Women and men are at different risks for numerous disorders at different stages of development, young adulthood and throughout aging. Further, within disorders, they may also exhibit differential illness expression and treatment responses. The mechanisms that explain many of these sex differences are still unclear.
The Connors-BRI Center for Research on Women’s Health & Gender Biology has brought together BWH faculty, well-known in their respective fields in gender biology and women’s health, to promote discovery of mechanisms across disciplines and methodologies that will explain sex differences in morbidity and mortality and disorders specific to women. The Center takes a lifespan perspective to identify etiologic mechanisms during fetal development, puberty, adulthood, and aging, with some focus on periods specific to women such as child-bearing years, perimenopause, and menopause. The Center is particularly interested in fostering translational models involving hormones and genes to investigate sex-specific vulnerabilities to illnesses and disorders specific to women. Further, our goal is to use this knowledge to develop sex-specific treatment and prevention strategies in clinical medicine. More>>
