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Overview
The
Office of Research on Women's Health (ORWH) serves as a focal point
for women's health research at the NIH. The ORWH promotes, stimulates,
and supports efforts to improve the health of women through biomedical
and behavioral research on the roles of sex (biological characteristics of being female or male) and gender (social influences based on sex) in health and disease. ORWH works in partnership with the NIH
institutes and centers to ensure that women's health research is
part of the scientific framework at NIH and throughout the scientific
community.
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ORWH's Mandate
To strengthen, develop, and increase research
into diseases, disorders, and conditions that affect women, determine
gaps in knowledge about such conditions and diseases, and establish
a research agenda for NIH for the future
directions in women's health research;
To ensure that women
are included as participants in NIH-supported research; and
To develop opportunities and support for
recruitment, retention, reentry, and advancement of women
in biomedical careers.
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ORWH's Mandate in Action
>>ORWH and Research on Women's Health
>>Women as Participants in NIH-supported Research
>>Women in Biomedical Careers
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>>Women's Health Initiative
In 1991 the NIH launched the Women's Health Initiative, the largest clinical trial ever undertaken in the United States. The WHI, which is located within the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, is designed to prevent the most common causes of death, disability, and impaired quality of life in postmenopausal women. It is expected that the WHI will provide many answers concerning possible benefits and risks associated with use of hormone replacement therapy, dietary supplements, and other interventions in preventing cardiovascular disease, breast and colorectal cancer, and osteoporosis in postmenopausal women.
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Research Advances
During the past decade, the new focus and resources dedicated to research on women's health issues have generated much new knowledge about women's health. For example:
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