NEW HAVEN, Conn., Feb. 5, 1998--Yale University School of Medicine has been awarded a $6.5 million, five-year grant from the Patrick and Catherine Weldon Donaghue Medical Research Foundation of West Hartford, Conn., to advance research on women's health.
"The Donaghue Foundation's generous grant will enable Yale to enhance its leadership role in women's health significantly," stated Yale President Richard C. Levin. "With this grant, we will establish The Ethel F. Donaghue Women's Health Investigator Program at Yale, which will support original and interdisciplinary research projects on women's health. This research will result in practical benefits in health care for women."
In announcing the establishment of this intensive, innovative effort in women's health research, President Levin was joined by Raymond S. Andrews Jr., and Sheilah B. Rostow of Fleet Bank, trustees of the Donaghue Foundation, and David A. Kessler, M.D., dean of the School of Medicine. "In entering into this agreement with Yale, the Foundation is carrying out the commitment of the late Ethel Donaghue to support important and useful health research. Research on women's health would have been at the top of her agenda, and is therefore at the top of ours as her trustees. We are delighted to be a part of this effort," stated Mr. Andrews.
"This new initiative will build on and expand the medical school's exemplary program in women's health," added Dr. Kessler. Under the programmatic leadership of Janet B. Henrich, M.D. and the research direction of Carolyn M. Mazure, Ph.D., the program was selected in 1996 as one of the six National Centers of Excellence in Women's Health. The Center supports research efforts and provides health education and clinical service to women in and around the New Haven area.
With the Donaghue grant, the research effort of the Center will be dramatically expanded. Research funds will be available to clinical, basic science and other faculty who are conducting women's health research at the cutting edge. Researchers may join with colleagues at Yale or at the 13 Connecticut hospitals affiliated with the school. As part of the program, faculty members across a wide range of disciplines throughout the University will develop new research related to women's health.
"A vital need exists to increase the scientific knowledge base in women's health, to incorporate new-found knowledge into our educational programs, and, most importantly, into clinical practice. Improvement in the quality of health care for women depends upon this process," stated Dr. Mazure, principal investigator of the new Donaghue program. "Our collaboration with the Foundation in establishing The Ethel F. Donaghue Women's Health Investigator Program at Yale provides a real opportunity for us to change health care for women through research."
According to Dr. Mazure, this program will support research that:
- enhances collaborations between or among investigators from different disciplines, with different areas of expertise, and/or from different institutions
- addresses understudied aspects of women's health or represents a new focus or direction
- examines the influence of social class factors on women's health, including research on the health-care needs of disadvantaged and/or ethnic minority women
- expedites the application of scientific findings to the medical community and the general public.