The Iris Cantor-UCLA Women's Health Center Executive Advisory Board held its 10th Annual "Lunch with the Scientists" on February 24, 2016, at the UCLA Faculty Center. The event featured presentations on the latest advances in research, such as how cells age at different rates and how that affects cancer risk, what is on the horizon for less-toxic breast- and ovarian-cancer treatments and a research discussion on why children get cancer.
The event recognized the $3.5 million in private funds that have been raised in support of Drs. Janet Pregler and Gail Greendale's efforts to promote women's-health research. Over the past 10 years, these contributions have leveraged more than $17 million in government funding. More than 50 UCLA scientists who consider gender differences in their research have been funded for innovative pilot research projects.
Ten years before the Food and Drug Administration announced that women were being over-prescribed medications or the National Institutes of Health mandated the inclusion of women in research, 30 pioneering women on the UCLA Women's Health Executive Advisory Board began providing private funds to include female scientific models in clinical trials. The Iris Cantor-UCLA Center was recognized as one of only 19 original Centers of Excellence in Women's Health across the country for providing the highest level of comprehensive and integrated research with clinical, educational and community practices.
The success of the UCLA Women's Health funding model led to an invitation to participate as a United States White House iGIANT Ambassador, a new initiative that focuses on the impact of gender/sex on innovation and novel technologies and includes national roundtables, symposia and innovation prizes.
For more information, contact Aly Shoji at: (310) 267-1826
