopausal women to navigate treatments options at their "Celebrating Women's Health" forum, hosted during national Women's Health Week.
The website allows you to enter your own symptoms and monitor options and research targeted for them.
Lt. Governor Sheila Simon participated in the city of Springfield's "Curb Your Car, Bike to Work" event on Wednesday. Simon is an experienced cyclist. She's participated in the event before and often commutes by bike to Carbondale.
Simon also proclaimed Wednesday, Women's Health Day in Illinois. Lawmakers and officials from the state's Department of Public Health, Northwestern University and the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine joined her in the proclamation.
"From biking to work to accessing regular health screenings, there are simple things we can do to keep ourselves and our environment healthier," Simon said.
Apples and oranges may not be that different after all.
To Holly Herrington, MS, RD, LDN, they’re really one in the same … especially when considering less healthy alternatives like French fries and Oreos.
“Women tend to look at nutrition as we age and think of things in postmenopausal terms,” said Herrington, a member of the Northwestern Medical Faculty Foundation Center for Lifestyle Medicine and keynote speaker during the third annual Celebrating Women's Health event at Northwestern University. “But what you do in your 20s will affect you at 50 and at 70.”
Held in conjunction with National Women’s Health Week, the lecture on Tuesday, May 14, was bookended by more than 20 exhibits featuring women's clinical and community services and a scientific poster session highlighting the range of sex-based research at the medical school and beyond.
Cancer drug designed with fertility in mind using fast new test to predict toxicity
In 2010, while recovering from neurosurgery, Chicago advertising executive Nicole Torrillo was diagnosed with breast cancer, discovered she had a genetic predisposition for ovarian cancer and underwent a bilateral mastectomy. Today Ms. Torrillo, 38, is celebrating the birth of her first child, a daughter, who was delivered Feb. 13 via cesarean section.
As recently as 2005, Ms. Torrillo's story might not have had such a happy ending. Eight years ago, fertility and family planning did not have a place in the course of cancer treatment—in Chicago or anywhere else.
That Ms. Torrillo was able to have that difficult conversation is thanks in large part to the staff of the Oncofertility Consortium and Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility Clinic at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University.
The federal government is the chief source of financing for basic medical research, so fewer dollars leads to fewer jobs for scientists and technicians, fewer projects being completed and fewer treatments for people suffering from disease, said Teresa Woodruff, who runs a laboratory studying fertility treatments for women who undergo chemotherapy to treat cancer at Northwestern University in Chicago.
"Some of our science is going to be a little slower to get done," Woodruff said. "If we're simply filling in gaps, maybe coloring within the lines, then maybe we're not making sure that the next generation of medical breakthroughs are happening at the pace that I think we want them to happen."
This January 30, 2013 article in the Chicago Tribune by Duaa Eldeib describes how the field of oncofertility provides fertility preservation options to young patients diagnosed with cancer, including embryo, egg, and ovarian tissue banking.
A new Northwestern University study of professors in STEM fields at top research universities across the country shows that bias against women is ingrained in the workforce, despite a societal desire to believe workplace equality exists.
During an anniversary celebration on Tuesday, November 13, the Women's Health Research Institute re-launched with a new leadership council, new website, and new name, putting more emphasis on its advocacy for sex-based medicine.
“Women's health research is an area of excellence at Northwestern University and the investment in this institute has catalyzed an even broader research agenda in the sex- and gender-basis of health and disease,” said Teresa Woodruff, PhD, institute co-founder and Thomas J. Watkins Memorial Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
The award was given as part of the Institute’s fifth anniversary celebration.
“If you look back at her history, she has been a trailblazer in reporting,” said Teresa Woodruff, institute director and a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. “She makes sure that women’s health is on the agenda.”