Office of Research On Women's Health: Podcasts, Videocasts & Online Courses

The National Institutes of Health Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH) has launched a podcast hosted by its director, Dr. Vivian Pinn. Titled “Pinn Point on Women’s Health,” the monthly podcast will discuss the latest news in women’s health research and will include conversations with NIH staff on a variety of subjects.

First up: Pinn talks about the HPV vaccine. Listen here. (The NIH also provides this handy guide on how to listen and subscribe to podcasts.)

The ORWH ensures that NIH-funded studies address women’s health and that women and minorities are appropriately represented in biomedical and biobehavioral research. Check out the 2007 NIH Research Priorities for Women’s Health.

In 1993, the ORWH started a seminar series that brings together researchers, health care providers and women’s health advocates. Videocasts of each seminar are available here.

And in collaboration with the FDA’s Office of Women’s Health, the ORWH offers online courses at the Science of Sex and Gender in Human Health website. The free site was developed to offer researchers, clinicians and academics a basic scientific understanding of the major physiological differences between the sexes, the influences these differences have on illness and health outcomes, and the implications for policy, medical research, and health care, according to the ORWH.

The current course is The Basic Science and the Biological Basis for Sex- and Gender-Related Differences. Registration is required, but this page notes that your real name and contact information are required only if you wish to receive continuing education credit. You can proceed with each of the six lessons at your own pace, but you’ll have to ace the quizzes within each lesson to get credit.