Projects:
Women's Health Initiative
A landmark project, The Women's Health Initiative (WHI) is the first major scientific research study of post-menopausal women and their health. The data from this study will help determine how diet, hormone therapy, and calcium and vitamin D might prevent heart disease, cancer, and bone fractures in women. It will also help identify any risks for these diseases. WHI is a 15-year study in which about 164,500 women of various racial and ethnic backgrounds from 45 communities across the U.S. will participate. WHI is sponsored by the National Institutes of Health.
National Alliance on Women's Health and Research
Founded by Dr. Jennifer Hays, Director of the Center for Women's Health, the Alliance is the first national organization designed to centralize and disseminate information related to women's health and align to interests of each health care market segment: clinician, patient, and industry. A network of academic-based women's health centers, pharmaceutical industry, and corporate partners whose mission is to centrally organize research and education to improve women's health and quality of life.
Alliance on Women's Health and Research
Women's Health Web Site
With access to the internet increasing, many women are getting their health information from web sites. A web site for the Alliance for Women's Health and Research is being developed that will be a comprehensive resource for women's health information on the World Wide Web. The Center for Women's Health faculty are conducting a needs assessment of educational health resources on the Internet. From this information, we are creating a portal site that will direct women to specific sites with good information at accessible reading levels.
Women's Cardiovascular Health Study
The Center for Women's Health is developing and evaluating a gender-specific risk assessment program to cardiovascular risk factors in women past the age of 45. This prevention, detection, and treatment protocol will be based upon the newly released women's health guidelines of the American Heart Association. After completion, this study will be carried out nationally at 10 other sites of the Alliance for Women's Health and Research. The project is being funded by Merck.
Leadership Institute for Women in Health Care Professions
Founded by Dr. Jennifer Hays, Director of the Center for Women's Health, and Dr. Katherine Stream, President of Texas Woman's University, the Leadership Institute for Women in Health Care Professions is a joint project of Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Woman's University. The Institute provides a learning environment that empowers and affirms the full development of women, encourages women to develop skills that will advance their potential for service, and serves as a resource for information and knowledge about women. It offers female faculty members leadership skills, management skills, situational awareness skills, along with a mentoring and evaluation program.
Medical Curriculum: Women's Health and Gender Differences Theme
This year, the Curriculum Committee at Baylor College of Medicine chose Women's Health as one of five themes to be integrated into the medical school curriculum. Faculty at the Center for Women's Health have conducted needs assessments of the curriculum with regard to current curriculum content, needs as perceived by the students, and curricula of other medical schools that have already integrated these issues. From this data, a priority list has been created. We are currently observing classes and meeting with course directors to identify areas where there are opportunities to incorporate these important gender differences in health and medicine into the curriculum. We are also implementing a baseline survey to assess knowledge of women's health and gender differences in health.
Journal Watch: A Monthly Review of Selected Scientific Publications
To help health professionals stay current on new research developments in women's health and gender differences in health, the Center for Women's Health has created an Internet "Journal Watch". This resource provides summaries of research studies relevant to health professionals and is accessible world-wide.
Newspaper Column: Women's Health Focus
In conjunction with the Office of Public Affairs at Baylor College of Medicine, the Center for Women's Health produces a monthly health column focusing on personal experiences and issues that affect women's health. These will help women integrate health information that is in the media into their daily lives by providing practical information. This column will be distributed to major local daily and weekly newspapers.
Mood and Menopause
"Mood and Menopause" is a pilot study aimed at investigating the complexity of women's experiences during the midlife transition. Funded by the Guild of Baylor College of Medicine, this year-long project was launched in April 1998. The primary goal of this research is to understand menopause from the woman's point of view and to help inform the medical and lay communities about this important transitional experience.
Women's Health Programs Survey
A national survey of academic medical schools was conducted by the Center for Women's Health to identify existing programs in women's health. The data from this study is being published as a Research Brief in the November 1998 issue of Academic Medicine. A follow-up study is currently underway.
Women's Health Summit
Hosted by the Center for Women's Health and The Huffington Center on Aging, the annual Women's Health Summit is an opportunity to disseminate health information to women of the Houston community. The 1998 summit was entitled "Achieving Mental Wellness Throughout Life," and the keynote speaker and recipient of the Anne Morrow Lindbergh Award for Aging with Grace and Distinction was Jehan Sadat, widow of the late Anwar Sadat, former President of Egypt. Health information from many local health organizations was distributed to the attendees.
ENACT™: LDL Cholesterol Study
This study tests the ENACT™ Direct LDL Cholesterol Test for use in screening and monitoring LDL in doctors' offices and in patients' homes. As members of the Alliance for Women's Health and Research, Actimed Laboratories, Inc. and the Center for Women's Health are conducting this study in the Center for Women's Health Research Clinic.
Colds and Flu
Through the Alliance for Women's Health and Research, the Center for Women's Health developed and conducted an educational campaign designed to improve patient self-care with regard to colds and flu. The project targeted the community through work sites, health clinics, and Walmart stores and was funded by Whitehall-Robins.
©1999 Baylor College of Medicine
E-Mail: cwh@bcm.tmc.edu
URL: http://www.bcm.tmc.edu/cwh/projects.html (Modified: Feb-17-1999)
| 
