CLOSING
THE GAP
The Center for Women’s Health Research seeks to shine
light on overlooked issues
Written by COURTNEY DRAKE-MCDONOUGH
The role of medical research is critical
and fundamental
to everyone’s health. “Research is the engine
that drives everything your doctor tells you. Everything
your doctor prescribes or recommends has been formed because
of research findings,” says Judith Regensteiner,
Ph.D., director of the Center for Women’s Health
Research in Denver.
Despite its importance, the research regarding women’s
health issues was all but nonexistent for years, creating
a drastic gap in knowledge. “We have a lot of catching
up to do,” says Dr. Regensteiner. The Center exists
to help close the lifethreatening knowledge gap in women’s
health research for the benefit of women, their families
and the community.
Surprisingly, research for women’s health issues
was initially performed on men, including trials on hormone
replacement therapy. This was because the scientific health
community wasn’t yet aware of the dramatic gender
differences in diagnosing and treating diseases in women.
Because there were also concerns that medical research
could potentially harm women’s reproductive health,
in the 1970s the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommended
that women be excluded from clinical trials. Ironically,
a lot of the research neither involved nor affected the
reproductive system. The research restrictions were not
lifted until years later, when increased knowledge and
awareness led to the determination that gender was a factor
and that funding was necessary.
In 2001 the Institute of Medicine issued a report stating
that gender does indeed matter in medical research and
that women’s health was being studied insufficiently.
In a recent report issued by the National Women’s
Law Center and Oregon Health and Science University, the
United States received an overall grade of "unsatisfactory" in
meeting only three of 27 benchmarks for women's health.
Research that examines both genders is critical because
of the important differences in the types of diseases,
the way they present themselves and the varying ways they
respond to treatment. For example, the way women experience
symptoms of a heart attack is different from how men are
affected. Women need to know what those differences are
so they will, it is hoped, seek treatment.
Dr. Regensteiner notes that even with the knowledge, women
are still sometimes reluctant to see their physician, worrying
that they are just wasting the doctor’s time. “Women
come in feeling foolish about symptoms they have,” says
Dr. Regensteiner. “Women take care of their families,
but they don’t always take care of themselves. We
need to treat women optimally, and research can provide
the answers. This will become even more important as the
baby boomers age and we have more women reaching middle
age.”
The Center for Women’s Health Research was created
in 2004 at the nationally recognized School of Medicine
at the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences
Center. The founders are Dr. Regensteiner, director of
the Center and professor of medicine in the divisions of
internal medicine and cardiology; JoAnn Lindenfeld, M.D.,
associate director of the Center and professor of medicine
in the division of cardiology and director of heart transplant;
and Lorna Moore, Ph.D., professor of surgery/emergency
medicine, University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences
Center.
The three women had long-standing interests in women’s
health research and had worked together collaboratively
for many years. “We formed the Center as a means
to focus needed attention on factors influencing women’s
health because such factors were either being ignored or
not being given sufficient attention,” says Dr. Moore.
“The University of Colorado identified women’s
health as one of the most important research areas of the
next decade, but there was no funding for it,” says
Dr. Lindenfeld. “I
had an interest in women’s health, and my colleagues
and I felt that we should attempt to raise independent
funding.”
The three doctors work full time in their research and
medical specialties and volunteer their time at the Center.
It is not unusual for any of them to work 60 to 80 hours
per week because of all of their professional obligations.
The Center’s mission includes research, training
the next generation of scientists to work in the underserved
field of women’s health research and educating women,
health care providers, policymakers and the public about
research findings. The goal is to build a Center that is
nationally and internationally renowned as the place where
vital research is conducted into the causes and treatments
of diseases that affect women to improve women’s
health, longevity and well-being.
Today, the Center has more than $3 million in research
that is under way — most of it federally funded — in
cardiovascular disease and diabetes. According to managing
director Gay Cook, with its community-based steering committee,
the Center has raised $1.2 million in support for the Center’s
mission from foundations plus private and corporate donors
with additional backing from the CU School of Medicine
and Department of Medicine.
“The Center was recently awarded a highly competitive
and very prestigious $2.5 million BIRCWH grant from the
National Institutes of Health to Build Interdisciplinary
Research Careers in Women’s Health. The BIRCWH will
fund the hiring of four new junior faculty BIRCWH scholars
for five years as they develop careers in women’s
health research. And it will expand the Center’s
initial research foci beyond cardiovascular disease and
diabetes to include pregnancy, fetal programming and lactation
and women’s cancers,” Cook reports.
The Center also has several community outreach opportunities,
including two annual symposia and an annual fund-raising
luncheon to provide educational information on women’s
health. Much of the research is conducted with study participants
who become involved in clinical trials as a result of advertising
or word of mouth. The type of research varies but currently
focuses on diseases of the heart and type two diabetes.
