Medical School to Establish National Center for Women's Health

The Medical School has received a contract from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to establish a National Center of Excellence in Women's Health.

The Center will provide community-based health care for women -- with a special emphasis on minority women -- as well as outreach, research, and education programs to improve care. Patient services will be provided at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, and their affiliated community health centers.

"This contract will help the three hospitals and the Medical School accomplish what none alone could do," said Eleanor Shore, dean for faculty affairs at the Medical School and deputy director of the Center. "At the same time, it will catalyze an expansion of medical school curriculum in women's health and support the advancement of women to academic leadership positions."

Called the National Center of Excellence in Women's Health, it will be directed by Andrea Dunaif, chief of the Division of Women's Health at Brigham and Women's Hospital. Benjamin Sachs, chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, will be co-director. Dunaif and Sachs also co-direct the Harvard Center for Women's Health, which was established in 1998 to bring together Medical School faculty at the affiliated hospitals interested in developing clinical, academic, and research programs in women's health.

By the end of this month, a toll-free number [(800) 713-1567] will be set up for women to obtain information or arrange appointments for a wide variety of patient services at a single site. Appointment specialists will inform callers of participating institutions and ask where they prefer to receive care.

Black, Hispanic, and American Indian/Alaska Native women have shorter life expectancies and are less likely to receive adequate prenatal care than white women. Black women have the highest rates of death from stroke.

While breast cancer death rates have declined among white women, they have increased for black women. American Indian, black, and Hispanic women have the highest rates of cervical cancer in the country The new Center will encourage more research into women's health, particularly issues related to minority women; develop programs and culturally sensitive materials in women's health to educate the public; and strengthen the role of minority women in participating institutions.

Additional goals include supporting the development of the best practice models for health care for all women; broadening the use of outcome measures and patient surveys to evaluate clinical services and patient satisfaction; expanding the use of community-based primary and preventive health care services; developing mechanisms to ensure the career advancement of women in participating institutions; and developing better curricula in women's health.

The Harvard Medical School National Center of Excellence in Women's Health is one of six model centers awarded contracts this year. The other five are located at Tulane/Xavier universities in New Orleans; University of Illinois at Chicago; University of Puerto Rico in San Juan; University of Washington, Seattle; and University of Wisconsin at Madison.