Personalized medicine provides the promise of improved healthcare informed by research on the factors that makes each human unique. Sex and gender are basic variables used to categorize differences and similarities; these variables influence health, including the experience, treatment, and outcomes of disease. The integration of sex and gender in the design and analysis of basic and clinical research studies can enhance the rigor of investigative approaches, improve the quality of the science, and expand the applicability of the results, supporting a personalized medicine approach that can transform public health.

This session will cover aspects of sex and gender factors in health and disease, from the development of biomedical devices and therapeutics to the personalization of treatment of cardiovascular disease. Discussion of the latest scientific advances in sex differences research and enhancements in study design to detect sex and gender differences will engage and inform the NIH scientific community.

Sex and Gender Differences in Cardiovascular Disease and Healthcare Delivery. Dr. Nakela Cook, Medical Officer in the Clinical Applications and Prevention Branch in the Division of Cardiovascular Sciences, NHLBI

Sex and Gender Considerations in Devices and Therapeutics. Dr. Belinda Seto, Deputy Director of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, NIBIB

New Findings and Social/Policy Implications of Sex and Gender in Genetics and Genomics Basic/Clinical Research. Dr. Susan Taymans, Director for the Reproductive Genetics and Epigenetics Branch, NICHD

Sex and Gender Differences in Chronic Pain Research. Dr. Cora Lee Wetherington, Women and Sex/Gender Differences Research Coordinator and Health Scientist Administrator, NIDA

How to Power Studies to Conduct Sex and Gender Differences Research. Dr. Laura Johnson, Biostatistician, Office of Clinical and Regulatory Affairs, NCCAM

Obesity-related hormones and endometrial cancer risk among post-menopausal women: The BFIT cohort Dr. Cher Dallal, FARE Award winner and Cancer Prevention Fellow, NCI

For more information go to http://orwh.od.nih.gov/news/researchfestival2012.asp