By Phyllis Greenberger. I just love this—it happens every time. Leave it to the news media to decide whether something is a real health issue or not. That they know little or nothing about the medical condition doesn’t stop them. The latest example is Hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD), a condition that affects as many as 20% of women. It is a loss of desire or libido without any other concurrent medical condition. But, if these journalists (and I use that term loosely) haven’t heard of a condition, especially this one because it has to do with female sexual dysfunction, they are sure a drug company made it up.

I heard this with PMDD, fibromyalgia, restless leg syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome. The media and a few doctors said there was no such thing in each of these situations, until time and research proved them wrong. For example, in 2004 when a possible treatment for PMDD was seeking FDA approval, an article in the Washington Post severely criticized Eli Lilly for developing a medication for a made-up condition. Yet, on Tuesday June 22, 2010 the same Washington Post published a lengthy article with personal stories of several women suffering with PMDD and quoted physicians and sited research on PMDD, seemingly now an accepted health condition. By the way, Lilly’s therapy is successfully being used in Europe.

HSDD — Is this a made-up illness? The fact is that years of research and many doctors have treated women who complain about lack of desire– even when young, healthy, and happily married. The research about women’s sexual dysfunction is not new; lack of sexual desire, lack of ability to be aroused, painful sex, and failure to orgasm are all considered sexual dysfunction. Female sexual dysfunction has been listed in Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders for more than 20 years. In the late 1970’s Helen Kaplan and Harold Lief, who separately were diagnosing lack of desire and calling it by different terms, proposed that APA include this condition in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders III. The diagnosis of Inhibited Sexual Desire (ISD) was added to the DSM III and was published in 1980. There are at least ten recent articles on PubMed discussing HSDD, screeners, and communication about HSDD. (more…)

By Ruth Lubic. It is my distinct honor to be an awardee of this prestigious organization along with Dr. Omega Logan Silva and Diane Rehm.  I thank Katharine Weymouth for her enlightening opening words as well.

We awardees have been asked to speak briefly about “… how times have changed (or not) for women over the years.”  I would like to do this from two perspectives, first that of the management of the childbirth experience in the 1950′s when my son, Douglas, was born and also from that of the acceptance and utilization of midwives in this country in a similar time frame.  Keep in mind that my husband, Bill and I are “children of the Great Depression” and were taught to live frugally and to care about folks less fortunate than ourselves.

BIRTH IN THE 1950′s was often managed by the routine use of Demerol, a pain killer and scopalomine, an amnesiac, so that women would not “remember” the experience.   Laboring women, (there were no family members permitted), were restricted to a bed with padded side rails so their erratic drug-induced behavior would not harm them or their fetuses and when moved to the delivery room, had their hands cuffed in leather bracelets to the side of the delivery table so that they could not touch their “clean” baby with their “dirty” hands.  How destructive of a  mother’s instincts to hold and provide needed bonding with the new baby!  And how destructive of her perceptions of her ability to be a “good” mother when she might have vague memories of her negative behavior in labor.    Today, there are differing settings to cater to the mother’s and family’s  choices, with the nurse-midwifery operated freestanding birth center being the one with which I am most familiar.  The original Childbearing Center in Manhattan’s Carnegie Hill neighborhood was set up to offer sensitive care to young families who, disenchanted with conventional care, were engaging in “do-it-yourself” home birth, with little or no prenatal care and fathers catching their babies, a potentially very unsafe plan.  The success of the CbC evoked a response from hospitals in the form of in-hospital birth rooms, which, for the most part convert to standard delivery rooms and, even when fathers are present, usually do not offer any control, or even partnership, to the laboring family. (more…)

By Joy Burwell

You’re Invited to

“Solutions To Scale: Proven Health Care Models for Primetime”

 Wednesday, June 30, 2010

 9:00 – 11:30 am

Breakfast will be served at 8:30 am

Kaiser Family Foundation

Barbara Jordan Conference Center

1330 G Street, NW

Washington, DC 20004

 Raise the Voice, a program of the American Academy of Nursing supported by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, showcases the work of “Edge Runners” – nurse researchers and experts who have developed proven care models and interventions that demonstrate significantly improved clinical outcomes and cost savings.  The Edge Runners will share their experiences to highlight what does and does not work for consideration by federal and state agencies during health care implementation.

