Diagnostic tests and procedures offer opportunities to detect diseases, monitor disease progression, guide treatments, and evaluate treatment effectiveness. Some diagnostic tests are invasive, such as a biopsy or endoscopy; whereas others are noninvasive, such as x-rays and ultrasound imaging procedures.
Innovations in diagnostics provide access to health information, helping women make informed decisions about their health care at every stage of their lives. Screening and diagnostic testing can lead to earlier detection of disease, improve health outcomes, and contribute toward reducing health disparities among women. Research seeking to expand the development and availability of diagnostic tools for conditions that exclusively, differently, or disproportionately affect women is invaluable in furthering women’s health across sectors.
SWHR is hosting a series of public forums to share educational information about the importance and value of innovative diagnostics throughout the lifespan and across disease states and conditions. The events will discuss how to improve health outcomes for diseases and conditions that disproportionately or differently affect women, with special a focus on cancer and healthy aging.
The 2023 SWHR Value of Diagnostics within Women’s Health series includes:
Follow the conversation on Twitter at @SWHR and #SWHRtalksDiagnostics.
This event is free and open to the public.
Dr. Ruth Petersen serves as the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity (DNPAO). The Division provides national leadership on nutrition, physical activity and obesity prevention through policy and guideline development, surveillance, epidemiological and behavioral research, and technical assistance to states and communities. Dr. Petersen has a breadth of experience and leadership from multiple settings including health care, local and state health departments, national advisory groups, academic settings, the private sector, and global health platforms. Her broad, deep and diverse experience with populations, partners and stakeholders are strong assets for leading DNPAO in its focused efforts that prevent chronic diseases and strengthen equity and well-being.
Dr. Petersen received her MD and MPH from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After training in obstetrics and gynecology in Rochester, New York, she completed the UNC Preventive Medicine Residency and a post-doctoral fellowship in health services research. Throughout her career, she has drawn on her expertise in patient care, health system change, disease prevention and community engagement to develop and guide programs, research, and policy to improve health behaviors, reduce health disparities and reduce chronic disease.
Rachel Buckley is an Assistant Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, with a primary appointment at Massachusetts General Hospital. After initially completing her PhD in Neuropsychology at the University of Melbourne, Australia, with the Australian Imaging Biomarker and Lifestyle Study of Aging, she then moved to Boston to train in PET neuroimaging and cognitive decline under Dr. Reisa Sperling at the Harvard Aging Brain Study. Her research interests lie in sex differences in risk for Alzheimer’s disease, with a particular focus on women’s health (menopause and the X chromosome) and AD risk. She holds multiple NIH grants, including an NIH K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award and DP2 New Innovator Award, as well as a fellowship from the Alzheimer’s Association, that seek to examine the role of menopause, sex hormones and the X chromosome to impact risk and resilience to AD in both men and women. Rachel is also the Vice-Chair of the Sex and Gender Differences in Alzheimer’s disease Professional Interest Area for the Alzheimer’s Association.
Heather Snyder is the VP of Medical and Scientific Relations at the Alzheimer’s Association. She oversees Association initiatives that accelerate Alzheimer’s research and provideopportunities for the global dementia community. She is responsible for overseeing the progress the Association has made in Alzheimer’s and dementia research funding. She leads the Association’s International Research Grant Program and strategic funding initiatives, through which the Association funds investigations that advance understanding of Alzheimer’s and moves the field toward solutions for the global Alzheimer’s crisis. As the world’s largest nonprofit funder of Alzheimer’s research, the Association is currently investing over $300 million in more than 920 active best-of-field projects in 45 countries.
SWHR’s Value of Diagnostics within Women’s Health series is supported by an educational sponsorship from Roche. SWHR maintains independence and editorial control over program development, content, and work products.