COM 3010

2. Chapter 14
The Society for Women’s Health
Research—Advocacy and
Communications at Work

3. Learning Objectives
• Describe how advocacy extends beyond lobbying
legislators and regulators.
• Discuss the impact that a focused nonprofit
organization can have on improving women’s health
and changing the way health research is conducted in
the United States.
• Understand the importance of representing a broad
range of healthcare stakeholders, including
researchers, providers, and policy makers, in order to
succeed with congressional entities.

4. Learning Objectives
• Engage the public and consumers through
communications and educational campaigns to
become more involved in a variety of
women’s health topics.
• Discuss the myriad challenges facing the
country related to health care and women’s
health research.

5. Introduction
• The Society for Women’s Health Research
(SWHR), based in Washington, D.C., is
widely recognized as the thought leader in
research on sex differences, and it is dedicated
to improving women’s health through
advocacy, education, and research
• SWHR has changed the way research is
conducted in the United States

6. Founding of the SWHR
• The Society for Women’s Health Research (SWHR),
based in Washington, D.C., is widely recognized as
the thought leader in research on sex differences, and
it is dedicated to improving women’s health through
advocacy, education, and research
– Identify those areas of research that will have an impact on
the health of women
– To effect changes in policies and behavior through
advocacy and communication to improve the health of
women based on research outcomes.

7. Strategy of Congressional
Advocacy
• First advocacy and communication efforts were
addressed almost exclusively to Congress to change
regulations at federal agencies
• Next came important changes at the Food and Drug
Administration
• SWHR needed to represent a broad spectrum of
healthcare researchers, providers, and policy makers
in order to succeed with government and
congressional entities

8. Advocacy Within Scientific
Communities
• SWHR sponsored five regional scientific advisory
meetings to educate scientists and policy makers
• SWHR hosts an annual scientific conference bringing
leading researchers, clinicians, physicians, and
nonprofit professionals together to share findings and
groundbreaking studies in sex differences research
• The SWHR and the Medtronic Foundation
established the “SWHR-Medtronic Prize for
Scientific Contributions to Women’s Health”

9. Advocacy with the Public
• SWHR’s first major public educational effort was the
“Woman Can Do” campaign
• In 2003, nearly 90 other organizations joined
SWHR’s Alliance for Women in Clinical Research to
educate women about medical research and ways they
can participate
• SWHR’s education and communications efforts
emphasize that women need to become advocates for
themselves and their families

10. Current Challenges and Opportunities
• SWHR is committed to ensuring that women’s
health remains a high priority on the national
agenda
– Funding for research in women’s health
– Clinical trials
– Comparative effectiveness research
– Sex-based biology
– Drug labeling

11. Summary
• SWHR
– Changed the way research is conducted in the
United States
– Forced the inclusion of women and minorities in
medical research
– Altered how scientists now look at the different
ways health and disease affect men and women
and the reasons why