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NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH Office of the Director Division of Program Coordination, Planning and Strategic Initiatives Office of Research on Women’s Health

October 11, 2012

Office of Research on Women’s Health Selects Third Round of Specialized Centers of Research on Sex Differences

Eleven new or continuing Specialized Centers of Research (SCOR) on Sex Differences awards have been announced by the Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH) at the National Institutes of Health. SCOR is an innovative interdisciplinary research program, focusing on sex differences and major medical conditions affecting women. Potential funding for these new or competing SCORs will total over $11 million per year for 5 years contingent upon available funding and is supported by ORWH and six other institutes at NIH.

The SCOR centers were selected on the basis of having at least three highly integrated, synergistic research projects that explore an important issue related to sex/gender health differences through interdisciplinary approaches. The programmatic management of each SCOR resides in the co- funding NIH institutes, and ORWH monitors progress in advancing sex differences research across the centers and coordinates the inter-SCOR interactions. The centers are co-funded by the National Institute on Aging, National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

One of the major goals of the new NIH Strategic Plan, Moving Into The Future With New Dimensions And Strategies: A Vision for 2020 For Women’s Health Research is “ to increase sex differences research in basic science studies” and it is hoped that the expansion of the SCOR Centers will help achieve this goal. The research areas of the 11 centers include musculoskeletal diseases, vascular dysfunction and cognitive decline, depression, reproductive health, metabolic disorders, pain and urinary tract infections (UTI) while incorporating a sex /gender perspective. Each of the SCOR’s individual projects must be related by a common theme, encompassing basic and clinical research paving the way for translation to clinical practice. An administrative unit at each institution oversees coordination of the individual projects.

“ORWH views these 11 SCOR institutions as instrumental to advancing the understanding of the role of sex differences in health and disease. The unique structure of the SCORs with inter related, basic and clinical projects designed with an interdisciplinary approach and supported through an administrative core were created to drive the understanding of sex/gender factors that will translate into clinical care and practice” said Janine Austin Clayton, M.D., director, ORWH.

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The 11 institutions receiving awards along with the research theme and director at each center are:

ORWH Specialized Centers of Research (SCOR) on Sex Differences Awards

FY 2012 – 2016

Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN Sex-Specific Risk for Vascular Dysfunction and Cognitive Virginia Miller, Ph.D. Decline

Medical University of South Carolina, Sex and Gender Differences in Addictions and Stress Response Charleston, SC Kathleen Brady, M.D., Ph.D.

Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill. Genes, Androgens and Intrauterine Environment in PCOS Andrea Dunaif, M.D.

University of California, Davis Sex Differences in Musculoskeletal Diseases Nancy Lane, M.D.

University of California, Los Angeles Center for Neurovisceral Sciences and Women’s Health (Sex Emeran Mayer, M.D. Differences in Pain)

University of Colorado, Boulder Metabolic Consequences of Loss of Gonadal Function Wendy Kohrt, Ph.D. Birth, Muscle Injury and Pelvic Floor Dysfunction University of Michigan, Ann Arbor John DeLancey, M.D. Sex Differences and Progesterone effects on Impulsivity, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis Smoking and Cocaine Stress Marilyn Carroll, Ph.D.

University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Pre-pubertal Stress, Windows of Risk and Sex Bias for C. Neill Epperson, M.D. Affective Disturbance

Washington University, St. Louis Molecular and Epidemiologic Basis of UTI in Women Scott Hultgren, Ph.D.

Yale University, New Haven, Conn. Gender-Sensitive Treatment for Tobacco Dependence Sherry McKee, Ph.D.

The Office of Research on Women's Health (ORWH) is a component of the Office of the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The ORWH serves as the focal point for women's health research at the NIH by promoting, stimulating, and supporting efforts to improve the health of women through biomedical and behavioral research. ORWH works in partnership with the NIH institutes and centers to ensure that women's health research is part of the scientific framework at NIH and throughout the scientific community. The NIH is an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).website?

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov.