As the Chief Science Officer of the Society for Women’s Health Research, Dr. Irene O. Aninye steers SWHR’s portfolio of scientific programs to increase awareness and investment in research on biological sex differences and health conditions that disproportionately or uniquely affect women. She convenes expert working groups and meetings to identify strategies that address persistent gaps in women’s health care and research, translating recommendations into science-based and patient-centered policy solutions. Dr. Aninye has led the development of white papers, health care roadmaps, patient toolkits, clinical education materials, and calls to action for women’s cardiovascular health, autoimmune diseases, menopause, Alzheimer’s disease, HPV, and endometriosis, among other areas.
Prior to joining SWHR, Aninye worked at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), where she led strategy teams to evaluate the progress and outcomes of multidisciplinary STEM research and training programs for university consortia. She also designed peer-review systems for externally organized competitions and facilitated workshops to build research capacity and competitiveness in the U.S. and abroad.
Aninye completed her PhD in molecular and integrative physiology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where her research focused on identifying and characterizing novel small molecule inhibitors of progesterone receptor action in breast cancer. After completing postdoctoral training at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, she continued her research endeavors in endocrinology and metabolism – investigating sex steroid hormones and their receptor-mediated actions in development, reproduction, and disease.
In addition to research, Aninye has dedicated her career to engaging the scientific community through academic service, outreach, and teaching. At the National Institutes of Health (NIH), she developed CEU courses in biotechnology and innovation for clinicians and basic researchers through the Foundation for Advanced Education in the Sciences (FAES@NIH). She was also a member of the biology faculty at Loyola University Maryland.
With a passion to diversify the face of STEM and increase the involvement of underrepresented groups in the sciences, she provides scientific and leadership training across all career stages and serves on advisory boards for the National Institutes of Health, American Cancer Society, National Health Council, and World Economic Forum’s Global Alliance for Women’s Health.
A Washington, DC, native, Dr. Aninye attended the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) as a Meyerhoff Scholar and holds a BS in biochemistry and molecular biology.