Health Interrupted Podcast

Be part of the inaugural episode of our podcast Health Interrupted! We want to know “what does women’s health mean to you?” Using a built-in voice recording app on your phone (e.g. Voice Memos, Voice Recorder) record your answer to this question. Speaking clearly and directly into the mic at the bottom of your phone is most helpful. Once you’ve finished recording, share the audio file via email to womenshealth.interrupted@ubc.ca

If you don’t have a recording app, download them here for Android or iPhone

Join a WHRC Working Group or Committee

We are seeking individuals to join our Socioeconomic Status (SES) Working Group, Perinatal Mental Health Working Group and our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Advisory Committee. Time commitments and projects vary: 

• The SES Working Group will lead the planning and facilitation of a public event and mini podcast series to raise awareness about the impact of COVID19 on women in diverse caregiving roles through an SES lens. Meetings occur once every three weeks. 
• The Perinatal Mental Health Working Group is working towards hosting a symposium to exchange knowledge and foster new research collaborations. Meetings occur monthly. 
• The EDI Advisory Committee will meet quarterly over the next 12 months to analyze WHRC activities and processes, and provide guidance about how to incorporate EDI best practices. 

“For middle-aged women, symptoms such as hot flashes and heart palpitations are often attributed to menopause. This mislabelling puts women at risk for serious heart conditions that could be avoided.” Read more.

If you love immersing yourself in the world of Medium, you can now find Women’s Health Blog content there! Medium is an open platform where authors can share stories, thoughts and ideas with the world. From now on you can find Women’s Health Blogs both on our website and on our Medium page.

Jun 2: Sexual Health and Immigrant Women

This event will share findings from two studies relating to sexual violence and sexual health education in Saskatchewan as well as how it pertains to minorities like immigrants and the LGBTQ+ communities. Read more. 

2 pm EDT. Register here.

Jun 18: Libin Sex and Gender Trainee Workshop-Incorporating Sex and Gender Considerations into Your Research

Join the Libin Cardiovascular Institute for this virtual trainee workshop. Keynote speaker, Dr. Rebecca Shansky, PhD, an associate professor of Psychology at Northeastern University, will present, “Considering Sex as a Biological Variable in Biomedical Research.” Participants will then take part in a series of breakout sessions where they will receive hands-on coaching on their own research project from world-class experts on incorporating sex and gender considerations into research. The workshop is open to all trainees. Read more.

9-12 pm MDT Register here.

Jun 23: Trainee Research Presentation

Want to learn more about women’s health and why it matters? Come to our next Trainee Research Presentation! We’ll hear from 5 trainees who will discuss intersectionality within endometriosis, the effects of hysterectomies on rat cognitive processes and more. Read more. 

12-1pm PDT Register here.

Jun 23: Virtual Networking Session
 

If you’re a trainee looking to get hired on a new research project, you should check this event out. Our Virtual Networking Session will help trainees learn about Mitacs funding programs and how to apply for them in addition to giving you the opportunity to network with faculty that are actively seeking students to work on their projects. Read more.

2-3 pm PDT Register here. 

Funding

Catalyst Program

Canada's federally funded Digital Health and Discovery Platform (DHDP) has launched their Catalyst Program. Catalyst will follow Mitac's Accelerate format and provide $15,000 in funding to support industry partnered projects and internships. Projects will focus on the advancement of next generation health data technologies including: data access; data ingestion; data federation and AI/Machine learning with applications in cancer and Neurology. Due June 18. Read more. 
 

Heart Failure Research Network

The Canadian Institute of Health Research is looking to fund a single nationally coordinated, interdisciplinary research Network focused on heart failure across the lifecycle, within various health delivery settings that considers heart failture in the context of multi-morbidity, Indigenous health and well-being and health disparities. Five million is available to fund one network. Register by July 7. Read more.

Research

The gender and geography of publishing: A review of sex/gender reporting and author representation in leading general medical and global health journals. (Merriman, Galizia, Tanaka et al., 2021)

Service robots for affective labor: A sociology of labor perspective (Dobrosovestnova, Hannibal & Reinboth, 2021)

The diversity gap: When diversity matters for knowledge (Sulik, Bahrami & Deroy, 2021)

Ensuring that biomedical AI benefits diverse populations (Zou & Schiebinger, 2021)

News

How a COVID-19 vaccine can (and cannot) affect menstruation, mammograms and more (CBC)

Anti-abortion movement bullish as legal campaign reaches US Supreme Court (The Guardian)

‘Please do not leave us’: Aid cuts and insecurity set to hit women’s health in Afghanistan (The Telegraphy)

From menopause to anxiety: The new tech tackling women’s health problems (The Guardian)

Report Watch

The Impact of COVID-19 on the Careers of Women in Academic Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

“...while colleges and universities have offered extensions for those on the tenure track and federal and private funders have offered extensions on funding and grants, these changes do not necessarily align with the needs expressed by women, such as the need for flexibility to contend with limited availability of caregiving and requests for a reduced workload, nor do they generally benefit women faculty who are not on the tenure track.” Read more.

My Next Birth

Cluster member, Dr. Sarah Munro, and colleagues created a new tool called My Next Birth that will support people who have had C-sections to make informed decisions about their future pregnancies and births. Read more.

Media Mention

Cluster members Dr. Paul van Donkelaar and Karen Mason were in the news recently discussing their work on traumatic brain injury and intimate partner violence. Check out the article below:

 

‘We need to study women’: Traumatic brain injury in survivors of intimate partner violence (The Fuller Project)

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

• Victoria Bernaud, PhD student at Arizona University (USA)

• Mary Stern, Physiotherapist, BC Women’s Hospital (CAD)

• Hannah Grotzinger, PhD student at the University of California Santa Barbara (USA)

• Eshmehar Kaur Sahni, undergraduate student, University of Delhi (India)

• Genevieve Bonnor, undergraduate student, UBC (CAD)

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.