About Us
Gender differences exist in almost every aspect of health and disease. Many of these differences are based in biology, and defining the molecular mechanisms that underlie these differences is one of the most important, and previously most ignored, areas of biomedical research.
Our Mission
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 the 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.
Our History
The Mary Horrigan Connors Center for Women’s Health & Gender Biology was established in 2002 through the generosity of Jack and Eileen Connors. Dr. Jill Goldstein was recruited in 2004 to become its first Director of Research and established the Research Advisory Committee, consisting of a number of the leaders in women’s health at BWH. With the creation of the BWH Biomedical Research Institute (BRI) in October 2005 and the BRI Research Centers in 2006, Dr. Goldstein and the Connors Center Research Advisory Committee, with Dr. Julie Buring as BRI co-chair, became the core faculty group to develop a research agenda in women’s health and gender biology for BWH-BRI.
Working together over the last several years, this team has accomplished a number of important milestones thus far, including being awarded an NIH Office for Research on Women’s Health K-award training grant for young faculty [Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH)] entitled “Hormones and Genes in Women’s Health: From Bench to Bedside”.
Our Departmental Affiliates
The Connors – BRI Center for Research on Women’s Health & Gender Biology engages the talent and resources of a diverse group of investigators. Research is conducted by physicians and scientists from the Division of Women’s Health and the Mary Horrigan Connors Center for Women’s Health and Gender Biology spanning the departments of Medicine, Neurology, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pathology, and Psychiatry.
Our Investigators
Investigators at BWH are nationally and internationally recognized for their contributions to advances in women’s health research as recipients of prestigious awards including membership of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the North American Menopause Society’s (NAMS) Postmenopausal Cardiovascular Health Research Award. Additionally BWH investigators hold specialized grants to conduct interdisciplinary research, including one of only eleven Specialized Center of Research (SCOR) on Sex and Gender Factors Affecting Women’s Health Awards by the NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health; this award will explore fetal antecedents to sex differences in depression.
To Learn More
To learn more about the hospital’s initiatives in women’s health, visit the Women’s Health Clinical Center of Excellence site. For more information, email bwhresearch@partners.org.
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