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LEXINGTON,
KY (Nov. 21, 2000) – The University of Kentucky Chandler Medical
Center is formalizing a major initiative to tackle women’s
health issues in Kentucky, officials announced today.
Included in the initiative are the establishment of a Women’s
Health Center and the awarding of several large research
grants to study women’s health issues.
The
initiative tackles women’s health issues through research,
clinical, service, educational and leadership efforts.
“The
University of Kentucky is proud to be on the forefront, both on a
statewide and a national basis, of addressing women’s health
issues,” said UK President Charles T. Wethington Jr.
“We
are excited that the years of work that have gone into building
this initiative from the ground up have paid off in the formation
of an official center and in the awarding of several large
research grants,” said James W. Holsinger Jr., M.D., Ph.D.,
chancellor of the UK Chandler Medical Center.
“This is something we are pleased to be able to do for
the women of Kentucky and the nation.”
A
key component of the initiative is the official establishment of
the UK Women’s Health Center, a designation granted by the UK
Board of Trustees at its October meeting.
The result of five years of organization and planning, the
Center is the first of its kind in Kentucky.
“This
is an important medical advance,” said Deborah G. Kwolek, M.D.,
medical director of the UK Women’s Health Center and an
assistant professor of internal medicine in the UK College of
Medicine. “We are
putting women’s health on the map, addressing the needs of women
in Kentucky as well as nationally.
Kentucky women can be assured their best interests are
being addressed here at UK,” Kwolek said.
The
initiative also focuses on research to discover scientific and
clinical knowledge to understand and improve the health of women.
The
UK Chandler Medical Center recently received four major women’s
health-related grants totaling more than $15 million over the next
five years:
·
A five-year, $8.2 million grant from the National
Institutes of Health (NIH) to establish the Center of Biomedical
Research Excellence in Women’s Health (COBREWH).
The grant covers administrative functions of the Center and
four research projects. Phyllis
Wise, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Physiology at the UK
College of Medicine and the Shih Chun Wang Professor (endowed
under the Research Challenge Trust Fund Initiative), is the
program director. The
UK
College of Medicine researchers will examine how estrogen and
drugs that are related to estrogen, called selective estrogen
receptor modulators (or SERMs), affect women’s neuroendocrine
system, ovaries, central nervous and cardiovascular systems, and
behavior. This grant
also provides opportunities for junior faculty to receive training
in state-of-the-art research techniques to assist them in
establishing independent, successful research careers.
·
A five-year, $3.75 million grant from the National
Institute on Aging. The
research team, led by Wise, will focus on what happens as women
age that prevents the ovaries from functioning as they did during
the reproductive years and whether estrogen continues to protect
against injury during aging.
·
A three-year, $821,000 grant from the U.S.
Department of Education to develop and disseminate a core
multidisciplinary women’s health curriculum.
The Multidisciplinary Instructional Models for Women’s
Health Education project will be tailored to the needs of each of
the five colleges in the UK Chandler Medical Center and
disseminated to 15 collaborating institutions nationwide.
Kwolek is the principal investigator for this project.
·
A five-year, $2.5 million grant from the National
Institutes of Health. The
Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health
project will support research on regulation of menopause and its
repercussions on women’s health, nutrition-related illnesses and
their impact on women, and gender issues and drug abuse. As with
the COBREWH grant, this grant also provides opportunities for
junior faculty to develop their research careers. Emery Wilson, M.D., dean, UK College of Medicine, is the
principal investigator. Wise
and Claire Pomeroy, M.D., chief of infectious diseases, are the
program directors.
On
the education front, the initiative includes bringing the new
knowledge of gender-based medicine into the curriculum in all five
colleges and one school of the Medical Center (medicine, pharmacy,
dentistry, nursing, allied health professions, and public health).
“Traditionally,
health professions students have been taught everything in
relation to a 70-kilogram man – the ‘normal human.’
In the last 10 to 15 years, medical science has begun
realizing that there are significant differences between men and
women that go beyond reproductive organs,” Kwolek said.
Established
in April, Associates in Women’s Health, the clinical portion of
the Women’s Health Center, has plans for expansion next year to
fill the heavy demand for primary care for women.
A network with other existing UK providers focused on
women’s health – such as the Department of Obstetrics and
Gynecology, the Comprehensive Breast Care Center and the Ovarian
Cancer Screening Program – is being formed.
The
initiative also includes efforts to educate the public, other
health care professionals and policy-makers. The Women’s Health Center sponsors an annual women’s
health summit, monthly lectures that are broadcast via
telemedicine to 13 sites around Kentucky and continuing medical
education courses.
“There
was very little statewide network-building before we began our
efforts,” said Janet Braun, coordinator of the Women’s Health
Center. “Our efforts have encouraged people from across Kentucky to
work collaboratively toward a common goal – improving the health
of women.” |
