In this Kit:
ORWH Mission ORWH Director Inclusion of Women in Clinical Research Sex as a Biological Variable ORWH Programs ORWH Publications Images
ORWH Mission
The Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH) serves as the focal point for women’s health research at NIH. It is the first Public Health Service office dedicated specifically to promoting women’s health research within and beyond the NIH scientific community. ORWH also fosters the recruitment, retention, reentry, and advancement of women in biomedical careers. Learn more.
ORWH Director
Janine Austin Clayton, M.D., FARVO, was appointed Associate Director for Research on Women’s Health at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Director of the NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health in 2012. Dr. Clayton is the architect of the NIH policy requiring scientists to consider sex as a biological variable across the research spectrum. This policy is part of NIH’s initiative to enhance reproducibility through rigor and transparency. As co-chair of the NIH Working Group on Women in Biomedical Careers with NIH Acting Director Lawrence A. Tabak, D.D.S., Ph.D., Dr. Clayton also leads NIH’s efforts to advance women in science careers. Dr. Clayton was elected to the Board of Directors of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). You can learn more about Dr. Clayton from her Director’s Corner and Blog and by following her on Twitter.
Inclusion of Women in Clinical Research
Women and men are different on a cellular level. The inclusion of women in clinical research is necessary and important. Different pathways in men and women may lead to the same disease. Additionally, knowing how each sex responds to diagnosis and treatment is vital to improving the delivery of care. NIH Inclusion Policies and NIH Inclusion Toolkit: How to Engage, Recruit, and Retain Women in Clinical Research provide more information.
Sex as a Biological Variable
Until a few decades ago, researchers believed there were no significant differences between males and females other than their reproductive functions. Because of this belief, basic and preclinical research focused only on male animals and cells. To gain a clear understanding of female biology, NIH developed and implemented the NIH Policy on Sex as a Biological Variable (SABV), which states: “NIH expects that sex as a biological variable will be factored into research designs, analyses, and reporting in vertebrate animal and human studies.” Investigators seeking NIH funding for research should study both sexes or provide a strong justification for studying only one sex. You can read the NIH Policy on Sex as a Biological Variable and guidance on Consideration of Sex as a Biological Variable in NIH-funded Research for more information. The SABV Primer consists of four independent, interactive modules that are designed to help the biomedical community account for and appropriately integrate SABV across the full spectrum of biomedical sciences.
ORWH Programs
ORWH fosters, guides, and supports research on women’s health and the influences of sex and gender on health and disease to improve the health of women. ORWH partners with the NIH Institutes, Centers, and Offices (ICOs) and other Federal agencies to co-fund research in these areas:
- ORWH Co-Funded Research supports a variety of specific research efforts at NIH that have a major focus on women’s health research and the influences of sex and gender on health and disease.
- Administrative Supplements for Research on Sex/Gender Differences offers funding to ongoing peer-reviewed NIH grants on the condition that they will add the exploration of the effects of sex/gender to their preclinical and clinical studies.
- Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH) is a mentored career development program that connects junior faculty, known as BIRCWH Scholars, with senior faculty who have shared research interests in women's health and sex differences.
- Research on the Health of Women of Understudied, Underrepresented, and Underreported (U3) Populations provides administrative supplemental funding for research that examines health disparities among women resulting from factors such as race and ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender identity, and urban–rural living.
- Specialized Centers of Research Excellence (SCORE) on Sex Differences is a program that supports established scientists conducting research at centers across the country. It integrates basic, clinical, and translational approaches to incorporating a focus on sex and gender.
Learn more about our funded research and programs.
ORWH Publications, Resources, and Social Media
ORWH publications provide a wealth of information about the mission that drives our work and our strategy to improve the health of all through better scientific research.
- Women’s Health in Focus at NIH (Subscribe)
- The Pulse (Subscribe)
- Advancing Science for the Health of Women: The Trans-NIH Strategic Plan for Women’s Health Research
- Biennial Report: Report of the Advisory Committee on Research on Women's Health
- Perspectives on Advancing NIH Research to Inform and Improve the Health of Women
- 30 Years of Advancing Women's Health: an NIH Slideshow
- 30 Years of Advancing Women's Health Timeline
- 25th Anniversary Women's Health Research Slideshow
- 25 Years of Advancing Women's Health Research Infographic
- ORWH E-Learning Courses
- Maternal Morbidity and Mortality Info Fact Sheet
- Understudied, Underreported, and Underrepresented (U3) Fact Sheet
- See additional publications on ORWH’s Resources page.
