Lost in translation
Lost in translation: Why studying sex/gender differences is not enough to move the dial on women’s health
Friday, March 18, 2022
12:00-1:00 pm
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Health inequities abound across many sociodemographic groups, including those based on sex and gender. We use the terms female/male to indicate biological sex and use women/men to encompass sex/gender. Sex/gender differences exist in disease etiology, manifestation, progression, and treatment. Men are more likely to be diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder whereas women are more likely to be diagnosed with major depressive disorder and autoimmune diseases. Further, women are diagnosed two years later for the same disease than men and suffer more adverse side effects in response to new drugs. These types of findings led the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to mandate the inclusion of sex in clinical trials and research.
However, whether these mandates and initiatives will improve women’s health is a matter of debate. Women’s health is much more than how they differ from men. Female-specific experiences, such as pregnancy/postpartum, menstruation, menopause, and hormonal contraceptive use greatly influence health. However, studies on female-specific experiences are scarce. In fact, they comprise less than three percent of total studies in neuroscience (compared to males at 30%). These female-specific experiences not only influence disease prevalence, but treatment as well—and these types of studies deserve our resources and attention.
Studying sex differences exclusively will not address how these female-specific experiences can impact health, which begs the question of whether NIH’s sex as a biological variable (SABV) and CIHR’s sex and gender-based analysis (SGBA) go far enough. Indeed, women’s health is not just influenced by biology but also includes how gendered experiences influence health outcomes. Studying different experiences among females will lead to new treatments for them but may also give us clues for new pathways to investigate across sexes and genders. Importantly, Dr. Galea and her team will argue that to be better prepared for current and future health crises, such as COVID-19, there needs to be more research on women’s health. They will critique the wide-held belief that women’s health is adequately addressed through the integration of sex and gender-based analyses into general health research. This dialogue session will outline why science needs to define and value women’s health by demonstrating that it is a distinct field of research.
About the Speakers
Liisa Galea is Professor in the Department of Psychology in the Faculty of Arts, UBC; Health Advisor to the Vice-President, Research and Innovation, UBC; and Scientific Advisor, Women’s Health Research Institute. She leads the Women’s Health Research Cluster (350 members). Dr. Galea is a world-renowned expert in sex hormone influences on brain and behaviour in both health and disease states, with a focus on stress-related psychiatric disorders and dementia.
She is a Distinguished University Scholar and has won the NSERC Discovery Accelerator Award twice and the Vancouver YWCA Women of Distinction Award. She is a Fellow at the International Behavioral Neuroscience Society and the Kavli Foundation. She has outstanding metrics (H index=75, >170 papers, >19000 citations).
Dr. Galea is the chief editor of Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology (IF8.606), the President-elect of Organization for the Study of Sex Differences and co-Vice-President of the Canadian Organization for Sex and Gender Research. She serves on advisory boards provincially (UBC [Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, Institute of Mental Health, UBC Health], BC Support Unit), nationally (CIHR University Delegates Advisory Committee), and internationally (Steroids and Nervous System [Italy], Alzheimer’s Association [US]. Dr. Galea has also served on editorial boards (Hormones and Behavior, Endocrinology, Psychoneuroendocrinology, Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, Neuroscience, eNeuro) and peer review panels (NIH, Wellcome Trust, CIHR, Brain Canada, NSERC).
Gillian Einstein is the Wilfred and Joyce Posluns Chair in Women’s Brain Health and Aging; Professor in the Department of Psychology in the Faculty of Arts and Science at the University of Toronto; and Guest Professor, Gender and Health, Linköping University, Sweden.
Dr. Einstein is an Adjunct Scientist at Women’s College Research Institute and at the Rotman Research Institute in Toronto. She is a board member of the International Gender Medicine Society, Chair of the Canadian Institutes of Health’s Institute of Gender and Health Advisory Board, and Founder and President of the Canadian Organization of Gender and Sex Research. She is Lead of the Women, Sex, Gender, and Dementia cross-cutting program of the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration and Aging.
Dr. Einstein’s current research is on the effects of early life ovarian removal on women’s memory, brains, and long-term risk of Alzheimer’s disease with the overarching question: How do both sex and gender mediate women’s brain health?
M. Natasha Rajah received her Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from the University of Toronto in 2003 and did her post-doctoral training at the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California at Berkeley. She was hired as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Psychiatry, McGill University in 2005. Dr. Rajah is currently a tenured Full Professor in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at McGill University.
She has been the recipient of numerous awards and honours, including the CIHR New Investigator Award, the Haile T. Debas Prize for her leadership in equity, diversity, and inclusion, and the Women in Cognitive Science Canada’s Mentorship Prize.
She is Editor-in-Chief at Aging, Neuropsychology and Cognition, Associate Editor for Psychological Science, and Senior Editor at Brain Research. In 2020, she was named CIHR Chair for Sex and Gender Research in Neuroscience, Mental Health and Addiction. Dr. Rajah’s research examines sex and gender effects in brain aging and cognitive function, with a focus on women’s brain health at midlife.
Research Team Members
- Romina Garcia de Leon, MSc student, Neuroscience Program, Faculty of Medicine
- Bonnie Lee, PhD student, Neuroscience Program, Faculty of Medicine