HHS funds women's health center at IUSM

The Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM) is one of six schools awarded funding this year to establish a National Center of Excellence in Women's Health. The schools were funded by the Department of Health and Human Services.

Dr. Rose Fife, assistant dean and professor of medicine at IU, is center director. She noted that an integrated, multi-pronged approach to Hoosier women's health problems is needed and this award will help achieve that goal.

Mortality rates due to breast and lung cancer in Indianapolis women were twice the national average in 1995, and Indiana ranks second in the United States in prevalence of smoking among women. Also, Indiana's 1994 rate of infant mortality rate was eleventh among all states. In Indianapolis, the 1995 mortality rate among black infants was 15.6 percent -- well above state and national levels.

The center's goal is to assess women's health needs and current efforts in the state to address those needs, and to develop a coordinated national resource center consisting of programs to provide comprehensive women's health care. The center will focus on developing educational programs for both the public and for health care professionals, and on research into women's health issues.

"We can do this only through a collaborative effort," Fife said. "This will involve all of the IU health schools, the Indiana State Department of Health and community organizations that focus on issues affecting women's health." Center goals will also address issues within the IU School of Medicine. "We must work to improve the recruitment and retention of female students and faculty," she said, "as well as the advancement of female faculty into leadership positions. And, our curriculum is undergoing change that includes the processes of teaching culturally appropriate and sensitive patient care to our students."

Women in leadership positions within the School of Medicine have already established a mentoring program to enlist female senior faculty as mentors for both students and junior faculty. Other faculty members have begun developing teaching models that emphasize the importance of acknowledging and incorporating cultural and social values in patient care and student education. In addition, basic and clinical researchers at IUSM will be encouraged to consider pursuing research relevant to women's health.

For a look at new strategies being used to fight breast cancer, go to this Web site for coverage of HHS Secretary Donna Shalala's presentation at IUB last month:

http://www.iuinfo.indiana.edu/homepages/1114/text/hhs.htm

Return to Table of Contents