Journal of women's health
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Journal of women's health · Aug 2023
Considering Sex as a Variable at a Research University: Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices.
Biomedical research has a history of excluding females as research subjects, which threatens rigor, reproducibility, and inclusivity. In 2016, to redress this bias, the U. S. ⋯ We suggest interventions that can be mounted at the level of home institutions, such as raising awareness of locally available core facilities, to help address these challenges. More training is needed on what the policy asks of researchers, how sex is defined, the nonhormonal ways that sex differences can manifest, and best practices for statistical analysis of sex-based data. Home institutions may also want to explore ways to lessen the stress associated with rollout of SABV policy.
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Journal of women's health · Aug 2023
Novel Collaborations Across Training Programs to Support Mentoring in Sex Differences Research.
There is a critical need to develop a capable and well-trained workforce dedicated to the systematic study of sex differences and examination of sex as a biological variable. Through the support of the Office of Research on Women's Health and partner National Institute of Health centers, the Specialized Centers of Research Excellence (SCORE) on Sex Differences Career Enhancement Cores (CECs) were established to help address this need. We describe the integration of the Medical University of South Carolina SCORE CEC with other National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded and institutional training programs to promote training synergies, share resources, and enhance mentorship opportunities. Benefits of developing an intrainstitutional training platform have included facilitating cross-disciplinary interactions, encouragement of peer mentorship, and reduced burden on training program leadership.