The Gender Health Innovation Gap

Question 1

National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Answer 1

Primary agency of the US government responsible for biomedical and public health research.

Question 2

NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH)

Answer 2

A branch of the NIH that focuses on expanding knowledge and research equity for women’s health

Question 3

Inclusion of Women and Minorities in Clinical Research provision

Answer 3

A public law passed in 1993 that called for the inclusion of women and other minority groups to be used in biomedical research studies, which caused women’s participation in them to increase.

Question 4

Genotype-Tissue Expression study

Answer 4

Sex differences exist at multiple levels of biology, as shown in studies of tissue samples and genes.
Thus it is essential that clinical trials and studies consider the influences of sex.

Question 5

NIH Policy on Sex as a Biological Variable

Answer 5

Sex as a biological variable will be factored into research designs, analyses, and reporting in vertebrate animal and human studies. Studies must have proper justification for a single sex study.

Question 6

Primary Cells

Answer 6

Cells taken directly from living tissue.

Question 7

Cell Line

Answer 7

A population of cells maintained in a culture, not directly from living tissue.

Question 8

Sex and Gender Equity in Reserach (SAGER)

Answer 8

Guidelines for reporting of sex and gender information in study design, data analyses, results, and interpretation of findings.

Question 9

NIH Inclusion Across the Lifespan Policy

Answer 9

Expands inclusion to individuals of all ages in reserach studies

Question 10

Women’s Health Access Matters (WHAM)

Answer 10

Nonprofit that supports funding of women’s health research. They commissioned the RAND Corporation to conduct microsimulation models to determine the economic impacts of increased funding on three diseases that disproportionately affect women – Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, rheumatoid arthritis, and coronary artery disease.

Question 11

US National Strategy on Gender Equity and Equality

Answer 11

Recognition to support the goal that all women are afforded equal opportunities in employment, education, human rights, and access to health care

Question 12

Center for Innovative Research on Gender Health Equity

Answer 12

Developed a FemTech Collaborative to support healthy reproductive choices for socially and economically marginalized groups

Question 13

Reproductive Bridges Coalition

Answer 13

Works with community partners to provide family planning services to communities

Question 14

Optimizing Reproductive Health in People with Chronic Disease (ORCHID)

Answer 14

Creates healthcare models to increase reproductive health for people with chronic diseases

Question 15

NIH Sex, Gender, and Intersectionality (SG&I) Innovations Collaborative

Answer 15

Initiative that aims to illuminate research gaps and unmet health needs related to sex, gender, and intersectionality across health research, clinical practice, and the biomedical studies

Question 16

STEMM

Answer 16

Science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine

Question 17

“Closing the Gap”

Answer 17

System solutions to the gender health innovations gap can take many forms, including enhanced investment/support, consistent diversity in clinical trials, policies to ensure equality for women in all aspects, support and encouragement for inventors to develop products related to women’s health and gender-aware devices, and considering the needs of all participants in the health innovation ecosystem.

Question 18

Summary

Answer 18

Systemic sources of the gender health innovation gap include inattention to the effects of sex and gender on health, underinvestment in health conditions relevant to or limited to women, workforce diversity inequities, and societal attitudes.
The US federal gov’t instituted policies and programs to address these challenges and demonstrate commitment to closing this gap with the development of the first National Strategy on Gender Equity and Equality.