Strategic Plan 2022-2025

Through a Strategic Planning Town Hall and stakeholder consultations, including one with our Belonging, Dignity and Justice Advisory Committee, we developed a 3-year Strategic Plan that will help us get closer to achieving sex and gender health equity worldwide. In our plan, we've outlined key goals across our 4 Pillars of Work (Research Facilitation, Capacity Building, Knowledge Translation and Advocacy) and made commitments to growing and deepening our network. Read our Strategic Plan and consider supporting our work through a monthly or one-time gift.

We Want to Promote You

If you’ve published a new paper, won an award, are hosting an event or are working on a project that you want other people to know about—we can help. Tell us what you’re up to so we can help broadcast your message.

We're #9 Worldwide

Feedspot recently ranked our blog as the #9 women’s health blog worldwide! We’re very excited about this and want to thank our Blog Coordinators, all of the authors who’ve contributed thus far, Blog Reviewers and funders like Michael Smith Health Research BC for making this possible. Thank you <3.

“No programs or policies exist in Canada that address how social media may impact the relationship between eating and body shape. A review in 2016 found that social media plays a large role in our relationship with food, and often not a positive one.” Read more.

“...the younger generation of scientists are more aware about pronouns usage and more accepting about that. That’s given me a safer space to be open about my identity.” Read more.

Feb 22 Decolonizing Research: Two-Spirit Data in a Culturally Affirming Way

Harlan Pruden, co-founder of the Two-Spirit Dry Lab—North America’s first research group focusing exclusively on Two-Spirit communities—joins the Women’s Health Seminar Series to share how other researchers can appropriately incorporate Two-Spirit people into their research.

12-1pm PST | Read more | Register here  

Mar 2 Partnership for Women's Health Research Canada 2022 Update

Join the PWHR for a panel discussion about the urgent need for more research to benefit the health of women, trans and non-binary people and the Partnership for Women’s Health Research Canada’s plan to promote positive change. 

9-10 am PST | Register here

Mar 7 Prenatal Stress and the Developing Brain: From Maternal Microbes to Offspring Microglia

Dr. Tamar Gur will lead this Women’s Health Seminar on the effect of prenatal stress on neurodevelopment. 

12-1pm PST | Read more |  Register here  

Mar 9 From Cell to Society: Women's Health Research to Address Shared Global Challenges

The Women’s Health Research Institute's symposium will centre on catalyzing women’s health research to address shared global health challenges. A mentorship and networking event for trainees will take place after the main symposium program (1:30pm-3:30pm PST).

8:30 am-12:30 pm | In-person (Robert H. Lee Alumni Centre) + Virtual

Save the date | Registration opening soon

Mar 18 Lost in Translation: Why Studying Sex & Gender Differences is not Enough to Move the Dial on Women's Health

This event, which kicks off the Health After 2020 Dialogue Series, outlines why science needs to define and value women’s health by demonstrating that it is a distinct field of research. 

12-1pm PST | Read more |  Register here

Funding

Women RISE

A forthcoming call for proposals will be available to fund research teams conducting action-oriented, gender-transformative research projects to understand the relationships between women’s work and health before, during and after COVID-19. 1M across 2 years will be awarded to 20 projects. Due July, 2022. Read more.

Integrative Research in Gynecologic Health

This National Institute of Health competition aims to provide a platform to support novel, complex research with integrated studies that involve basic, translational and clinical science to focus on a single clinically-important, understudied gynecologic disorder, or a research question that cuts across disorders, while facilitating economy of effort, space and equipment. 50K-1.5M/project. Letter of Intent due March 18th. Read more.

Health Innovation Funding Investment

UBC Health is offering up to $25,000 to faculty members who are collaborating across faculties, disciplines, and campuses to develop new teams, pursue new ideas, or translate findings from innovative health-related research. Call opens February 15 and applications are due April 15th. Read more.

