San Francisco Chronicle - Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Erin Allday, Chronicle Staff Writer

San Francisco is one of only four cities in the country hosting such meetings, which are designed to collect opinions from scientists and public health experts, along with regular women who have something to say about research that affects their health.

The Bay Area meeting starts today with a four-hour public comment period and goes through Friday.

"It's a really great honor to be the West Coast site for this," said Nancy Milliken, director of the UCSF National Center of Excellence in Women's Health. "It has attracted people from throughout the region and the rest of the country, and we have such a wonderful, savvy and passionate advocacy community out here. I'm delighted we're going to have their voices in the deliberations."

The NIH created an office devoted to women's health research in the early 1990s, after scientists and health care advocates went to Congress with complaints that women often weren't fairly represented in clinical trials. The prevailing belief at the time was the research that applied to men would also apply to women - which often isn't the case.

The Office of Research on Women's Health aimed to make sure funding from the NIH - the main source of federal money for medical research in the United States - would be directed to studies that helped women, too.

At the same time, NIH policymakers used the newly created office to draw attention to health issues that were particular to women, and not just in reproductive science. Once every decade, the NIH develops a 10-year plan for research based on input from scientists around the country.

This week's meeting in San Francisco will focus on women's health research as it relates to the environment, information technology, HIV/AIDS, global health and stem cell science.

A lot has changed in women's health research and clinical care since the previous 10-year plan was developed, said Linda Giudice, chair of the UCSF Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, and a member of the NIH women's health advisory committee. There's been a fundamental shift in how doctors and patients view hormone replacement therapy, for example, and AIDS has become a major threat to women's health worldwide, Giudice said.

The Bay Area was chosen as a meeting spot in part because of the wide variety of medical research taking place in the region, said NIH officials. In addition, the Bay Area has a thriving health advocacy community made up of women who aren't scientists but work on a grassroots level to promote research.

These women can't necessarily make it to Washington, D.C., to talk directly to the NIH. So the NIH is coming to them.

"What's important is that women have the chance to express their feelings," said Vivian Pinn, director of the Office of Research on Women's Health. "That sets the tone for the rest of us who are scientists and researchers and doctors and clinicians. Everyone learns a lot."

It's too late to sign up to participate in today's public-comment period, but the three-day conference is free to the public and anyone can attend meetings today, Thursday or Friday. There will be question-and-answer sessions with researchers and an opportunity for public comment during scientific discussions Thursday.

-Women's health meeting-

For more information, go to links.sfgate.com/ZHFG.

E-mail Erin Allday at eallday@sfchronicle.com.
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