Breaking news! Women’s Health Research at Yale has a new communications officer, and I am thrilled to become part of WHRY.
I have always been interested in writing and the nature of communication, and avidly pursued college degrees in journalism as well as telecommunications, which considers how to optimize the use of media. Over the last decade as a local news producer, most recently at NBC Connecticut, I enjoyed providing news through the spoken word and visuals. Yet perhaps my greatest joy was creating a new show – News at 7 – which was designed to examine the “why” behind the headlines, address what the community needs to know about how an event came to be, and what to do about it. As Dr. Mazure said,” This sounds a lot like what we do at WHRY.”
And it is. One of the center’s five initiatives is to communicate. Every day for years our reporting informed audiences of what was happening in the world around them. Now in this new role, I am positioned and pleased to continue this work as it relates to advancing the health of women, understanding sex and gender differences in health, and bringing health information of practical benefit to all.
For example, while reporting on the increased national use of opioid overdose deaths, it became clear that a crisis was looming and, of note, the rate of such deaths was increasing faster for women than men. Now, based on WHRY’s work, I know that women are more likely than men to be prescribed opioids for a variety of conditions, usually pain syndromes. However, when compared to men who experience pain, women are still more likely to receive opioids and are more likely to become addicted after exposure to opioids. This new information allows me to explain at least part of the “why” about overdose deaths in women, as well as how sex and gender influence risk, outcomes, and how treatment interventions need to be developed to negotiate this continuing epidemic.
It also opens the door to thinking about how the opioid drug settlement funds should be spent. Last year, drug distributors and a manufacturer reached a multi-billion dollar settlement to end thousands of lawsuits over the way opioids were marketed and the claim these companies misled doctors and patients about the addictive nature of opioids. As the first payments from that settlement arrive, based on the data indicating that these drugs affect women and men differently, it seems critical that states consider funding research on the sex and gender differences surrounding addiction.
As health care providers move forward with their life-saving care and investigators with their programs of research, WHRY is committed to research resulting in equitable health care. At its core, this type of public service is true of journalism as well, and I look forward to strengthening the partnership between science and reporting that can benefit us all.