The National Library of Medicine (NLM), which is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), launched the Discover Women’s Health Research (DiscoverWHR) in December 2024. The website, a collaboration between NIH, NLM, and the Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH), serves as a centralized resource supporting NIH’s efforts to close the gaps in knowledge about women’s health across the course of life.
This website serves as a step in the right direction in relation to identifying and promoting women’s health issues. As ISW columnist Kaye Olsson noted in her column The Health Costs of Being a Woman in a Man’s World, women’s health traditionally has taken a secondary place to men’s health—and this paradigm can be deadly. Additionally, women can easily be taken advantage of in the healthcare system, as noted in ISW founder Dorian Martin’s column, ‘Henrietta Lacks’ Highlights Healthcare’s Ethical Issues.
The first phase of the website provides research in five research areas important to women:
Menopause
Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)
Lupus
Rheumatoid arthritis
Scleroderma
Developers will use user feedback and the NIH-Wide Strategic Plan for Research on the Health of Women to identify additional research areas to highlight on the website. Additionally, Discover WHR has plans to offer enhancements, including common data elements, data sources, and standardized terminologies.
The website also includes:
Currently available funding opportunities
Compilation of awarded research projects
Listings of upcoming clinical trials and recruitment information
The latest biomedical and life sciences literature from NIH-funded research
Patient-friendly health topic summaries from MedlinePlus
We invite I Start Wondering readers to check out this new website and to provide your feedback.
Also, I Start Wondering’s new design includes a category
specifically focused on health so you can delve into our columnists’ work on this topic as well as new research on women’s health and aging.
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