Welcome:

• Diana J. Mason, PhD, RN, FAAN, Editor-in-Chief Emeritus, American Journal of Nursing
• The Honorable Robert Borski

Opening Remarks:

• Ken Thorpe, PhD, Department of Health Policy and Management, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University

Panel One:

• Tina Johnson, CNM, MS, Practicing Nurse Midwife
• Tine Hansen-Turton, MGA, JD, CEO, National Nursing Centers Consortium, Executive Director, Convenient Care Association, Raise the Voice Edge Runner
• Eileen M. Sullivan-Marx, PhD, CRNP, FAAN, Advisor, Living Independently For Elders (LIFE), Raise the Voice Edge Runner
• Deirdre Baggot, BSN, MBA, Administrator for Cardiac and Vascular Services, Exempla Saint Joseph Hospital, CMS ACE Demonstration Site for Bundling Payments
• Sandra Haldane, BSN, MS, RN, Chief Nurse, Indian Health Service

Panel Two:

• Randall Krakauer, MD, FACP, FACR, Head of Medicare Medical Management, Aetna
• Susan Reinhard, PhD, RN, FAAN, Senior Vice President, AARP Public Policy Institute, Chief Strategist, Center to Champion Nursing In America
• Matt Salo, Director Health and Human Services Committee, National Governors Association

Moderator:

• Scott Hensley, National Public Radio

RSVP: Joy Burwell 202-263-2971 or jburwell@amplifypublicaffairs.net

Sponsored by the American Academy of Nursing’s Raise the Voice Campaign. Raise the Voice is supported by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Ever since Viagra hit the stores (and bedrooms) drug companies have been searching for a comparable little pink pill. Viagra didn’t seem to do much for girls (we tried it once, we felt nothing). Now there’s a new pink pill that came really close to getting FDA approval, but failed.

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GENETIC ALLIANCE 2nd ANNUAL GENE SCREEN FILM FESTIVAL

THURSDAY, JULY 15, 2010

Three screenings: 6:00 p.m., 7:30 p.m., & 9:00 p.m.

By Sharon Terry. Genetic Alliance will host its second annual Gene Screen mini-film festival in conjunction with its 2010 Annual Conference, Advancing Novel Partnerships.

This innovative event will shed light on the important world of health and genetics. Numerous creative and informative entries were received for this festival and after a competitive selection process the following films were chosen to be screened:

6:00 p.m. Screening: In My Hands: A Story of Marfan Syndrome – A film that focuses on people learning to live with Marfan Syndrome, a little-known and potentially fatal genetic connective tissue disorder. By following several families we see the despair and loneliness of trying to fit in with what is deemed normal, and we are moved by the hope and inspiration in finding a unique beauty within oneself.

7:30 p.m. Screening:  

• The Power of Two – A feature-length, character-driven documentary in production with international implications about the importance of organ donation and transplantation, Cystic Fibrosis awareness and related health causes. This short clip from “The Power Of Two” will engage and inspire people by conveying a fundamental truth: There is a miracle in every breath.
• Mito-Kids: Documenting Life – In a family shadowed by disease, there is a fine line between spoiling your kids and making sure every day is treasured.
• Jewish Genetic Disease – A film about the lives of three separate families that have experience with a Jewish genetic disorder.
• On Beauty – An excerpt from a film in production follows former fashion photographer Rick Guidotti as he skillfully employs his lens to redefine beauty by photographing children who are often relegated to the shadows because of their genetic conditions. His images are celebrations of life.

9:00 p.m. Screening: Darius Goes West: The Roll of His Life – A group of college students take 15-year-old Darius Weems, who has Duchenne muscular dystrophy, out west to try to get his wheelchair customized on “Pimp My Ride.”

Q & A with the filmmakers will follow each of the three screenings. Come for all three, two, or just one. For more information on the Gene Screen visit: http://www.geneticalliance.org/genescreen2010.

 WHEN:  Thursday, July 15, 2010 ~ Three screenings: 6:00 p.m., 7:30 p.m., & 9:00 p.m.     

