Day-long symposium focuses on
female health issues
On April 22 at 8:30 a.m., the RC1 research auditorium was nearly filled to
capacity with participants of the first Colorado Research Symposium on the
Health of Women and Girls. The day-long symposium highlighted Colorado-based
research on the health of females.
The symposium began with welcome and opening remarks by Helene Kent, principal
with HM Kent Public Health Consulting, followed by Doug Benevento, JD, executive
director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment; Jay
Gershen, DDS, PhD, UCD executive vice chancellor; and Kathleen Beatty,
PhD, UCD dean of the Graduate School of Public Affairs.
The opening presentation was a plenary panel, moderated by Jane Wilson, acting
regional health administrator, Region VIII, USDHHS.
The panel members and their topics were:
Wanda K. Jones, DrPh, deputy assistant secretary for health, Office on Women’s
Health, USDHHS
Dr. Jones provided an overview of current activities and discussed how the
OWH is positioned to strengthen the foundation of women’s health research,
education and services.
Jillian Jacobellis, PhD, director, Prevention Services Division, CDPHE
Dr. Jacobellis discussed the health profile of women in Colorado, in addition
to highlighting the socio-economic determinants of health and major health
disparities challenges.
Rosaly Correa-de-Araujo, MD, MSc, PhD, senior advisor on women’s health,
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, USDHHS
Dr. Correa-de-Araujo explained her agency’s research agenda and programs
on improving the quality of care for women, eliminating disparities, disseminating
evidence-based information for clinical decision support, and empowering
women to make more informed decisions about their own and their families’ care.
Judy Regensteiner, PhD, professor of medicine, director, Center for Women’s
Health Research; and director, Treadmill Laboratory for UCD
Dr. Regensteiner discussed the role of the CWHR in enabling pioneering research
in women’s health and gender-based medicine. Her presentation highlighted
the efforts of the center in the areas of training of junior faculty, fellows
and students to perform research, and to educate health care professionals
and the lay public in terms of the findings of the research.
Margaret C. Neville, PhD, professor of physiology and biophysics, professor
of obstetrics and gynecology, chief, Basic Reproductive Sciences, and director
of the Office of Interdisciplinary Research in Women’s Health, UCD
Dr. Neville’s presentation focused on genomics, proteomics and matabolomics
and understanding the human genome.
Following the panel discussion, poster sessions, organized by Wendy DuBow,
PhD, research associate at the REFT Institute, Inc., were held in the atrium
of RC1.
The afternoon consisted of concurrent
sessions, addressing a variety of topics affecting girls’ and women’s
health, as follows:
Perinatal Health
Moderators: Jodi Drisko, director, Research and Evaluation, Health Statistics
Section, CDPHE; and Jane Gibbs, executive committee member, Colorado Women’s
Health Care Coalition
•
Low birth weight and altitude – The effects of high
altitude on low birth weight in Colorado over the past 50 years has contributed
to the ability
to recognize high-risk babies before they are born and to afford them the
care required to increase their chances of survival. Dr. Moore reviewed this
history and described several new promising research directions in this area.
Lorna Moore, PhD, professor of Health and Behavioral Sciences, Anthropology
and Surgery, UCD
•
Solutions to the low birth weight problem in Colorado – Research on
births in Colorado reveals that a number of factors contribute to the state’s
high low birth weight rate, in addition to the impact of altitude. Dr. Ricketts
and Karen Trierweiler highlighted the top factors including inadequate maternal
weight gain during pregnancy and smoking.
Sue Ricketts, PhD, demographer, Maternal and Child Health Program. CDPHE
Karen Trierweiler, MS, CNM, director, Women’s Health Section, CDPHE
•
Gestational diabetes – Dr. Barbour presented new data
on how human placental growth hormone may cause the insulin resistance of
pregnancy, and
the insulin signaling changes that characterize normal pregnancy and gestational
diabetes. Dr. Barbour reviewed her experience using Glyburide to treat gestational
diabetes, and discussed new ways to prevent Type 2 diabetes in women with
a history of gestational diabetes.
Linda Barbour, MD, MSPH, associate professor of Medicine and Obstetrics
and Gynecology, Divisions of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism and
Maternal-Fetal Medicine, UCD
•
Managing the fetus using Doppler – Dr. Hobbins described
the role of ultrasound and Doppler ultrasound in managing the growth restricted
fetus.
John C. Hobbins, MD, professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, UCD
Chronic Disease
Moderators: Venus Mann, administrator, Business Development, University of
Colorado Hospital; and Judy Regensteiner, PhD
•
Lung cancer, the number one killer of women – Dr.
Kelly reviewed the differences between men and women, and how those differences
relate to lung
cancer. She also discussed lung cancer treatment issues.
Karen Kelly, MD, professor of Medicine, director of the Clinical Thoracic
Oncology Program, University of Colorado Cancer Center
•
Diseases of the immune system – Dr. Holers talked
about the progress being made in developing prevention strategies for autoimmune
diseases.
V. Michael Holers, MD, professor of Medicine and Immunology, head of the
Division of Rheumatology, UCD
•
Heart disease – Dr. Lindenfeld reviewed the differences
between men and women associated with heart disease. She also spoke about
treatment issues
and options.
