Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, the third leading cause of death in the U.S., was thought to primarily affect men. But in recent years, the number of women with COPD has significantly increased and today more women than men die of COPD. …
Unsubstantiated claims, lack of scientific safety and efficacy data, and lack of quality control continue to surround custom-compounded bioidentical hormone products and yet, many women seem to believe that they are somehow “safer” than lab synthesized hormones. FDA-approved hormone therapy…
Feinberg School of Medicine faculty helped create the Association of American Medical Colleges’ (AAMC) first guidelines for medical schools on improving health care for people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT), gendering nonconforming or born with differences of sex development…
Sparks literally fly when a sperm and an egg hit it off. The fertilized mammalian egg releases from its surface billions of zinc atoms in “zinc sparks,” one wave after another, a Northwestern University-led interdisciplinary research team has found. Researchers at…
Last month, Spain hosted the first assisted reproduction trade fair for patients, inviTRA. The best national and international clinics participated in the free event with exhibitors able to directly address patients during seminars. Attendees received access to the associated magazine, Assisted…
Some women need to take medicines during pregnancy for health problems like diabetes, depression, morning sickness or seizures. Always talk with your doctor, nurse, or pharmacist before taking any medicines, vitamins or herbs. Don’t stop taking your prescription medicines unless your…
Men being treated with hormone therapy for prostate cancer are not always getting bone-strengthening drugs they may need according to a Canadian study reported in a research letter in JAMA. A potentially serious side effect of the androgen-deprivation therapy often prescribed…
Holiday celebrations lead to a bit of overindulgence but you can stay in good cheer with tips from Melinda Ring, M.D., medical director of the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at Northwestern University.
Upset stomach: Ring’s favorite way to stave off the…
Early results of the ELITE study find women who started hormone therapy early after menopause saw a significant slowing of atherosclerotic progression, whereas those who waited more than a decade saw no impact on vascular health, supporting the “timing hypothesis”.
“ELITE results…
In response to the call for more sex inclusion data in drug studies, the FDA has developed Drug Trials Snapshot a pilot project to provide information about the sex, age, race and ethnicity of clinical trial participants for a small group…
The cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) may be related to the particular pathology of this disease which researchers continue to study. One study at Stanford suggests that if you slow the pathology (biologic) progression it could slow the path…
Today, Many women live beyond age 80 and as a result may be postmenopausal for over 30 years. Each woman has a unique range of symptoms. Hormone therapy has been widely prescribed since the early 60s despite limited research to relieve…
This year, September 16 marked Global Female Condom Day. Compared to other forms of birth control, female condoms are not widely known about, although they have many advantages. The most important aspect about female condoms is that they are the only…
Ads for ED drugs like Viagra and Cialis run across our TVs , newspapers and social media sites every day. Will there ever be a similar product for women? Here is an UPDATE from Our Bodies, Ourselves.
We encourage you…
Dr. Woodruff was featured in a recent article in Evidence-Based Oncology. Read the article below:
Fertility Preservation in Young Cancer Patients
Published Online: November 17, 2014
Surabhi Dangi-Garimella, PhD
Advanced diagnostic tools and innovative treatment measures in cancer have increased cancer survival rates in the…
This Friday and Saturday, November 21-22, 2014, marks the 17th Annual Oncology Nursing Conference which will be hosted by the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center. This year’s meeting, Survivorship: From Diagnosis and Beyond, will tackle important topics facing cancer survivors;…
Keeping skin healthy is important, especially as people get older, according to Bethanee J. Schlosser, MD, PhD, FAAD, assistant professor of dermatology and director of Women’s Skin Health at Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. Dr. Schlosser is also…
Minimally invasive cosmetic procedures, including fillers, neurotoxins and laser and energy device procedures are exceedingly safe and have essentially no risk of serious adverse events, reports a new Northwestern Medicine® study that analyzed more than 20,000 procedures around the country.
This is…
Sex differences matter when it comes to clinical care and as researchers better define those differences, clinics are beginning to implement sex-based medicine. NorthwesternMedicine is leading the way and is hosting a half-day CME symposium featuring experts in the fields of…
The following essay by Institute Director Woodruff was published this month in Science2034.
