10/30/24: The Connors Center 7th Annual Research Symposium

The Connors Center for Women’s Health and Gender Biology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, is pleased to announce our 7th Annual Research Symposium. The symposium aims to feature the substantial work and accomplishments of our Connors Center-funded pilot grant awardees and affiliated investigators who help fulfill this mission. Connors Center affiliated researchers and clinicians cover the breadth of the medical field at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, including and well beyond the field of obstetrics and gynecology. Throughout, there is a shared interest in promoting our understanding of and advancing care for women. The symposium will take place in-person from 3-5pm on October 30th, 2024 in the Zinner Breakout Room at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and will be followed by a reception. The symposium can also be attended virtually via zoom. Register to attend in person or virtually here.

Keynote Speaker:

This year’s keynote speaker will be Vivian Ota Wang, PhD, FACMG, CGC, who will be giving a talk titled “Redux, Remix, and Essential: Why Sex and Gender Matter in Women’s Health Research”. As a psychologist, genomicist, and genetic counselor, Dr. Wang’s domestic and global experiences in research, education, policy, and ethics span biomedical, psychological, genomic, nanoscale, and data sciences. She applies her expertise in racial identity, community engagement, and ethics to scientific leadership of women’s health research as the NIH’s Office of Research on Women’s Health’s Deputy Director. Previously, she was the inaugural Policy, Ethics, and COVID Lead at the Office of Data Science Strategy where she established the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) Data Repository that accelerated COVD-19 testing innovation and spearheaded the first NIH sovereignty-based research data repository. Her other public service includes the inaugural NCI Office of Data Sharing Deputy Director, NHGR Data Access and Sharing and ELSI Research Program Director, Senior Advisor to NIH’s Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Director and Executive Office of the President (Bush/Obama administrations) where she developed public engagement & ELSI guidance for nanoscience/nanotechnology. Prior to public service, she was a genetic counselor at the University of Colorado, and held faculty positions at Rutgers, Arizona State, and Vanderbilt universities where her research focused on racial identity related to research ethics, program development/evaluation, and community engagement. Her clinical expertise is in congenital & acquired disabilities, and bereavement. She earned a BA-Biology (Colorado College), MS-Genetic Counseling (University of Colorado) and MPhil/PhD-Counseling Psychology (Columbia University). She is an American Medical Association Fellow (American College of Medical Genetics), and a diplomate of the American Psychological Association, American Board of Medical Genetics, and American Board of Genetic Counseling, and a licensed psychologist.