 WHERE:  E Street Cinema ~ 555 11th Street NW, Washington, DC  (entrance on E St between 10th and 11th St)

 TO RSVP:  Contact Joy Burwell at jburwell@amplifypublicaffairs.net or call 202-263-2971

By Robin Strongin. I came across this moving post and felt compelled to share it. Wishing everyone a meaningful Father’s Day—one filled with cherished memories, whether you are remembering someone special or making new memories.

Originally posted by Barry Kluger, June 14, 2010 on EmpowHER.com

“And a Happy Father’s Day to all of our dads flying with us today on Southwest Airlines.” I wondered out loud to my wife on that Father’s Day 2001, on a trip to Las Vegas, if I was still a father, and she assured me I was, that you never stop. But that past April, my daughter Erica’s life was cut too short in a car accident in Arizona. That Father’s Day was my first since her death, and my first thought was to “get out of Dodge,” avoiding the IHOPs and brunches where throngs of dads go. But this day, I thought: “There’s no one to call me on Sunday.”

I imagined I would always be a father, and that I would use every opportunity to parent, maybe not my child but someone else’s, through being the kind of person I am. Dads like us love, nurture and never stop being what we are. We are fathers.

That day in April 2001, I joined a club. It’s very select. They don’t have dues. They don’t have a clubhouse. They don’t have a secret handshake. They don’t have a membership card. But the cost to join is high, and while everyone can afford it, no one wants to be inducted. (more…)

On June 8th, in conjunction with Health 2.0 Goes to Washington, we held a Disruptive Women breakfast on the topic of Health 2.0. For highlights, read our summary and watch the video below.

By Regina Holliday. On Monday, June 7th, I had the pleasure of attending the “Health 2.0 Goes to Washington” conference. It was the meeting of great minds. Attendees came from all over the United States and included representatives from government, medicine and information technology. In this heady mix of professions, patient advocates were liberally sprinkled. I was so excited to see that every panel had a patient representative. This was such a change. At this point I have attended quite a few medical conferences. I have never seen such an amazing selection of patient speakers.

Standing room only Health 2.0

I also noticed this conference differed in other ways. I was intrigued by the all the people standing along the sidelines watching the speeches. There were plenty of seats available. These were nice upholstered theatre-style seats. Yet, people were standing or lounging on stair steps. I looked around. Were they attempting to play hooky? Were they standing up in order to more easily join in a hallway conversation? I looked out in the hallway. Nope, no one was goofing off or socializing. I sat down myself, only to stand 15 minutes later. I joined the standing ones. I was so filled with energy and excitement that I could not sit. I could not be contained like that. I looked among those standing. I noticed a lot of techies and early adapters. I saw a group of people who might have been termed ADHD. I saw people who would not sit still. Thank God for these people who refuse to sit still. They refuse to wait for incremental change in our medical system. Thank God for sites such as Jamie Heywood’s “Patients Like Me” or Trisha Torrey and her blog “Every Patient’s Advocate.” Thank God for David Hale at NIH working on the Pillbox program that will enable the rapid classification pills by appearance alone. These amazing people were willing to stand up and create positive change within the system. To outsiders the standing ones may have seemed foolish. After all, there were plenty of chairs. Foolish or genius: It is just a matter of perspective. Sometimes you just can’t sit still and wait for change.

Looking back, I have always had a hard time sitting still. (more…)

By Robin Strongin.

Paul F. Levy, Disruptive Women’s June 2010 Man of the Month, was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston in January 2002.  BIDMC is one of the nation’s preeminent academic health centers, providing state-of-the-art clinical care, research, and teaching in affiliation with Harvard Medical School.  Previously, Mr. Levy was the Executive Dean for Administration at Harvard Medical School, where he was responsible for administrative, budgetary, and facility issues, as well as community and governmental relations.  He was also involved in coordinating collaborative ventures between HMS and its affiliated hospitals.  Before joining Harvard Medical School, Paul Levy was Adjunct Professor of Environmental Policy at MIT, where he taught infrastructure planning and development and environmental policy for seven years.  Mr. Levy has served as Executive Director of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, Chairman of the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities, and Director of the Arkansas Department of Energy.

