- Building Awareness of Alzheimer's and Recruiting a Clinical Trial for Myriad
- Explaining the Science of Products to Consumers
- Launching BiDil: A Highly Effective, But Controversial Drug
- Demystifying a Breast Cancer Diagnosis
- Making Microbes Cool for Kids
- Raising Awareness of Cancer Clinical Trials: The Tour of Hope
- Starting a Conversation about Women’s Health
- The Institute of Medicine of the National Academies (IoM)
- Bringing Recognition to a Leader in Pediatric Developmental Disabilities
- Why Does Sex Matter?
Why Does Sex Matter?
For over 15 years, the Society for Women's Health Research has worked to improve the health of women through research, successfully moving women's health issues to the forefront of medical research and policy decisions. Each year, the Society hosts a dinner attended by more than 700 individuals, including many prominent government representatives, as well as clinicians and researchers from federal agencies, academia and industry. The Annual Gala is the largest gathering of people working in the area of women's health and funds raised through the Gala support Society programs that are critical to making advances in women's health.
Each Annual Gala dinner features an important issue in women's health with a video that underscores the evening's theme. In 2008, Spectrum partnered with the Society to produce an entertaining, informative video highlighting the theme, "What a Difference an 'X' Makes," which focused on biological sex differences in health. The video examines health differences between the sexes, spotlights the importance of sex-balanced clinical research and highlights the need for further public education on this topic. Expert commentary by CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta, among other leading health professionals, is juxtaposed with person-on-the-street interviews that provide various perspectives on health differences between the sexes and on the inclusion of women in clinical research. The video underscores the disparities between general public perceptions of women's health issues, risk factors and mortality in contrast to the realities of health policy and medical research today, with great progress in women's health research due in large part to the Society's advocacy.
The unconventional take on this topic was the hit of the evening. The video has since reached a wider audience on YouTube, with more than 20,000 viewers, and was also featured prior to American Idol contestant Kimberly Locke's concert in Nokia Theatre Times Square in New York City.
For more information about the Society for Women's Health Research, please visit them at www.womenshealthresearch.org.
