Inspire Inclusion

A lot has changed for women over the years, but gaps in funding and knowledge in women's health research remain. Join us this International Women’s Day as we Inspire Inclusion and activate a call to collectively forge a more inclusive world for women.

In 1917 Canadian women earned the right to vote, yet 107 years later only 7% of federal health research funding in Canada is allocated to women’s health research.

Thanks to research doctors stopped prescribing cigarettes to patients in the 1950s, yet women were not even included in any form of health research studies until the 1990s.

Those are two facts of many that illustrate that the area of women's health research is one that continues to have a long path ahead to equity.

What is the Alberta Women's Health Foundation doing to Inspire Inclusion?

What is researcher Meghan Riddell doing to change healthcare for women?

Meghan likes to say, “The placenta is, quite simply, the most important organ you no longer have.” And she's right! Nobody would be here without a properly formed and functioning placenta. Riddell is interested in understanding the biological pathways that drive the development of the placenta, and the complications that cause major pregnancy difficulties.

Learn more in the video featuring Meghan's research below.

What is researcher Dr. Donna Vine doing to change healthcare for women?

Dr. Donna Vine is actively reshaping women’s healthcare by focusing on understanding and improving the health of women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS). PCOS is the most common hormone disorder in adolescent girls and women globally, affecting about one in 10 across their lifespan, and is a leading cause of menstrual dysfunction and infertility.

Learn more in the video featuring Dr. Vine's research below.

What is researcher Dr. Christy Lynn-Cooke doing to change healthcare for women?

Dr. Cooke is investigating the mechanisms that cause preeclampsia and contribute to fetal programming of cardiovascular disease. This work is critical in nature considering 70% of patients with "medically unexplained symptoms" are women. The more we know about uterine health, the better clinicians can diagnose and provide care when needed. Achieving proper healthcare starts with equitable and inclusive research.

Learn more in the video featuring Dr. Cooke's research below.

Join Us on Our Path

The healthcare women receive today often reflects the lack of decades of research and trials that can be seen in men's healthcare. We are working to close these gaps in care by funding women’s health research in Alberta.

Did You Know?

Women experience up to a staggering 75 per cent of adverse drug reactions.

Only nine per cent of medications have been tested for safety in pregnant women.

Women are also twice as likely as men to experience depression.

Women more prone to dying of heart disease than men.

Only 23 per cent of academic researchers are women.

This International Women's Day, in partnership with Alberta Blue Cross, we are encouraging individuals to consider how far women have come in many critical areas of our lives, from sport to politics and everything in between, and we are highlighting the brilliant efforts of some of the best women’s health researchers in our province working to create equitable health care for all. Motivated by the work researchers are doing around the world to advance women’s health, the Alberta Women’s Health Foundation calls on participants to #InspireInclusion in their mission to drive gender parity.

Inspire Inclusion Today