Ever since I created the Disruptive Women in Health Care blog, I wanted to meet Paul Levy.  Who was this guy who boldly started blogging when most executives in health care either didn’t know what blogging was or were frightened by legal into thinking that blog was a 4-letter word?  His blog, Running a Hospital, is “a blog started by a CEO of a large Boston hospital to share thoughts about hospitals, medicine, and health care issues.”

I recently spoke with Paul and the first thing I asked him was Why Blog?  Here’s what he had to say:

Why did you decide to blog?  Was there one incident that propelled you, an aha moment, or had you been thinking about it for a while? Paul simply said, “It was a lark.”  He explained that in August ’06 he was reading a New York Times article about how executives don’t blog.  “Being a contrarian, I started blogging.  It was an excuse to learn.”  Paul mentioned that the Boston Globe took notice, wrote about his blogging and then it was “off to the races.”  He added that he’s obsessed by blogging…in a good way.  “It helps consolidate my thinking.”

As you reflect back over your years of blogging, what have you learned? “I hadn’t realized the power of blogging until I actually did it.”  He gave me an example: One of his top priorities at BIDMC is a major emphasis on quality and safety, eliminating preventable harm.  Paul experimented by using his blog to publish infection rates and clinical outcomes. “I didn’t worry or think about how unusual it was—I just did it.” [Pretty disruptive of him—I knew I liked this guy]. He discovered that the blog served as “an incredibly powerful, transformative management tool.”  The blog became the vehicle that allowed everyone in the organization to see the data, to see how they were doing.  An audacious goal was established, and the blog enabled everyone in the hospital to track progress. According to Paul, publishing the data on his blog helped foster the desire to meet the goal.  “The approach was well received and appreciated. And, it created no legal problems.”

Since last week’s Health 2.0 conference in Washington DC was fresh in my mind I asked Paul, What do you think of the blossoming Health 2.0 phenomena…what is it’s promise and what work needs to be done? He once again stressed that the value of Health 2.0, and social media in general, lies in the ability of these tools to provide a way for people to share and exchange data, information and ideas. “They support a community of interest.”

We talked for some time about how unfortunate it was that health care companies, particularly those in the life sciences, fear they will be criticized—or worse, if they take the social media plunge.  We also agreed that the real power of these tools reside in patient advocacy—enabling people to actively participate in their own health.

I have to ask—health reform—as a veteran of the Massachusetts experience, what do you think about where we are and where we are headed? “Massachusetts is prologue for the country as a whole.  We certainly had a head start with reform, likewise with the cost implications.  We are working through all that.”  Paul stressed to me that the costs were under-estimated in the law and the delivery system is still a mess.  He doesn’t see the government fixing that. “We won’t improve the delivery system by government fiat; it has to come from the profession.”

Any words of wisdom to share as we conclude our conversation? “Please, be disruptive… disruption and imagination are the driving forces for change.”

By Robin Strongin. This was a busy week in women’s health—an issue of global importance. On June 7th, Women Deliver 2010, the largest meeting on global maternal health in the last ten years, kicked off in Washington, DC. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon delivered opening remarks and US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton addressed participants via video. The conference offered an opportunity to take stock of progress that has been made in improving global maternal health while assessing the challenges that remain.

Women Deliver 2010 highlighted achievements in reducing maternal mortality, breakthroughs in reproductive technology, the role of women’s health in development, and remaining obstacles to improving maternal health around the world. The conference’s 3,000 participants, including heads of state, ministers of health and leading maternal health advocates, called on governments, donors, and multi-lateral organizations to increase their financial commitments to women and girls. For more information on Women Deliver, visit: www.womendeliver.org and to watch replays of the presentations, click here: www.womendeliver.org/webcast.

During the conference, Population Action International launched a new documentary, Empty Handed: Responding to the Demand for Contraceptives. WATCH THE TRAILER

Empty Handed Advocacy Short from Population Action International on Vimeo.

Around the world, more than 215 million women lack access to basic contraception. Empty Handed tells the story of women’s lack of access to reproductive health supplies (contraceptives and condoms) in sub-Saharan Africa, and its impact on their lives. The film documents the challenges at each level of the reproductive health supply chain and identifies key areas of improvement.

Empty Handed was shot in Uganda in March 2010 by PAI filmmaker Nathan Golon with support from the Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition.

