Taking Steps and Making Choices:
A Look at Research on Women's Health After 50
Taking Steps and Making Choices:
A Look at Research on Women's Health After 50
November 19th, 2001
8:30 am to 3:00 pm
Westin Hotel on Michigan Avenue in Chicago
In partnership with University of Illinois at Chicago's National Center of Excellence in Women's Health, the National Center on Women & Aging is holding a unique, interactive conference for midlife and older women and the professionals that serve them. The agenda for the day will follow that of our very successful conference held at Brandeis University in summer 2000.Cost is $25, which includes both continental breakfast and lunch.
To receive an invitation by US mail, please email us with your name, mailing address, and telephone number.To follow is the program schedule to-date, subject to changes as event planning continues.
8:30 -- Registration/Resource and Information Exchange9:00 -- Welcoming Remarks
9:15 – 9:45 Opening Speaker: Critical Issues in Aging Women's Health: Initiatives, Promises and Pitfalls
Vivian Pinn, M.D., Director, Office of Research on Women's Health, National Institutes of HealthThere have been many positive developments due to the increased emphasis on research focusing on women. Yet, much more must be done to better understand and treat women. Within the field of women's health research, what are the key issues that impact women in their midlife and older years? What are the implications of the growing diversity of the aging population? How do differences (e.g. race, income, culture) influence health care access and delivery and women's ability to take steps and make choices?9:45 – 10:15 Top 10 Roundtable DiscussionParticipants at each table will be part of a facilitated discussion about their health questions, concerns, issues. Together, each table will develop a Top 10 list to provide panelists an opportunity to respond to participants’ immediate ideas and issues related to the days topics.10:30 – 11:30 Panel One: What's a Woman to Do?: Assessing Risk. Celeste Robb-Nicolson, M.D., MPH, Massachusetts General Hospital, Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Women's Health Watch; Joan Briller, M.D., Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago; Alicia Matthews, Ph.D., University of ChicagoWith breakneck speed, (biomedical and) pharmaceutical (and complementary medicine) research is transforming the landscape of health care delivery. Excitement and expectation accompany each new discovery but these are quickly tempered by uncertainty and anxiety about possible negative long-term consequences and/or interactions of any given drug. Women are faced with an increasing number of decision points and choices that are often made more difficult by the velocity and hype that surrounds each new breakthrough. For every study that “proves” one thing, there is another that qualifies those results. While simplicity and certainty are elusive antidotes to this complex environment, there is a way to understand, with greater confidence, the relative risks of any intervention/course of action. How do we interpret the information we are presented in a way that allows us to assess our risk and move forward, confident that we have looked at the big picture?11:30 – 12:30 p.m. Panel Two: Mind, Mood, Memory. Margaret Huyck, Ph.D., Professor, Institute of Psychology, Illinois Institute of Technology; Lesley Blake, M.D., Director of Geriatric Psychiatry, Northwestern University; Pat Tun, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Psychology, Brandeis UniversityThe aging process brings with it many changes that affect ones attitude and mood. Some changes women initiate themselves as part of a developmental process. What is the nature of these changes and why do some women undertake change and others do not? Other changes happen to women. For example, one of women's greatest fears as they age is losing memory and cognitive functioning. There is an increasing body of research on the aging process and how it affects the brain. Much of this research debunks the notion that older people have a difficult time learning and remembering. There is also an accumulation of research, and more underway, that seeks to understand the origins of and interventions for debilitating diseases such as Alzheimer's. What does current and projected research tell us about the physical and psychological components of cognition and aging? How does the research inform the choices individual women make and the actions they take to retain and improve their “mind?”12:30 – 1:30 Lunch1:00 – 1:30 Luncheon Speaker: Miriam Nelson, Ph.D., Director of Center for Physical Fitness and Associate Professor of Nutrition at the School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, author of Strong Women Eat Well, Strong Women Stay Young, and Strong Women, Strong Bones.
1:45 – 2:30 Panel Three: Future Visions: Advances in Medical Technology. Saralyn Mark, M.D., Senior Medical Advisor to the U.S. Public Health Service's Office on Women's Health in HHS and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); Gail B. Mahady, Ph.D., Research Assistant Professor, College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois at Chicago
Aimed at either providers or consumers/patients are a vast array of technological pharmacological and alternative approaches to assess, diagnose and treat medical conditions. The number and variety are expanding exponentially and will reshape the face of health care. At the same time, there is a trend toward self-management in health care that demands that individuals take on increased responsibility. What are the many current and forecasted developments in traditional and non-traditional medicines (i.e. alternative and complementary medicine)? How will women react to this “brave new world?”2:30 – 3:00 Closing Session. Marilyn Hughes Gaston, M.D., Director of the Bureau of Primary Health Care, Health Resources and Services Administration and former Assistant Surgeon General of the U.S. Public Health Service; and Gayle K. Porter, Psy.D., Principal Analyst and Senior Mental Health Advisor for the American Institutes for Research. Both are authors of Prime Time: The African American Women's Complete Guide to Midlife Health and Wellness.3:00 – 4:00 Wrap-Up: Book Signing, Resource and Information Exchange. Attendees are invited to stay to browse the resource tables and meet the authors – Miriam Nelson, Marilyn Hughes Gaston, and Gayle K. Porter – who will be available for book signing. Resource tables from selected organizations will provide participants with information on aging, health and women's issues.
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