Past Policy Meetings and Statements

2010

Meeting with CIBR (June 24, 2010)

On June 24, the Society for Women’s Health Research (SWHR) co-sponsored a Capitol Hill event with the Coalition for Imaging & Bioengineering Research (CIBR) and Representative Edolphus Towns (D-NY). The event was of great interest to Hill staff, which began with opening remarks from Representative Towns and former Majority Leader Dick Gephardt.

SWHR, a member of CIBR, brought a unique patient voice to the event, highlighting innovations from approximately 13 different medical technology companies. SWHR explained to Hill staff the key role that diagnostic imaging has in the detection, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases, especially for women.

CIBR was created in 2006, to be a diverse and unified voice in support of imaging research. SWHR supports CIBR and its work to improve imaging research, outcomes, and safety for patients while appropriately utilizing medical imaging.

To see more information, please visit www.CIBR.org.

Meeting with Sebelius (June 9, 2010)

Phyllis Greenberger, SWHR President and CEO, and Martha Nolan, Vice President, Public Policy met with HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Dora Hughes, HHS Counselor for Public Health and Science Policy to discuss SWHR’s 20 years of work to improve women’s health: the inclusion of women in clinical trials, sex differences research, and SWHR advocacy efforts. Some of these efforts include comparative effectiveness research (CER) as part of the stimulus bill, Women’s Health Office Act (WHOA) in health care reform, and the appropriate use imaging and diagnostic tools for prevention and early diagnoses.

The Secretary was interested in SWHR’s information regarding women in clinical trials and surprised that sex still is not a fundamental component of all research in the development of drugs, devices and biologics. The Secretary understood how important SWHR’s issues were to determinations being made under comparative effectiveness research, especially with the newly developing Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. The Secretary was informed of SWHR’s testimony, both written and oral, to the NIH/FDA last week regarding the need for consideration of sex differences in “regulatory science,” the newly coined term from the NIH/FDA collaborative.

2009

A statement from Martha Nolan, J.D., vice president of public policy at the Society for Women's Health Research, honoring Senator Edward Kennedy:

"America is losing a longstanding advocate on behalf of health care issues and in our case, women's health.  His energy transcended so many issues. He understood what SWHR was seeking to change regarding women's inclusion in clinical trials and supported our efforts for sex differences research. Further, he was also a strong supporter of his Senate colleagues who were advocating for changes in women's health.  It is a tremendous loss that will be hard to replace."

Society for Women’s Health Research Invited to Participate in White House Meeting on Women’s Health in Health Care Reform
Martha Nolan, Vice President for Public Policy at the Society for Women’s Health Research, spoke at a White House meeting called to address women’s health issues and concerns in the health care system and implications for health care reform. The meeting was moderated by Nancy-Ann DeParle, Director of the White House Office of Health Reform and attended by other White House and HHS officials and webcast live.

SWHR’s key priorities in the healthcare reform debate are: assuring women are included in clinical research and the resulting discoveries are quickly translated into practice improving quality of care received by women; the importance of sex and gender research within any comparative effectiveness research studies; and addressing the proposed cuts on reimbursement for diagnostics and imaging. Learn more..