By Archelle Georgiou. Every week, after the Fox segment, viewers can “click on the yellow chat bar” and ask me questions online. They can ask any health related question they want, even if its unrelated to the topic I covered on the air.

So, what do people ask a TV doctor? Since my blogs topics have been a little heavy lately…I thought I’d lighten it up a little by sharing the ten funniest or most interesting questions I’ve received over the last two years.

A preamble….

• I am not disclosing confidential patient information. These conversations occur in an online, open chat room.

• The viewers’ chats are verbatim….including the spelling.

• I try to respond to every single question online with evidence-based information. But, in the spirit of brevity, I didn’t include many of my responses in this blog. Too long and too clinical. Instead, I included my “editorial comments” to offer some perspective and food for thought.

OK…here are Dr. G’s Top 10

1) Michelle: “this is rather emabarrassing but lately everytime I have a bowel movement I get super nauseous and end up throwing up. Its absolutely miserable. Please help!”

Editorial Comment: Viewers ask me questions that they are too embarrassed to ask their doctor. One of the saddest interactions was with a woman who was pulling her hair out, due to trichotillomania, and had become reclusive at home.

2) Charles: “I have a problem…That I need help wit. I weigh about ummm around 215 and I was wondering what is the best kind of workouts or diest to help me lose weight….”

Dr. Georgiou: “How tall are you?”

Charles: “Um around 5″8′”

Dr. Georgiou: “Charles, based on your height, your BMI is 32.7. This puts you in the obese category. So, the approach to weight loss that has the most credibility and success is Weight Watchers which combines diet, exercise, accountability, and social support.

Charles: “So what your saying is im fat….”

Editorial Comment: Yup! I am amazed at how often people convince themselves that the BMI definitions of overweight and obesity don’t apply to them.

3) Nicole1855: “is it bad when someone sits on you and it is hard to breath because i am only 10 years old and my mom sits on me but lightly”

Dr. Georgiou: “Nicole, why does your mom sit on you?”

Nicole1855: “cuz my mom wants to sit where i am sitting doc. She wants to use the light”

Editorial Comment: Chatters must be at least 16 years old to participate. While I should have stopped chatting with her when I found out she was ten, I asked her a few more questions to determine whether this was a case of child abuse.

(more…)

By Joy Burwell. On Monday, June 7th Health 2.0 took over Washington DC and yesterday the excitement continued with a Disruptive Women in Health Care breakfast. The breakfast would not have been possible without the generous sponsorship of Manatt and the support of The Hill. A huge thank you to this morning’s engaging panelists: Fran McMahon, Publisher of The Hill; Indu Subaiya, Co-Founder Health 2.0; Julie Murchinson, Manatt Health Solutions; Alexandra Drane, Founder and President, Eliza; Marlene Beggelman, Founder, Enhanced Medical Decisions and Linda Von Schweber, Co-Founder Surveyor Health. Robin Strongin, Creator of the Disruptive Women in Health Care blog moderated the program. Below is a very brief summary of the discussions; video and photographs of the breakfast will be posted soon.

L to R: Julie Murchinson, Robin Strongin, Indu Subaiya, Fran McMahon

You may be asking what the term Health 2.0 means and luckily for you Indu Subaiya Co-Founder of Health 2.0 provided us with an answer. Health 2.0 applies the same social networks and user-generated focus as Web 2.0 (which has been around since 2003) to the world of health care. It began as a consumer-driven movement with providers becoming involved a bit later. More recently the concept has grown as a result of its partnership with health care reform. Another noteworthy aspect is its ability to foster data-driven decision-making. Currently, there are about 1000 companies actively engaged in Health 2.0.

Bottom Line: Health 2.0 gives you (the patient, caregiver, provider, payer) the tools to be able to get the information to make better decisions.

To better illustrate Health 2.0, the panelists discussed their companies’ developments. Dr. Marlene Beggelman founded Enhanced Medical Decisions which developed an online medical solution that uses “natural language” search technology, to enable users to quickly and easily find accurate information on drug interactions and reactions.. Linda Von Schweber the Co-Founder of Surveyor Health discussed their software’s ability to create an online medicine cabinet for consumers where they can learn the various side effects and interactions of the drugs they are taking. Eliza Founder and President Alexandra Drane detailed the personalized voice-based service they developed that helps consumers make better health care decisions. All of these technologies are innovative, put consumers in the driver’s seat and support efficient, safe and quality health care.

