This application requests partial support for the Fourth Annual """"""""What a Difference an X Makes Conference"""""""" to be held July 18-19, 2013 in Washington, DC. SWHR's """"""""What a Difference an X Makes: The State of Women's Health"""""""" conferences are designed to raise awareness about the importance of sex differences in various diseases and conditions that affect both men and women. The """"""""What a Difference an X Makes Conference"""""""" gives SWHR an opportunity to remind stakeholders of the importance of understanding biological differences between men and women that affect health and disease. The conference is geared towards a multidisciplinary audience of researchers, clinicians and allied health care professionals from various academic institutions, patient advocacy groups, federal agency employees, representatives of the pharmaceutical industry, media reporters, and science writers, etc. This year's meeting, """"""""What a Difference an X Makes: The State of Women's Health,"""""""" will provide expert, interdisciplinary perspectives on the role of stress, sexual health, mental health and nutrition/obesity on the development, maintenance, and outcome of chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, musculoskeletal disease, autoimmune disease and breast cancer. This conference will bring together a multidisciplinary audience of researchers, clinicians and allied health care professionals from various academic institutions, patient advocacy groups, federal agency employees, representatives of the pharmaceutical industry, and media. The primary goal of the meeting is to bring an interdisciplinary group of experts together to discuss how the """"""""hot"""""""" themes of stress, sexual health, mental health and nutrition/obesity influence chronic diseases. The two-day meeting consists of opening and closing remarks, two keynote addresses and four sessions, each composed of two panel discussions. In addition, we anticipate presenting approximately 30 posters from new investigators. The session topics will include, 1) The Biology of Stress: Panelists will describe the biological mechanisms of inflammation, sex differences in inflammation and stress, the roll of inflammation and stress in the development of chronic disease and possible interventions to break the stress/chronic disease link;2) Sexual Health Across Her Lifespan : Panelists will describe the risks/benefits of hormone use and the lifelong consequences of STIs;3) The Female Brain: Panelists will demonstrate how mental health, drug dependence, and pain factor into the management of chronic diseases in women;4) Nutrition and Obesity: Panelists will address the role of diet, food additives and obesity in chronic diseases. The size (about 160) and the organization of this meeting provide an excellent opportunity for networking and interactive discussions. Funds are requested to help offset speaker travel. The annual meeting program, including speaker and poster abstracts, will be made freely available on the SWHR website (www.swhr.org). SWHR will organize this event and is requesting support from the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, as well as from private foundations.
This proposal requests partial support for the SWHR's Fourth Annual What a Difference an X Makes Conference to be held July 18-19, 2013 in Washington, DC. SWHR, a national non-profit organization based in Washington, DC, is widely recognized as the thought leader in research on sex differences and is dedicated to improving women's health through advocacy, education, and research. Founded in 1990 by a group of physicians, medical researchers and health advocates, SWHR aims to bring attention to the myriad of diseases and conditions that affect women uniquely. Due to SWHR's efforts, women are now routinely included in most major medical research studies and scientists are beginning to consider biological sex as a variable in their research. Today, SWHR advocates for greater public and private funding for women's health research and the study of sex differences that: affects the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease;encourages the appropriate inclusion of women and minorities in medical research studies;promotes the analysis of research data for sex and ethnic differences;and informs women health care providers, and policy makers about contemporary women's health issues through media outreach, congressional briefings, public education campaigns, conferences and special events. SWHR will be working with our experts from this year's scientific roundtables and interdisciplinary networks in addition to other members of academia, government and industry to bring experts in women's health to speak at the conference.
