Scientific Advisory Meetings (SAM)

SWHR sponsored regional Scientific Advisory Meetings in response to the April 2001 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, "Exploring the Biological Contributions to Human Health: Does Sex Matter?" The report validated what SWHR had been saying for quite some time: biologic sex matters when it comes to health.

Topics covered at regional meetings included

• Sex Differences in Lung Cancer: From Genes to Behavior
  October 14, 2003 — Houston, TX
  Participants at this meeting identified important sex differences in the genetics and basic biology of lung cancer, described sex differences in response to environmental and chemical toxins that can lead to lung cancer, and distinguished sex differences in smoking-related behaviors and the implication of those differences for prevention and treatment of lung cancer.


• Understanding the Biology of Sex Differences in Environmental Health: A Thought Leaders Roundtable
  October 15, 2002 — Research Triangle Park, NC
  At this roundtable meeting, experts explored the implications of environmental exposures and how response to these exposures vary by sex. The meeting, co-sponsored by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) was held at their headquarters in Research Triangle Park, NC. A summary and speaker handouts are available online from this meeting.


• Sex Differences in Cardiovascular Health and Disease
  and Caring for a Woman’s Heart: A Public Education Forum
  July 23-24, 2002 — Madison, WI
  This meeting raised awareness of the leading killer and encouraged the understanding of key differences between women and men with regard to heart disease. A summary of the meeting as well as a report and a journal article are available online.


• Sex Begins in the Womb
  March 1, 2002 — Palo Alto, CA
  The topic of discussion at this meeting was the causes and consequences of the sex differences that originate during fetal development through the influence of both genetics and environment. A summary of the meeting as well as a report and a journal article are available online.


• Sex Differences in Immunology & Autoimmunity
  November 8, 2001 — Boston, MA
  This meeting focused on the relationship between immunity and the autoimmune response.


• Understanding the Biology of Sex and Gender Differences
  July 16, 2001 — Washington, DC
  This meeting included presentations from several of the IOM report sponsors on plans for addressing the recommendations in the report. A panel responded to the IOM recommendation that increased support for interdisciplinary research efforts is needed to advance research on sex differences. The meeting concluded with a roundtable discussion, co-sponsored by Research!America, on improving the reporting of sex-based biology in the media.

Annual meetings SWHR held for the research community to discuss the need for examination of sex differences (met prior to the release of the IOM's report)

• 10th Annual Scientific Advisory Meeting focusing on Drug Addiction, STD’s and Pain
  This meeting discussed how sex and gender play an important role in the way women experience and respond to treatments for addiction, pain, and sexually transmitted diseases.


• 1999 Annual Update on Women's Health Research: Discoveries and Implications
  Research unveiled at the Society's Ninth Annual Scientific Advisory Meeting indicates that sex plays a major role in the underlying causes and effects of heart disease, muscoloskeletal diseases and metabolic/digestive diseases.


• 1998 Annual Update on Women's Health Research: Discoveries and Implications
  Experts from the fields of psychiatry, immunology and pharmacology added to the ever-growing evidence that health is affected by differences at the biological level.