VCU news

By Malorie Burkett

Virginia Commonwealth University’s Institute for Women’s Health will present its first annual Women’s Health Research Day – a networking opportunity celebrating and promoting excellence in interdisciplinary women’s health research.

Open to all VCU faculty, students, staff or community members with an interest in innovative research in women’s health, the event will take place Monday, April 11, in the Medical Sciences Building, rooms 104-05 from noon to 5 p.m.

The keynote speaker will be Loretta Finnegan, M.D., medical adviser for the director at the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Research on Women's Health. Finnegan will present “Federal Perspectives on Women’s Health Research: Challenges, Approaches and Dilemmas.”

There also will be a panel of VCU women’s health researchers, including Dace Svikis, Ph.D., professor in psychology; Harry Bear, M.D., chief of VCU surgical oncology; and Rita Pickler, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Maternal Child Nursing. The panel will be moderated by Diane B. Wilson, Ed.D., of the Department of Internal Medicine. Topics will include health risk behaviors in pregnant women, chemotherapy for breast cancer and addressing challenges of mothers and their pre-term infants.

In addition, there will be a display of 50 research posters related to women’s health representing more than 20 VCU departments and Schools.

The VCU Institute for Women’s Health is one of 21 National Centers of Excellence in Women’s Health designated by the Office on Women’s Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The National Centers of Excellence serve as demonstration models for the nation providing innovative, multidisciplinary and integrated health care systems for women.

For more information, visit http://www.womenshealth.vcu.edu/.