American Physiological Society Launches Women’s Health Research Initiative

Rockville, Md. (July 10, 2024)—The American Physiological Society (APS) announces the launch of the 2024–2025 Women’s Health Research Initiative. This groundbreaking initiative aims to advance women’s health research, addressing critical gaps in understanding conditions that uniquely or disproportionately affect women. Despite making up more than half of the population, women have been historically understudied and underrepresented in research. The resulting disparities can critically affect women’s health.

Physiologists are actively engaged in many areas of women’s health research, working to understand diseases that predominantly or exclusively affect women, or affect women differently than men. “It’s critical to understand these sex differences so we can best intervene,” said Kim Barret, PhD, FAPS, vice dean for research and distinguished professor of physiology and membrane biology at the University of California, Davis School of Medicine, and an APS member leading the initiative. “Diseases can present differently in men and women and without that understanding, diagnosis could be delayed, or the disease may not be treated most effectively.”

Key focus areas of the Women’s Health Research Initiative include:

• Events. A series of webinars and special events at the 2025 American Physiology Summit.
• Advocacy. Efforts to increase federal funding and raise awareness about disparities in women’s health resources.
• Publications. Promoting research on women’s health in APS journals.
• Education. Resources for educators to integrate women’s health into curricula.

“A detailed exploration into women’s health-related issues is an important priority for APS,” APS Chief Science Officer Dennis Brown, PhD, FAPS, said. “We hope it will stimulate all biomedical scientists to incorporate sex and gender considerations into their research programs.”

For more information, visit the APS Women’s Health Research Initiative webpage.

NOTE TO JOURNALISTS: To schedule an interview with a member of the research team, please contact APS Media Relations or call 301.634.7314. Find more research highlights in our Newsroom.

Physiology is a broad area of scientific inquiry that focuses on how molecules, cells, tissues and organs function in health and disease. The American Physiological Society connects a global, multidisciplinary community of more than 10,000 biomedical scientists and educators as part of its mission to advance scientific discovery, understand life and improve health. The Society drives collaboration and spotlights scientific discoveries through its 16 scholarly journals and programming that support researchers and educators in their work.