In 2007, I was asked by the Medical Sciences Graduate Students Association at the University of Calgary to participate in a symposium called “Pushing the Boundaries – Advances That…
The recent announcement by the NIH that it would change its funding decisions to address the lack of female animals and cells in early bench research, was indeed good news. Yet, to date, no funding rules have changed. To be fair,…
The Alliance for a Just Society recently released the 2014 Women’s Health Report Card that rates the 50 U.S. states on issues related to health coverage, access to care, and health outcomes. The Alliance is a group of 14 racial and…
The Conversation, an online newsletter originally based in the United Kingdom and Australia, recently launched its US edition. On Oct. 30 they published an interesting “conversation” about the history behind the “father of modern gynecology” that discusses his early work on…
A new book, The Birth of the Pill, by Jonathan Eig tracks the involvement of four individuals who were key crusaders in the advent of readily available contraception that women controlled! For readers who were not around for the sexual…
A new data note from the Kaiser Family Foundation reports on the number of working mothers who must take unpaid time off when their children are sick and discusses state and national policies addressing the issue.
Balancing on Shaky Ground: Women, Work…
This past year, Stupid Cancer unveiled a new iPhone* app, Instapeer, to ensure that cancer patients never feel isolated during their treatment. Instapeer is now looking for beta testers for their app.
If you are an AYA patient, survivor or caregiver, please…
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today allowed marketing of the inFlow Intraurethral Valve-Pump, a replaceable urinary prosthesis for use in female adults who cannot contract the muscles necessary to push urine out of the bladder (impaired detrusor contractility or IDC).
IDC…
Yesterday, it was announced that Facebook and Apple are offering egg freezing as part of their insurance coverage for female employees. Today, there are various editorials, blogs, and opinion pieces regarding the policies; some supportive, some not.
Facebook began offering coverage of…
Today, NIH released a Guide Notice (NOT-OD-15-012) announcing that the response date for the Request for Information “Consideration of Sex As a Biological Variable in Biomedical Research,” has been extended to October 24th. If you have not had a chance to…
In a groundbreaking announcement today, Apple and Facebook now will offer health coverage for their women employees to freeze their eggs. Egg freezing enables women to protect and preserve their fertility until they are ready to become parents—and with the steep…
Perimenopause is the time when a women naturally starts having menopausal symptoms. This natural change usually lasts about a year and is often referred to as the ‘menopause transition’. At this time, fertility declines but a woman may still get pregnant,…
Uterine fibroids are the most common noncancerous tumors in women of childbearing age and the second most common reason these women undergo surgery. Uterine fibroids can lead to significant pain, bleeding, and fertility problems. Treatment options include watchful waiting; treatment with…
Last Spring, CBS 60 Minutes, highlighted the fact that a popular prescription sleeping pill, Ambien, was causing next morning impaired driving in women. This finding eventually resulted in the FDA halving the recommented dosage for women on the label. Had the…
Who doesn’t like something sweet like a cupcake? But how much is too much? Our bodies need one type of sugar: glucose! It’s an important source of fuel for the body.
You don’t have to add glucose to your diet because…
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and, in the city of Chicago there are many ways to get involved. Classes, races, walks, performances, and seminars are scattered throughout the month of October. If you live in the Chicagoland area and want…
A new drug treatment administered to HIV positive babies at birth shows high success rates in reversing an HIV positive diagnosis. While HIV positive mothers in the United States rarely pass HIV along to their children (due to preventative drugs and…
President Obama’s speech on economy delivered today at Northwestern University emphasized the support of women as one tactic to improve our economy. President Obama stated, “Let’s inspire and support more women in growing fields of science, technology, engineering, and math.” Women are…
Videos from the 2014 Oncofertility Consortium Conference are now online!! To view these, please click here. Enjoy!!
The Supreme Court recently ruled some businesses can deny birth control coverage for women across the country. These companies can make all the money they want yet they can deny important health coverage to their workers. We don’t hear about limiting…
Seema Khan, MD, professor of surgery, found a new skin gel that reduced the growth of cancer cells minimizing dangerous side effects. A gel form of tamoxifen applied to the breasts of women with noninvasive breast cancer reduced the growth of…
The 2014 Oncofertility Consortium Conference was a great success! For two days, researchers, clinicians, students, and trainees from around the globe transcended on Northwestern University and participated in lectures, panel discussions, and hands-on training programs to learn about the advances in…
National Institutes of Health has invested $10.1 million in supplemental funding to bolster the research of 82 grantees to explore the effects of sex in preclinical and clinical studies.