Other

Trainee Abstract Submissions

The Canadian National Perinatal Research Meeting is seeking trainees to submit abstracts about their perinatal health research by February 15th (this deadline is expected to be extended until Feb 28th). The WHRC’s Perinatal Mental Health Working Group are organizing the first-ever session in this conference on perinatal mental health. We encourage you all to submit abstracts and forward this opportunity to your peers. Read more.

Scientific Director Search

The Canadian Institute of Health Research is looking for a new Institute for Gender and Health Scientific Director. The 3-year position will begin Jan 1, 2023. Application deadline is April 11th. Read more. 

Call for Speakers: Hope Conference Series

Abuse Hurts is organizing a 3-part conference series about intimate partner violence, that will take place virtually on May 17 (2022), Oct 17 (2022) and March 28 (2023). If you are interested in sharing your research or personal story, fill out an application here.

Research

Intention to receive a COVID-19 vaccine by HIV status among a population-based sample of women and gender diverse individuals in British Columbia, Canada (Kaida, et al., 2022)

Gender bias in academia: A lifetime problem that needs solutions (Llorens, et al., 2021)

News

New Study Says Women Are Worse Off When Their Doctor Is A Man. But What About Black Women? (byblacks.com)
 

Should you Pick the Sex of your Surgeon? (New York Times)

Gender & Sex in Methods & Measurement

The Centre for Gender & Sexual Health Equity is developing a series of Research Equity Toolkits to empower researchers to produce more inclusive, accurate and actionable work. The goal of these toolkits are to ensure research is more inclusive of people who are marginalized and minoritized based on their genders and sexes, including intersex, trans, non-binary, Two-Spirit people and others. Check out their first tool Determining & Communicating Eligibility.

WHRI Catalyst Grant Winners

Congratulations to Dr. Daniela Palombo, Dr. Angela Kaida & Dr. Tim Oberlander and their teams for receiving this year’s award. This competition provides support for pilot studies in women’s and newborn’s health, which aim to generate preliminary data. Read more.

Young Investigator Award

Dr. Catriona Hippman received the Journal of Personalized Medicine 2021 Young Investigator Award in recognition of her outstanding academic excellence. She has 33 publications in peer-reviewed international journals, a Scopus Scientific Citations number of 285, her Hirsch index is 11, and she has secured 4 fellowships in support of her work. She is clearly a rising star in the field of personalized medicine. Please join us in congratulating Dr. Hippman for her outstanding achievements. Read more.

We’d like to formally welcome the following new members to our cluster. We’re happy to have you working alongside us to advance women’s health!

• Nabilah Gulamhusein, MSc student, University of Calgary (Canada)

• Elena Moreno Jiménez, PhD, Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa (Spain)

• Dr. Saima Hirani, Assistant Professor, University of British Columbia (Canada)

• Louise Nolan, Assistant Psychologist, University College of London (UK)

• Ashton Ellis, Research Coordinator, BC Children’s Hospital BioBank (Canada)

• Lizz Srisuwan, Masters student, Liverpool John Moores University (UK)

• Dr. Maryam Rahimi Balaei, PDF, University of British Columbia (Canada)

• Elisa García Lara, Research Assistant, Institute for Research in Biomedicine (Spain)

• Sikanu Tsoenemawu, PhD, University of British Columbia (Canada)

• Sarah Greenwell, Undergraduate student, Indiana University (USA)

• Anna MacKinnon, PDF, University of Calgary (Canada)

• Dr. Alesia Prakapenka, Assistant Professor Midwestern University (USA)

• Sarah Towle, Research Associate, McGill University (Canada)

• Dr. Caroline Sanders, Associate Professor, University of Northern British Columbia (Canada)

• Sara Compaore, Undergraduate student, University of British Columbia (Canada)

• Fardowsa Yusuf, PhD, University of British Columbia (Canada)

• Dr. Katrina Bouchard, Assistant Professor, University of British Columbia (Canada)

If you feel passionate about the work we are doing, consider making a one-time or monthly donation. 100% of proceeds will be used to promote women’s health research across public, government and academic domains, develop the capacity of women's health researchers and foster new multidisciplinary projects.