VCU Institute for Women’s Health hosts 5th annual Women’s Health Research Day

By Sathya Achia Abraham

The evolution, challenges and opportunities of women’s health research were explored during the 5th annual Women’s Health Research Day.

The event, hosted Wednesday, April 15, by Virginia Commonwealth University’s Institute for Women’s Health, was attended by VCU faculty, students, staff and community members with an interest in research in women’s health.

This year’s keynote speaker was Vivian Pinn, M.D., director of the National Institutes of Health Office of Research on Women’s Health. Pinn presented “Moving into the Future – New Dimensions and Strategies for Women’s Health Research for the NIH.”

Pinn discussed the significant strides that have been made in the field of women’s health through NIH research initiatives and the important need for investigators to focus on interdisciplinary research.

“We want to cure disease and we want to treat (diseases) better – but we want to prevent them – and because it is the National Institutes of Health, we need to continue to focus on health and wellness to eliminate and eradicate disease,” Pinn said.

The event also included a display of 40 research posters by VCU faculty and students covering a wide range of women’s health topics including pregnancy, cancer, diabetes, infant mortality, hormone therapy and substance use disorders.

Many of the posters were entered in a competition for the Elizabeth Fries Young Investigator Award, created in memory of Elizabeth Fries, Ph.D., a VCU psychology professor who served as co-director of cancer control at the VCU Massey Cancer Center. Fries died in 2005. The award is given to a young researcher who shows promise for improving women’s health. Fries’ husband, Viktor Bovbjerg, Ph.D., presented the award. 

This year’s winning poster was presented by Kai Cheang, Pharm. D., an assistant professor in the VCU School of Pharmacy, who studied the effect of oral contraceptives on metabolic risk factors in obese versus lean women. Additional honors went to Brandi Jancaitis, MPH, a prevention research specialist at the Richmond Behavioral Health Authority, and Nikita Mishra, Ph.D., a graduate student in the VCU departments of Physiology and Biophysics and Obstetrics and Gynecology.

This year’s Women’s Health Research Day also included the announcement of Community-Based Participatory Research Seed Grant Awards, funded by the VCU Institute for Women’s Health.

The community-based research awards, totaling nearly $50,000, were awarded to:

• Rubicon Inc., with researcher Arpita Aggarwal, M.D., an assistant professor in the  VCU School of Medicine Division of General Medicine, for the project “Perception of cervical cancer screening post HPV vaccination – Impact of new guidelines.”
• Richmond Health Start Initiative with researcher Tegwyn Brickhouse, DDS, Ph.D, associate professor in the VCU School of Dentistry, Department of Pediatric Dentistry, for the project “Perinatal influences on the incidence of early childhood caries in Richmond Healthy Start infants.”
• Substance Abuse and Addiction Recovery Alliance of Virginia Center with researcher Pamela Dillon, Pharm.D., research liaison with the VCU Center for Clinical and Translational Research, for the project “An analysis of exercise and nutrition profiles in a community sample of women and men with substance use disorders.”
• Rubicon Inc., with researcher Leila Islam, a graduate student in the clinical psychology doctoral program from the VCU Department of Psychology, for the project “Motivational incentives to increase exercise compliance in cocaine-dependent women.”
• Neighborhood Resource Center, with researcher Jo Robins, Ph.D., R.N., assistant professor in the VCU School of Nursing, for the project “Exploring the feasibility and acceptability of a novel tai chi program for stress management in women.”

The VCU Institute for Women’s Health is one of 20 National Centers of Excellence in Women’s Health designated by the Office on Women’s Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The National Centers of Excellence serve as demonstration models for the nation providing innovative, multidisciplinary and integrated health care systems for women.

The mission of the VCU Institute for Women's Health is to improve the health of women through health education, research, clinical care, outreach and leadership development.

For more information, visit http://www.womenshealth.vcu.edu/.