CENTER FOR WOMENS HEALTH RESEARCH

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This proposal seeks to continue research on women's health across the lifespan through refinement and expansion of core activities. The overall objectives are to continue and to expand our research mission through the 2 research cores, the Biobehavioral Core to extend our understanding of neuroendocrine, biobehavioral, and immune function in women and the Sociocultural Environments Core to advance, coordinate, and consolidate knowledge of women's health in the context of diverse sociocultural environments. We propose to develop additional biological measures, especially factors which serve as mediators connecting the neuroendocrine and immune system. The Sociocultural Environments Core will expand to focus on new methods/measures sensitive to and appropriate for investigation of diverse sociocultural environments, increase its focus on the intersection of sociocultural variables on health and public policies influencing health, and increase its focus on integrating knowledge of sociocultural environments into prevention, intervention, and outcomes research. The Research Development and Dissemination core will emphasize training of scientists in women's health, disseminate findings to professional and lay audiences using a variety of media, and expand to include an emphasis on outcomes research. Specific goals for the CWHR are: 1) facilitate basic and clinical interdisciplinary research related to women's health across the lifespan by appointment of CWHR Investigators/Affiliates and a Scientific Advisory Committee and award of small grants for pilot/feasibility studies to promote interdisciplinary research; 2) enhance development of an integrated knowledge base for women's health through the Biobehavioral Core laboratories; 3) enhance understanding of the relationship between sociocultural environments and women's health and enhance investigators' capacity to study diverse populations of women in culturally competent ways through the Sociocultural Environments Core; 4) disseminate scientific information related to women's health to various audiences, including researchers, clinicians, women studies scholars, policymakers, the media, and the general public, particularly women, through the Research Development and Dissemination Core; and 5) promote development of research skills and opportunities for scholarship about women's health among faculty, staff, pre/postdoctoral trainees, and visiting scholars via the Research Development and Dissemination Core.