Director's Messages Archive
2016
: Into Our 26th Year, Confident and Committed
Dr. Clayton discusses the 26th year.: NCI Launches a Landmark Study on Breast Cancer in African-American Women
Dr. Clayton interviews Dr. Damali Martin about NCI's Breast Cancer Genetic Study in African-Ancestry Populations.: Domestic Violence Awareness: A Task for Everybody, Everywhere
Dr. Clayton discusses the domestic violence problem and NIH's research on violence against women.: An ORWH Concern: Women’s Health Around the World
Dr. Clayton discusses why global health is an important part of ORWH's work.: Meeting the Challenge of Sickle Cell Disease
For National Sickle Cell Awareness Month, Dr. Clayton discusses the disease and efforts to address it taking place across NIH.: Using Science to Achieve Workforce Diversity
Dr. Clayton discusses the investments that NIH and others have been making to investigate why women are underrepresented in the scientific workforce.: Women's Health Research: 25 Years of Progress (and Counting)
In commemoration of National Women's Health Week, Dr. Clayton reflects on the contributions of champions who helped establish the field of women's health research.: Minority Health: A Milestone on the Road to Precision Medicine
ORWH, NIH, and FDA offer resources to help investigators recruit the most diverse populations for their clinical studies.: American Heart Month: A Time to Reflect
Heart disease research highlights the importance of investigating sex differences. Given the value of covering health differences between men and women in medical curricula, ORWH offers courses on sex and gender for continuing medical education credit.: Sex as a Biological Variable: A Step Toward Stronger Science, Better Health
ORWH announces new criteria for evaluating grants on how they factor sex as a biological variable into research designs, analyses, and reporting in vertebrate animal and human studies.
2015
: Happy 25th Birthday ORWH!
In celebration of ORWH's 25th anniversary, 200 people gathered for a special hearing on Capitol Hill. Dr. Clayton reflects on the office's founding and its future outlook.: Keeping Scientists in Science: NIH Re-Issues Re-Entry Supplements Funding Opportunity
An NIH-wide program provides up to 3 years of funding for candidates with a doctoral degree who left active research and want to return. Eighty-one percent of participants have secured a scientific research position.: Summer Science Sizzles!
New research findings on the prevalence of multiple sclerosis in men versus women, how pain signals are relayed, and the effect of smoking on brain activity illustrate how sex influences brain biology.: Considering Sex as a Biological Variable: in the NIH Guide
A notice this week announces momentum toward new instructions for applicants on enhancing reproducibility through rigor and transparency by addressing sex as a biological variable.: Listening to Our Stakeholders On Considering Sex as a Biological Variable
Dr. Clayton and NIH Deputy Director for Extramural Research Sally J. Rockey, Ph.D., give an update on planning for a new policy on sex as a biological variable in preclinical research.: Toward More Individualized Medicine: Introducing the Women of Color Health Data Book, Fourth Edition
This post introduces the fourth edition of the Women of Color Health Data Book, a compilation of data on race/ethnicity and disease with relevant discussions of various factors that affect the health status of women of color.
2014
: Back to Basics: New Publishing Guidelines to Enhance Reproducibility and Relevance
This week, Science and Nature report on new principles and guidelines in reporting preclinical research that were developed at a meeting organized in conjunction with NIH.: Stepping Stones to the Future
Dr. Clayton; James Anderson, M.D., Ph.D.; and Elizabeth Wilder, Ph.D., announce $10 million in administrative supplement grants so that a sex/gender lens can be added to currently funded research projects.: A Conversation Worth Having
NIH releases a Request for Information seeking input from the research community and others on key questions about the consideration of sex in NIH-funded studies.: Answering Questions on Considering Males and Females in Preclinical Research
A Q & A guide is now available to answer questions about new NIH policies being developed to expand the consideration of sex in biomedical research with animals and cells.: Women Can Soar in STEM
An update from the White House Summit on Working Families highlights findings from NIH-funded research examining why women may not progress to their full potential in the scientific workplace.: Filling the Gaps: NIH to Enact New Policies to Address Sex Differences
Nature publishes an announcement from NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins and Dr. Clayton about a plan requiring grant applicants to address sex-based considerations and analyses in preclinical research.: Questions Worth Asking of Science on Mother's Day — and Every Day
Highlighted on the occasion of National Women's Health Week, the Women's Health Research in Review slideshow catalogues advancements in women's health in recent decades.: Science Gets a Second Chance
Research grant supplements issued through a new ORWH program are giving scientists the opportunity to strengthen their research by adding a sex/gender lens to their currently funded research.: Sex Is in the News… And It Matters
CBS' 60 Minutes and the Huffington Post take up the topic of sex differences in disease and responses to medication, shining a light on the importance of women's health research.: The Three Rs of Good Science
Rigor, reproducibility, and relevance drive good science, and ORWH is shining a light on one area where research sometimes comes up short: accounting for differences between males and females.
2013
: Smoking: It's Never too Late to Quit But Women May Find it's Harder
Smoking affects women and men differently, and these differences influence the ability to quit. Research on sex differences in health is advancing understanding of aspects such as differing responses to nicotine.: Focus on May: Healthy Vision Month
Two-thirds of people worldwide who are visually impaired or blind are female. This National Women's Health Week, learn more about differences between men and women in eye health.: Better Health for All Americans – April is Minority Health Month
Ethnicity and race play a significant role in the nation's health. As part of its efforts to support the best research toward improving the health of all Americans, ORWH and other institutes make science-based health information available to women of colo: Blazing Trails – March is Women's History Month
Today, NIH-funded research digs deeper to explain why women and men have different health needs, thanks to the efforts of the first woman director of an NIH Institute, the first woman director of NIH, and female lawmakers on Capitol Hill.: Studying sex differences provides new insights into disease
ORWH advances priorities for research on women's health and sex and gender differences laid out in the NIH Strategic Plan for Women's Health Research. Pursuing these priorities has resulted in progress toward understanding how men's and women's health dif: Women's hearts truly are unique: Celebrate your heart this February, National Heart Health Awareness Month
Researchers are looking into many aspects of heart disease that are unique in women at the level of cells, structures such as blood vessels, and behavior.: Snapshot of Women's Health in America
A new report documents a gap between the health of Americans and that of their peers in other high-income nations, with American women ranking near the bottom. What can be done?: Playing in the Sandbox: Advancing Women in Science
There has been substantial progress on providing opportunities and support for women in the scientific workforce, but it is equally important to find ways to accelerate change. There is still much to do.