(more…)

By Glenna Crooks. During my years in the Administration I was sometimes directed to draft responses the President would send in reply to letters he’d received from individual citizens.

Sometimes, rather than drafting the letter for him, I’d be directed to reply on the President’s behalf. Such was the case when the White House directed I write to a young boy from Texas.

His father – a young, healthy man – collapsed and died suddenly during an after-work run on the local high school track. Later, at the funeral home, the director complimented the boy’s Mother about her generosity in having donated her husband’s corneas. But there was a problem: it had not been her decision. In fact, until that moment she had not even know her husband’s corneas were removed.

The ‘donation’ was made under Texas law that provides for the ‘presumed consent’ on the part of deceased individuals. A medical examiner was allowed to remove corneas from a deceased person if the examiner was not aware of the relatives’ objections. The law did not require that the medical examiner ask the family before doing so, however. In other words, every one is ‘opted in’ to organ donation unless they ‘opt out’ and the medical examiner knows about their ‘opting out.’ This family, like most in Texas, had never been asked. The wife had never been given the opportunity to ‘opt out’ for her husband.

The boy wanted the President’s help to change the law. He was distressed that his Father was now in heaven and, without corneas, could not see God. He wanted others spared a similar tragedy. I can’t recall what I wrote to this boy in response; I do recall it was a hard letter to write and I doubt my reply did justice to the pain of his loss and his grief over his Father’s blindness in heaven.

That experience came to mind when I saw an AP report that a New York Assemblyman, whose daughter had been helped by two kidney transplants, intended to pass legislation to ‘presume consent’ for not just corneas, but for donations of all organs in the state. If he succeeds, New York won’t be the first state to try, but will be the first state to succeed in enacting that type of legislation.

More than 6,000 people die each year in this country awaiting donor organs. Improvements in surgical techniques and post-transplant medications offer hope to people who only a few decades ago would have had none.  I have seen lives transformed by organ transplants and we need more donated organs, that’s for sure. But can it possibly be a donation if the person or their loved ones are never asked? Is ‘presumed consent’ donation, or is it just plain ‘taking,’ in this case endorsed by legislators?

I think it is ‘taking’ and for that reason, I oppose it.

I can’t stop thinking about that 10 year old boy and his distress. Like him, I don’t want other families to suffer that fate. The joy of one family for the life of a loved one saved by a transplant does not justify the pain inflicted on another family whose loved one’s organs are taken without consent.

By Robin Strongin. I am pleased to annouce our newest Disruptive Women bloggers. This amazing group of women have all in an innovative way worked to improve the lives of others. Like all of our Disruptive Women, they are committed to improving the health and well being of everyone – men, women, and children.

Take a moment to look over their bios; you will be inspired.

	Audrey Sheppard spent four years (1996-1999) directing the FDA Office of Women’s Health as a Clinton Administration Presidential appointee. Earlier in her career, Ms. Sheppard was a legislative and press assistant on Capitol Hill and a political and communications consultant.. In the 2008 general election, Sheppard and colleague Susan Wood Ph.D. spearheaded the national affinity group Women’s Health Leaders for Obama-Biden.
	Dana Alexander is the Chief Nursing Officer at GE where her focus is to ensure that GE’s solutions and technologies effectively support nursing priorities and future patient care delivery. She is an active member of the American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE), Executive Committee Member for TIGER, HIMSS Nursing Committee, Corporate Advisory Board member for Sigma Theta Tau in addition to other healthcare affiliations.
	Indu Subaiya is co-founder of Health 2.0: User Generated Healthcare, a first-of-its-kind forum showcasing leading edge digital media, web and mobile technologies in healthcare.
	Karyne Jones is President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Caucus and Center on Black Aged, Inc. (NCBA) and NCBA Housing Management and Development Corporation. She served for eight years in the Texas Legislature representing District 120 in San Antonio.
	Lisa Martinez is a consultant and educator in women’s health and was the Founder of The Women’s Sexual Health Foundation (TWSHF). She currently serves as a scientific and clinical advisor to The Alexander Foundation, and as a reviewer for the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses journal Nursing For Women’s Health.