International Women's Day

Yesterday was International Women’s Day and we decided to take action for health equity by giving all of our staff the day off with pay to care for their health. We encouraged our team to book healthcare appointments they were putting off, take time to exercise, meditate or socialize, and do anything else that would elevate their wellbeing. This is one small step we’re taking to bring health equity to women. If you believe health should be equitable, help us achieve our goals with a one-time or monthly donation.

Operational Funding Decision

Good news! We were successful in our application to the Grants for Catalyzing Research Clusters competition, which will provide us with $200,000 to support our operations this year! Thank you to everyone who filled out our Member’s Survey and supported our work in other ways.

Part-time Jobs for Domestic UBC Students
 
We’re hiring domestic UBC students to support our podcast, blog, events and a new SGBA initiative. Click here for more info and apply on CareersOnline by March 20th.

Graduate students are strongly encouraged to apply.

“After integrating the results, one thing became evident: a mother's brain does not undergo uniform or continuous changes. Brain regions associated with empathizing, emotion regulation, and reward-seeking show distinct stages of growth and shrinkage during pregnancy, early postpartum, and late postpartum.” Read more.

“When I started my PhD in Germany, I was fascinated by nanomedicine and how powerful this field is. I think we’re now witnessing the glory of this field—millions and billions of people are now receiving the COVID-19 vaccines by Pfizer and Moderna that are based on mRNA lipid nanoparticles.” Read more. 

Mar 11 Fostering Diversity of Partners in Perinatal Patient-Oriented Research

Part of the Putting Patients First Conference 2022, cluster member Dr. Marianne Vidler is hosting this interactive workshop where she hopes to gain input on challenges and strategies to improve diversity of patient partners and reach underrepresented groups for maternal health research. 

10:05-11:55 am PST | Register here

Mar 18 Health After 2020: Moving the Dial on Women's Health

In order to be better prepared for current and future health crises, such as COVID-19, there needs to be more research on women’s health. Register to see 3 cluster members (Dr. Liisa Galea, Dr. Gillian Einstein & Dr. Natasha Rajah) explain 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

Mar 18 Science Communication Career Workshop

Are you interested in science communication as a career but aren’t sure how to make it happen? Join the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health and the Women’s Health Research Cluster to learn more! This event will feature a panel of three science communicators, all with diverse backgrounds, who will be sharing their insights and experience in their scicomm journey. 

12-1 pm PST | Register here

Mar 21 How Stress Impacts the Maternal Brain

In this Women’s Health Seminar, Dr. Pilyoung Kim will share evidence about how stress impacts the brain of pregnant women and how we can support new parents and their children.

12-1 pm PST | Register here

Mar 24 Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon: Help Balance the Imbalances

Every spring art communities around the world converge to help correct Wikipedia’s gender biases and improve the content of under-represented persons on the 10th most visited site in the world. Help Art+Feminism create and edit Wikipedia articles about women, 2SLGBTQIA+, gender non-binary and IBPOC artists. 

11-2 pm PST | Read more | Email belkin.rsvp@ubc.ca to register

Apr 4 Making Menopause Metabolic Across Multiple Memory Systems

Dr. Donna Korol joins us for this Women’s Health Seminar to discuss how hormonal status shifts neural plasticity and how to maintain brain function as we age. 

12-1 pm PST | Register here

May 2-5 Organization for the Study of Sex Differences Annual Meeting

Join the OSSD at their 2022 Annual Meeting on May 2-5 in Marina del Rey, CA. The meeting will host an exciting and diverse scientific program that will provide an opportunity for you to stay informed about the most recent advances in research and policy regarding sex differences in health and disease. Early bird registration ends April 3rd.

Read more | Register here

May 30-Jun 3 Canadian National Perinatal Research Meeting
The early bird registration for the Canadian National Perinatal Research Meeting ends on April 15th. This is the first year perinatal mental health is a theme, so we encourage all perinatal mental health researchers and trainees to buy a ticket to attend. The WHRC's Perinatal Mental Health Working Group is organizing a networking event to facilitate connection among this field and develop a registry of experts. You don't want to miss this!

Read more | Register

Job Market

Research Group Leaders

The Medical Faculty of the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen invites applications for the positions of Research Group Leaders to start their own group for its main research areas. Research groups are expected to build an innovative team, contribute to scientific strategy of the faculty and more. Read more and apply by March 29th.

Scientific Director of the Institute of Gender and Health

CIHR is seeking the next Scientific Director for IGH to provide scientific leadership and foster excellence in sex and gender science. Read more and apply by April 11th. 

Postdoctoral Fellow Opportunity

Dr. Cindy-Lee Dennis is seeking a Postdoctoral Fellow to work in her research program that focuses on maternal, paternal and child health. The position is intended for candidates who wish to develop and refine their quantitative research skills, and is expected to be an extension of their academic training received during their doctorate of MD. To inquire further or apply, please email cindylee.dennis@utoronto.ca 

Research

Progesterone rapidly alters the use of place and response memory during spatial navigation in female rates (Lacasse, Patel, Bailey, Peronace & Brake, 2022)

Uncovering evidence: Associations between environmental contaminants and disparities in women’s health (Rumph et al., 2022)

News

Why do more women struggle with insomnia than men? (Deseret News)

Are you struggling with PCOS? Insights from the Apple Women’s Health study. (Canada Running)

E-Learning Platform

Are you a health researcher in BC? Do you want to engage more diverse patients in your research? Help CREST.BD test video modules that ask, and answer, why and how they should do diverse patient engagement. Read more and join the study.

American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year Award

Our Cluster Co-Lead, Dr. Suzanne Campbell, received second place in the AJN Book of the Year award in the History and Public Policy category for her recently published Lactation: A Foundational Strategy for Health Promotion. We’re really proud of all the advocacy and education you do Suzanne! Read more.

The Principles of Pleasure

Another one of our Cluster Co-Lead’s, Dr. Lori Brotto, will appear on a new 3-part Netflix series airing March 22nd that busts myths about women’s sexual pleasure. We’re fan-girling a bit and can’t wait for this series to drop. Watch the trailer here!

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!

• Dr. Sarah Purcell, Assistant Professor, University of British Columbia (Canada)

• Deea Dev, undergraduate student, University of British Columbia (Canada)

• Stephanie Masina, Research Coordinator, University of British Columbia (Canada)

• Naomi Phagau, Masters student, University of British Columbia (Canada)

• Nicole Moreira, Research Associate, Vancouver Health Authority (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.