This investment encourages researchers to study females and males, and is a catalyst…
Help Advocate!! Send a comment…Keep the pressure on!!!
In a May 14, 2014, Nature commentary (see Nature. 2014 May 15;509(7500):282-3.), NIH leadership stated an intention to develop and implement policies requiring applicants to consider sex as a biological variable in the design…
As more post menopausal women change to a low dose local vaginal estrogen to control vaginal atrophy, a group of experts have recommended that the FDA modify the package Black Box Warning label on the product packaging. The current warning is…
By Katie Cobian
In 2009, I was one of twelve participants in the San Diego Oncofertility Saturday Academy. Entering the program as a rising high school sophomore, I had no idea what to expect from the program; in fact, I barely knew…
Some women get tattoos for beauty, self-expression, or cultural events. Whatever your reason, know the facts before and after you get a tattoo.
Types of Tattoos
Permanent Tattoo: A needle inserts colored ink into your skin. Permanent tattoos last a lifetime.
Permanent Make-Up: A…
The lack of females in basic research was highlighted by the Atlantic today. Melina R. Kibbe, MD and Teresa K Woodruff, PhD, two of the co-authors of a study published in Surgery this month, reported that 22% of the publications…
The Women’s Health Research Institute at Northwestern University applauds the recent release of a new Action Plan developed the Food in Drug Administration in response to a Congressional directive to look closer at the inclusion and analysis of demographic subgroups including…
Last night I watched American Ninja Warrior because Internet sensation Kacy Catanzaro, a 5 ft, 100 lb athlete, was the only women competing in the American Ninja Warrior Finals. Despite 2 years of training, she simply could not complete the “jumping…
The 2014 Oncofertility Consortium Conference is less than a month away! We’re excited to introduce Dr. Daniel Green from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. His talk “Fertility and Pregnancy Outcome After Childhood Cancer” will be the culmination to our exciting morning…
Melina Kibbe, MD reported in a new study that surgical researchers rarely use female animals or cells in the published studies—despite a huge body of evidence showing that sex differences can play a critical role in medical research. “Women make up…
Dr. Monique Hinchcliff is the Associate Clinical Director and the Director of Translational Research for the Northwestern Scleroderma Program. Her research interests include the use of high-throughput, unbiased, approaches to define clinically relevant molecular subsets of systemic sclerosis/scleroderma. Since 2008, she…
Today’s speaker bio is Kyle Orwig, PhD, from the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Orwig will be giving a talk at the conference entitled: Stem Cell Therapies for Male Infertility.
Dr. Orwig joined the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh in 2003 and…
Reasons to try the Mediterranean Diet:
Includes most food groups including fats, carbs, etc.
Can swap out bad fats for healthy ones (e.g., olive oil instead of butter, fish/poultry instead of red meat)
Lots of fresh veggies
Includes bread
Wide range of ethnic foods to keep…
Medicaid patients in Illinois (our home state!) could gain increased access to contraception under policy changes proposed August 18 by the Department of Healthcare and Family Services, according to the Chicago Tribune. Health care providers would receive more money for providing…
It’s been over a year since the controversial Texas law (House Bill 2) leading to abortion clinic restrictions passed, and the repercussions are starting to be felt throughout the state. The law, which was passed on July 18, 2013, created several…
In anticipation of the Oncofertility Consortium Conference on September 22-23, we will be showcasing our conference speakers in an upcoming series of blogs. Each year the OC conference features the leading national and international experts in the field of fertility preservation.…
Podiatrists call stiletto’s “shoe-icide”. They can lead to sprained ankles, a permanent “pump bump” on the heel, deformity, chronic pain and even hairline fractures. Certain ballet flats can also cause serious problems. To learn more about the potential health problems and…
Musculoskeletal health is one of the areas of medicine in which differences between males and females are most striking. Although males have a higher incidence of traumatic injuries, females are disproportionately disabled by musculoskeletal conditions such as adolescent spinal deformities, ACL…
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), more commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that affects the function of nerves and muscles in the body–and it has been getting a lot of attention lately. ALS is the “progressive degeneration…