NIH Associate Director for Research on Women’s Health and ORWH Director, Janine Austin Clayton, M.D., FARVO, has authored a new publication, "Raising the Bar: Putting Science to Work for the Health of Women" that provides an overview of ORWH as an office.
The publication reviews ORWH’s signature programs, such as Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health and Specialized Centers of Research Excellence on Sex Differences. Dr. Clayton also addresses the current direction of women’s health research, emphasizing how critical it is that researchers move beyond the “inclusion of women” to the “intentional integration” of sex and gender factors across the research continuum. This includes intentionally integrating sex as a biological variable into preclinical studies to inform clinical research that is designed to answer questions relevant to the health of women.
Women’s health constitutes everything that affects a woman—from head to toe, inside and out, and across the life course. It encompasses social determinants of health and environmental and societal contexts. Dr. Clayton emphasizes ORWH’s dedication to interdisciplinary research that accelerates progress and meets the contemporary health needs of women.
Dr. Clayton closes the publication by reiterating ORWH’s mission now and in future: to steadfastly focus on improving the health of women through rigorous research.