“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” (Proverb of African origin)
This sentiment was shared several times throughout the day at Transforming Women’s Health through Science and Sustainable Partnerships, a United Nations General Assembly (UNGA80) Science Summit event hosted by the Society for Women’s Health Research (SWHR) and the Global Health Connector. For the second year in a row, SWHR and the Global Health Connector joined forces to bring women’s health research, collaboration, and innovation to a global stage.
The day was hosted at Cure in New York City, and CEO Seema Kumar gave a short address during the program. Global Health Connector’s Bleddyn Rees and SWHR President and CEO Kathryn G. Schubert, MPP, CAE also gave opening remarks.
Knowledge translation, collaboration, policy action, and community empowerment were all themes throughout the day’s discussions.
During “Establishing National Priorities to Advance Women’s Health,” Ayodola Anise, MHS, Senior Director of Operations at the Milken Institute Health; Angela Kaida, PhD, Scientific Director of the Institute of Gender and Health at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research; and Deborah Loxton, PhD, Director of the Centre for Women’s Health Research, University of Newcastle, and the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health, were in conversation with SWHR’s Chief Science Officer Irene O. Aninye, PhD, to discuss national strategies and structures for women’s health, emphasizing the important role of research, implementation science, sustainable funding, and advocacy.
Global Health Connector’s US Ambassador Nicole Althaus moderated “Translating Innovation Across Borders,” featuring Delali Attiogbe Attipoe, MB, MBA, North America Director at Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative; Antonella Santuccione-Chadha, MD, Founder and CEO of the Women’s Brain Foundation; Zinatara Manji, MS, PharmD, Founder & Principal and Regulatory Strategist at Innopathwayz, LLC; and Zainab Shinkafi-Bagudu, MBBS, Founder & CEO of the Medicaid Cancer Foundation. The panel spoke about strategies and models to address scaling and regulatory challenges when implementing health care innovations across country borders and addressing inequities in women’s health.
“Innovation is about empowering people with knowledge and education…and empowering scientists and local thinkers to create change,” shared Dr. Santuccione-Chadha.
In “Elevating Women in the Workforce,” Dr. Aninye spoke with Roopa Dhatt, MD, MPA, Co-Founder of Women in Global Health and Assistant Professor at Georgetown University Medical Center; Sarah Hendriks, Director of Policy, Programme & Intergovernmental Division at UN Women; Shirley Malcom, PhD, Senior Advisor and Director of SEA Change at American Association for the Advancement of Science; and Gabriela Rojas, Founder and CEO at SinReglas, about addressing systemic barriers to gender equity and promoting institution-led initiatives to increase representation and leadership of women across academia, health care, government, and corporate settings.
“How do you actually transform societies; not just policies, but the social norms? We have a responsibility to model behavior and create a fostering environment. …We need to continue to work for women, particularly their key issues that need to be on top of (our) agenda(s),” raised Dr. Dhatt.
The “Leveraging Public-Private Partnerships for the Goals” panel featured Esther Ruiter, Head of Growth and Strategy and Business & Partnerships Manager at the Africa Health Business, COWHA; and Julie Gerberding, MD, MPH, CEO of the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, in conversation with Althaus.
“The women’s health disparity is a wicked problem…[that] takes resources, time, patience, and diverse stakeholders [to solve],” said Dr. Gerberding.
To close the day, Dr. Aninye hosted a fireside conversation, “Empowering Women at the Forefront of Community-Based Care,” with H.E. Oluwatoyin Ojora Saraki, LLB, LLM, BL, FPH, Founder & President of the Wellbeing Foundation Africa.
Attendees were given the opportunity to engage in question-and-answer sessions after each panel and during a midday open discussion. Themes of investment and the role of venture capital in women’s health startups, the role of AI and technology, and strategies to collaborate across stakeholders were all raised.
The event also featured special remarks on different women’s health topics, by Mary Lynne Van Poelgeest-Pomfret, President of the World Federation of Incontinence and Pelvic Problems (WFIPP); Laura Sugam, Director of Global Corporate Responsibility Reporting & Operations at Cencora; Ashley Szofer, Director of Alliance Development Worldwide Government Affairs & Policy at Johnson & Johnson; Siobhan Kelleher, PhD, Founder & CEO of OnaWave Medical; Mark Lawler PhD, FRCPath, Professor of Digital Health at Queen’s University Belfast; and Roxanne Pero, MD, FACOG, FACLM, IFMCP, Medical Advisory Board Member at O Positiv Health.
In reflecting on the event, Dr. Aninye said, “Sustainable transformation to address gender health gaps across the globe will take stats produced from scientific evidence, stories to highlight the heterogeneous and unique experiences of women, strategies developed through cross-sector collaborations, and accountability upheld and enforced at all levels and by anyone who knows a woman.”
Thank you to our event sponsors, Novo Nordisk, Cencora, OnaWave Medical, O Positiv Health, and Johnson & Johnson, and media sponsors, BMC Springer Nature and the Biology of Sex Differences Journal.
SWHR remains committed to collaborating efforts and elevating conversations to advance women’s health, both nationally and globally.
Check out a gallery of images from the event here.
*Novo Nordisk has provided sponsorship to the Global Health Connector to help cover in part the cost of this summit. Novo Nordisk has had no influence over the meeting agenda or arrangements.