Women's Health Updates — August 2021

Learn about recent developments in women's health as well as SWHR's activities that promote the study of sex and gender influences on health and serve our mission to improve women's health through science, policy, and education.
Psoriasis Awareness Month
In March, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) issued the Funding Opportunity Announcement "Accelerating Medicines Partnership: Autoimmune and Immune-Mediated Diseases (AMP AIM). This program is intended to build on the Accelerating Medicines Partnership - rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus program, which for the past six years has brought together public and private communities to make unprecedented progress in understanding the cell populations, pathways, and potential novel drug targets that drive disease.

According to its website, the NIH envisions that the AMP AIM program will be "an equally great leap in the use of technical innovation to accelerate the discovery of autoimmune diseases and new targets for intervention and therapeutic development. Learn more.
Exploring the Connection Between Psoriatic Arthritis and Bone Health
More than 8 million people in the United States have psoriasis, a chronic condition where skin cells multiply 10 times faster than the normal rate. In up to 30% of cases, patients will also develop psoriatic arthritis, inflammation in the joints. Without a definitive diagnostic test and a shortage of rheumatology care in some areas, many patients are not diagnosed in a timely fashion, resulting in delayed treatment that can worsen joint damage and related bone health. Read more on our blog.
SCIENCE & HEALTH
SWHR Director of Science Programs Dr. Irene Aninye along with field experts Drs. Omar T. Sims, Jhumka Gupta, and Stacey A. Missmer recently published "Stigma and Endometriosis: A Brief Overview and Recommendations to Improve Psychosocial Well-Being and Diagnostic Delay" in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. The paper was inspired by meetings of SWHR's Endometriosis Network, in which participants raised the need to address how women living with endometriosis experience stigma that affects how they navigate their diagnosis and best care for their health.
Roughly 17% of women experience episodic migraine and 1.3% of women have chronic migraine. Managing this disease often requires a personalized approach that combines medical treatments and wellness strategies.

SWHR on August 4 hosted "Migraine Matters: Women Navigating Wellness Across the Lifespan," a webinar featuring a panel of women who shared insights on their personal journeys with migraine disease and reviewed strategies across key areas of physical, emotional, environmental and social wellness. View the webinar recording here.
POLICY & ADVOCACY
On August 3, SWHR participated in a listening session on the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) proposal with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). The event was part of a series of listening sessions being held with stakeholders in the science community to inform the planning process for ARPA-H. SWHR's comments highlighted the opportunity for ARPA-H to benefit areas of health and disease that have not historically received robust funding, including many conditions to or more common in women, and to incorporate a lifespan approach that is complementary and additive to NIH research. Learn more about the ARPA-H Listening Sessions Set.
The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed a package of seven fiscal year (FY) 2022 spending bills, including the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies bill. The bill contained many promising provisions for women's health research including significant funding increases for the NIH's National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the Office of Research on Women's Health. Read more about the bill on the SWHR Blog.

In preparation for the congressionally requested Advancing NIH Research on the Health of Women: A 2021 Conference, NIH is inviting comments from the extramural scientific community, professional societies, and the general public to assist in identifying women's health research gaps and pitfalls in clinical practices. Comments received will be used to inform discussion and help shape the direction and scope of the conference.

Responses to the Request for Information must be submitted by September 15, 2021 for consideration. Learn more.
WORK AT SWHR
SWHR seeks an experienced, intellectually curious and dynamic professional who will play a key role in developing, implementing, and maintaining SWHR's website, blog, social media channels, educational materials, and various internal and external outreach.

SWHR seeks a coordinator to support the execution of the organization's growing portfolio of science programs, which include closed roundtable convenings, public panels, interdisciplinary science working groups, and a wide array of deliverables including, but not limited to, peer-reviewed papers.

SWHR seeks a highly motivated candidate to be responsible for maintaining and updating our donor database, including data entry and integrity, analysis, and report generation.
UPCOMING EVENTS
VCU's Institute of Women's Health has put together the Health of Women 2021 as a seven-part virtual symposium series, with sessions taking place each Friday through August 13. Register and view the agenda.
The Women's Health Innovation Summit will take place in Boston on September 14-15 and virtually on September 28. The Summit is committed to tackling unmet needs and championing innovative approaches and solutions in women's health. Learn more.
The North American Menopause Society is holding its annual meeting from September 22-25 in Washington, D.C. This year's meeting, with the theme of The State of Midlife Women's Health is intended to provide comprehensive updates on the most relevant issues to menopause and midlife women's health. Learn more and register.