JoAnn Lindenfeld, MD, professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiology,
director of Heart Transplant, and associate director of the Center for Women’s
Health Research, UCD
•
Exercise and diabetes – Dr. Reusch presented data
that supports the critical nature of exercise for health and for diabetes
prevention. She discussed
research which shows that women with diabetes have a major defect in exercise
capacity, and shared strategies for increased daily physical activity.
Jane E.B. Reusch, MD, associate professor of Medicine, UCD, and staff
endocrinologist and researcher, Denver Veterans Administration Medical Center
Issue of Midlife and Beyond
Moderator: Elinor Greenberg, EdD, coordinator, Health Careers Recruitment
and Diversity, Colorado Area Health Education Center (AHEC) System, UCD
•
Menopause and maintenance of wellbeing – Dr. Davis
focused her talk on menopause, and how this period of life affects how some
women feel. She
discussed what is currently known about the risks of estrogen-progesterone
therapy, whether there are any benefits from postmenopausal therapy, and
if there are evidence-based differences in the safety of therapy.
Karlotta Davis, MD, MPH, associate professor, Department of Obstetrics
and Gynecology, UCD
•
The role of hormones in the development of rheumatoid arthritis – Women
develop rheumatoid arthritis two-to-three times more frequently than men.
Dr. Deane discussed some of the reasons for this, as well as research currently
being done to explore the role of environmental risk factors in the development
of rheumatoid arthritis.
Kevin Deane, MD, instructor of Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, CU School
of Medicine, UCD
•
Urinary incontinence and pelvic prolapse –
Dr. Davis stressed the “hidden” epidemic
of urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse, as well as the pharmacotherapy
for urinary incontinence and issues about failure of surgery for pelvic organ
prolapse.
Dr. Karlotta Davis
•
Optimizing function in older women – Dr. Gozansky’s
presentation highlighted several key areas important for the maintenance
of functional
status in older women. The physiology of aging was reviewed with an emphasis
on body composition changes specific to women after menopause.
Wendolyn S. Gozansky, MD, MPH, assistant professor of Medicine, Division
of Geriatrics, UCD
Psychosocial Factors – Systems
Collaboration and Domestic Violence
Moderators: Juana Rosa Caero, education coordinator, Latino/a Research and
Policy Center, UCD; and Linda Stopp, Regional Women’s Health Program
Assistant, Office on Women’s Health, USDHHS, Region VIII
• Systems collaboration within the nurse-family partnership program – This
presentation provided an overview of the research of the Nurse-Family Partnership,
a voluntary prevention program providing home visitation services by registered
nurses to low-income, first-time mothers. There are current efforts to replicate
NFP nationwide.
Patricia F. Uris, PhD, APRN, vice president, Programs/Operations, National
Office of Nurse-Family Partnership
Linda Merlino, deputy director, Invest in Kids
•
Colorado’s mental health care project – Results from the 2003
study The Status of Mental Health Care in Colorado were presented at this
session. As a result of one of the study’s major findings, a new, 5-year,
$4 million project in Colorado will address mental health systems integration
and coordination.
Linda Reiner, MPH, director of planning and evaluation, Caring for Colorado
Foundation
•
Asking the right questions about domestic violence – In
this session, Barbara Paradiso and Dr. Webster discussed issues surrounding
domestic violence,
including whether researchers are answering the questions that are important
to communities, response organizations and to survivors of violence. They
talked about the Domestic Violence Research and Action Coalition, its structure,
results, lessons learned and future plans.
Barbara Paradiso, director for the Program on Domestic Violence, Graduate
School of Public Affairs, UCD
Denny Webster, RN, PhD, CS, professor and specialty coordinator of Psychiatric
Nursing, CU School of Nursing, UCD
•
Violence during pregnancy – Using data from the Pregnancy Risk Assessment
Monitoring Survey of women who have recently given birth, Darci Cherry discussed
the issue of violence experienced during pregnancy by women in Colorado.
Darci Cherry, MPH, Maternal and Child Health Program, CDPHE
In a wrap-up session at the end of the day, Jane Wilson discussed “The Future of Women’s Health Research in Colorado.”
The symposium was sponsored by the Caring for Colorado Foundation; the CDPHE, Women’s Health Section and Cardiovascular Disease Program; Colorado Health Institute; Colorado Women’s Health Care Coalition; JSI Research and Training Institute; Merck Pharmaceuticals; REFT Institute, Inc.; UCD, Center for Women’s Health Research, Colorado Area Health Education Center (AHEC) System, School of Nursing, Latino/a Research and Policy Center, Office of Interdisciplinary Research in Women’s Health, Graduate School of Public Affairs Program on Domestic Violence and the School of Medicine; University of Colorado Hospital; and the USDHHS Office on Women’s Health, Region VIII.
The planning committee for the 2005 Colorado Research Symposium on the Health of Women and Girls included Jodie Bohl, Juana Rosa Cavero, Gay Cook, Jodi Drisko, Wendy DuBow, PhD, Jane Gibbs, Elinor Miller Greenberg, EdD, Jillian Jacobellis, PhD, Tracy Johnson, PhD, Helene Kent, Laurie Konsella, Margaret Neville, PhD, Venus Mann, Barbara Paradiso, Judith Reginsteiner, PhD, Lena Sorensen, PhD, Linda Stopp, and Denny Webster, PhD.
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