Congratulations are in order! ORWH recently awarded two Science Policy Scholar Travel Awards to support the development of junior investigators focused on women’s health or sex differences who are also interested in research policy. Each recipient received $3,000 to cover the costs of attending and presenting on their research at the Organization for the Study of Sex Differences’ (OSSD) 19th Annual Meeting on June 1–5, 2025, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. 

Amanda Koire received her M.D. and Ph.D. in quantitative and computational biosciences from Baylor College of Medicine and graduated in 2024 from the Adult Psychiatry Residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) on the research track with a clinical concentration in women’s mental health. She is currently an attending psychiatrist in the Division of Women’s Mental Health at BWH, an instructor at Harvard Medical School, a research scientist at the Mary Horrigan Connors Center, and a consultant for the Massachusetts Child Psychiatry Access Program for Moms perinatal access line. She is passionate about health services research and policy, particularly where these topics intersect with women’s mental health. Her vision is to conduct research and advocacy work that aligns with a mission of increasing patient access to high-quality, evidence-based women’s mental health care.

Nefia Chacko, a third-year medical student at the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine, is an Academic Medicine Scholar committed to exploring the nexus between cardiovascular and metabolic dysfunction in menopausal women. Under the mentorship of Dr. Maria Alicia Carrillo Sepulveda, she conducts preclinical research, focusing on the role of adipose tissue in vascular health and its contribution to endothelial dysfunction and arterial stiffness. Chacko’s studies investigate how the menopausal transition leads to weight gain and dysfunctional adipose tissue, which in turn drives cardiovascular complications. In recognition of her work, Chacko was awarded the prestigious Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship from the American Heart Association to support her research on menopause-related adipose tissue changes and vascular dysfunction. Her long-term objective is to integrate scientific discoveries into health policy initiatives, bridging the gap between research and clinical practice to ensure that evidence-based strategies shape the future of women’s health care.