One of Women’s Health Research at Yale’s core initiatives is communicating new health information.
But before we can “start communicating,” it’s important to know with whom we are exchanging information and ideas. Because WHRY has various, often overlapping audiences with differing needs and interests.
For example, for our faculty colleagues at Yale School of Medicine, WHRY communicates how we represent a unique, rare, and necessary source of funding for their research.
As Yale faculty continue to confront increases in programmatic costs and federally determined decreases in funding for research and health education, WHRY steps in to spark vital work that would otherwise sit stalled on the launch pad.
And so we explain the types of studies we fund and share our success stories of research discoveries. In doing so, we continue to inspire the school’s most innovative minds to focus on exploring women’s health and sex and gender differences.
As a result, our researchers see WHRY as a life preserver in the choppy seas of science funding and a helping hand, offering professional support and opportunities for collaborations that address real-world health problems requiring different fields of expertise.
We communicate our research successes for another important audience as well. As a self-supporting center, we are committed to our generous donors and prospective donors. We want to convey how their thoughtful generosity is transformed into action that advances our common goals and overcomes decades in which women were hardly studied at all.
We are also here for the general public. We want our scientific conclusions and data-driven messages put to practical use, and so we share our findings in order for people to make informed decisions about their health. In addition, the center provides guidance to local, state, and national decision-makers so that health policy reflects the unique health needs of women and men.
We talk to medical professionals and educators, too. For example, we are working to infuse the empirical findings of health studies on sex and gender into Yale School of Medicine’s curriculum. We are here for our future scientists, doctors, nurses, and technicians — at Yale and other institutions. And so we stress the importance of treating sex and gender as a core variable to examine in every study and in every patient.
This audience overlaps with our undergraduate, graduate, post-doctorate, and junior faculty trainees, who receive career guidance and gain knowledge and insight about women’s health and sex differences in health through our hands-on mentorship programs. Messages conveyed to this audience attract new trainees and reverberate beyond their time with WHRY, as our students and junior faculty members go on to influence their colleagues and ensure that our work endures and spreads.
WHRY also amplifies our messages through the news media. This requires the center to regularly call attention to the most recent and impressive accomplishments in our 20-year-long-and-growing list of practical medical advances. In today’s cluttered and fragmented media environment, we are here so that people can rely on WHRY as a clear, authoritative voice.
And there you have it. Women’s Health Research at Yale has something important to share with you. No matter who you might be.
Women’s Health Research at Yale has something important to share with you. No matter who you might be.
Rick Harrison
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For questions, please contact Rick Harrison, Communications Officer at rick.harrison@yale.edu or 203-764-6610.