SWHR Celebrates 35 Years

From Advocacy to Action:

35 Years of Transforming Women’s Health Research

Watch The “35 Years of SWHR” Series

A Look Back At SWHR

In 1990, the Society for Women’s Health Research was founded. Since that time, SWHR has played a critical role in identifying clinical and research gaps; raising awareness of diseases, conditions, and life stages that differently, disproportionately, or exclusively affect women; and promoting policies that could positively shape health outcomes for women.

We are guided each day by our vision to make women’s health mainstream. Take a look back at SWHR through the years.

Then First Lady Hilary Clinton spoke at SWHR’s 1995 Awards Dinner.

SWHR hosted an in-person urology roundtable in 2014, resulting in a peer-reviewed report in the Journal of Women’s Health and led to the formation of SWHR’s Interdisciplinary Network on Urological Health in Women.

Marsha Henderson, former Assistant Commissioner for Women’s Health within the FDA’s Office of Women’s Health, was a speaker and honoree at the SWHR 2014 Annual Awards Gala.

SWHR founder Florence Haseltine, MD, PhD, joins the society each spring to celebrate the progress of women’s health at the Society’s Annual Awards Gala. Pictured here at the 2024 Gala.

Share Your Own SWHR Photos!

Explore the SWHR Timeline

SWHR Logos Through The Years

This year in 2025, SWHR created a new logo for its 35th anniversary.

Explore SWHR’s historic logos here. Which is your favorite? Share with us on social media and tag @SWHR.

1990: This early logo was used alongside the Society’s original name, the Society for the Advancement of Women’s Health Research

1998: Using the original logo, the Society changed its name from the Society for the Advancement of Women’s Health Research to the Society for Women’s Health Research.

2015: Inspired by its original logo, SWHR used a woman looking forward with DNA strands as hair as its logo for many years in the mid 2010s.

2017: SWHR’s current logo, created in 2017 and still in use in 2025.

2020: Logo created for SWHR’s 30th Anniversary

We need women’s health to be at the forefront of science, policy, and education.

We have the momentum; we can’t slow down the focus on women’s health research.

We need women’s health to be talked about widely, often, and without stigma.

Share An SWHR Memory

Will you share your SWHR story with us? We invite you to lend your voice to our anniversary celebrations this spring by sharing your thoughts with SWHR:

Record a short video
Share a written account of your SWHR story
Send in a photo of an SWHR memory

Submit A Video Or Photo

Share On Social Media

Help us celebrate SWHR’s 35th Anniversary on social media this year. Post about SWHR’s 35th anniversary and let us know what SWHR means to you!

Find SWHR On Social Media

Happy multiracial senior women having fun smiling into the camera at house rooftop

Share Your Health Story

Your story can help educate and inform other women and health care decision makers. SWHR believes understanding and sharing women’s individual experiences and journeys can help us better understand critical gaps in women’s health.

Share Your Health Story With SWHR

What Friends Are Sharing

“Together we can make women’s health not only seen and heard, but felt.”

SWHR 2025 Annual Awards Gala Attendee

“When I think of SWHR, I think of using science, policy & education to change women’s lives & women’s health.”

Holly Ann Plank, SWHR 2025 Annual Awards Gala Sponsor

“My first-ever SWHR event was inspiring and motivating. I’m looking forward to new collaboration & partnerships.”

SWHR 2025 Annual Awards Gala Attendee

“Together we can make women’s health a priority.”

SWHR 2025 Annual Awards Gala Attendee

Loved working with SWHR and others on Endometriosis Hill Day! Thanks also for sharing my journey and helping others with endometriosis. Congrats to 35 years! I look forward to the next 35 years!

Lindsey Peters, SWHR Endometriosis Working Group Member

At the 25th Anniversary celebration for SWHR, I remember how surreal it was for me to finally meet Dr. Francis Collins. As a recovering scientist, I often joke about my limitations on pursuing a professional path as a career geneticist because it required so much focus and discipline (it’s really, really hard!). While a student, Dr. Collins’s work leading the human genome project was always inspiring but felt elusive to me and when it was completed, I’ll never forget my excitement, to the amusement of my friends. I now work for a company developing genetically targeted technologies and I’m continually amazed at how far we’ve come in such a short time. Dr. Collins was and is still a hero of mine. He was able to collaborate across agencies, academia and industry to advance our understanding of genetics with great speed a sense of urgency. But most importantly, he was able to do this kindly, humbly and always with a smile, happy to fulfill a fan girl’s request for a photo.

Parisa Sanandaji, Stoke Therapeutics

Support SWHR

Where was women’s health 35 years ago? Where do we want women’s health to be in 35 years? SWHR resides at the intersection of these points in time.

In celebration of our 35th year, will you join us in our mission of improving women’s health through science, policy, and education

Support SWHR in our efforts to ensure women’s health research is a priority. Join us in making women’s health mainstream.

Invest in SWHR