[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 159 (Monday, December 6, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8557-S8558]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
RECOGNIZING THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE NIH OFFICE OF RESEARCH ON
WOMEN'S HEALTH
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate
proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 695, submitted
earlier today.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The clerk
will report the resolution by title.
The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
A resolution (S. Res. 695) recognizing the 20th anniversary
of the National Institutes of Health Office of Research on
Women's Health and the continuing leadership and achievements
of the Office on Women's Health in conducting and supporting
biomedical research to improve women's health.
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the
resolution.
Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I rise today to commemorate one of the
greatest recent achievements in women's health--the 20th anniversary of
the founding of the Office of Research on Women's Health at the
National Institutes of Health. I could not be prouder of all that the
Office of Research on Women's Health has done for women's health, and I
am honored to be a part of its history.
As an advocate of women's health, a supporter of scientific research,
and a woman myself, this is an emotional day for me. Twenty years ago,
women did not have much to celebrate when it came to scientific
advances. In fact, we were not even at the table. Remember that famous
study that said, ``an aspirin a day keeps the doctor away''? That study
included 10,000 men but not a single woman. The same went for the
famous study on heart disease factors: 13,000 men were surveyed but not
a single woman.
We had a big problem. Women were being systematically excluded from
NIH clinical research. It was not sound science, and it was not
acceptable. Our worst concerns were confirmed by a 1990 GAO report,
which proved that women were not being included in clinical trials.
I had to do something about it. I remember it well: I called up my
women colleagues, and they agreed. We piled into the car on a hot
August day, and we drove to NIH in Bethesda, MD. Our aim was to
assemble all 12 institutes, communicate our concerns, and see what
goals they could come up with to resolve this unfair exclusion. We
showed up: Connie Morella, Olympia Snowe, Pat Schroeder, and I--and so
did the TV cameras and Time Magazine. We made it clear that the time
had come to include women in scientific research, remember their place
in the Federal budget, and treat them with respect.
We got Dr. Bernadine Healy appointed as the first female director of
NIH, and that was a notable accomplishment. But we needed more. We
needed an Office of Women's Health at the NIH to be on the law books.
So Senators Kennedy, Harkin, Kassebaum, and I worked together to create
and fund it in statute. The first thing that Dr. Healy did with that
funding was to put it toward the Women's Health Initiative, a now-
famous hormonal study that has helped decrease breast cancer deaths by
15 percent, saving millions of lives.
Dr. Healy then appointed Dr. Vivian Pinn to serve as the first
director of the Office of Research on Women's Health, ORWH. These women
empowered researchers to look at disease in a gender-specific way, such
as heart disease and depression. They also made great strides in breast
cancer and cervical cancer research, as well as AIDS research and
mapping the human genome. None of this would have been possible just a
few years earlier. And it would not have been possible without my dear
friend, Dr. Ruth Kirschstein. She led the fight for women's health on
the inside of the scientific community, and I was proud to help her
from the outside.
Today, we are keeping up the fight. There are now 17 women in the
Senate, and women's health is one issue that always brings us together.
During the health reform debate, we would not stand for insurers
treating gender as a preexisting condition or for restricted access to
mammograms and other preventive care. That is why I introduced the
women's health amendment--the first amendment to pass during the Senate
health reform debate--that provides preventive care for women with no
co-pays and no deductibles and ends gender discrimination in health
care. I was proud when my amendment passed the Senate 61-39. We also
included the Women's Health Office Act in health reform, so that now
all women's health offices throughout the Department of Health and
Human Services are set in law. That means we have offices of women's
health standing sentry for drug approvals, mental health and substance
abuse issues, quality measures, and public health initiatives that will
help women.
But our work goes on. To quote my dear friend Teddy Kennedy, ``The
work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dreams
shall never die.'' I thank the people who made the Office of Research
on Women's Health a reality. I thank the office itself for all of its
hard work, and I look forward to another 20 years of ground-breaking
discoveries.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I note that the main mover of this matter is
Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland. She worked very hard to recognize
this important office, and she did it for a number of reasons, some of
which I worked with her on.
There was a massive study done on the effect of aspirin on people
taking it as a way to alleviate heart problems. I don't remember the
exact number, but a huge number of people were tested--like 10,000. But
there was not a single woman. It was all done with men. That kind of
raised the ire of Senator Mikulski.
We found, in doing this, that there were many situations where the
diseases we focused on were diseases related to men. An example is
interstitial cystitis--a disease I got involved in early on, about the
same time we did this. Interstitial cystitis is a disease where 90
percent of the people who have it are women. It can best be described
as the pain is like shoving slivers of glass up and down someone's
bladder. The pain is excruciating and awful. It was a disease that
people said was psychosomatic because it was only women who had the
problem, so they overlooked it. If it had been men--and we were an all-
male legislature at the time--I am sure it would have gotten more
attention. I added my assistance to Senator Mikulski, and we were able
to establish a protocol. Now people understand this, and it has made a
lot of progress. This is one example of why the work of Senator Barbara
Mikulski has been so important.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed
to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid on the
table, with no intervening action or debate, and that any statements
related to this resolution be printed in the Record.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
[[Page S8558]]
The resolution (S. Res. 695) was agreed to.
The preamble was agreed to.
The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:
S. Res. 695
Whereas the National Institutes of Health (referred to in
this preamble as the ``NIH'') Office of Research on Women's
Health (referred to in this preamble as the ``ORWH'') is a
leader in the national commitment to research, research
training, and science-based education programs on women's
health and sex differences research;
Whereas the ORWH was originally established in 1990 in
response to congressional, scientific, and advocacy concerns
regarding the lack of systemic and consistent inclusion of
women in NIH-funded clinical research and the lack of
scientific data and information regarding women's health;
Whereas the ORWH has made significant progress in
developing and implementing policies to ensure the inclusion
of women in NIH clinical research and, in this manner, has
encouraged the increased reporting in scientific literature
of sex- and gender-related factors in health and clinical
trial analysis;
Whereas the ORWH initiated the ``Building Interdisciplinary
Research Careers in Women's Health'' program in 1999 and has
supported the career development and advancement of
approximately 400 early-stage research scientists to become
independent researchers and obtain academic promotions at
major research institutions throughout the United States;
Whereas the ORWH initiated the ``Specialized Centers of
Research on Sex and Gender Factors Affecting Women's Health''
program in 2002 to support interdisciplinary and sex
differences research, including basic, translational, and
clinical investigations, by accomplished scientists;
Whereas in 2009, the scientists participating in the
``Specialized Centers of Research on Sex and Gender Factors
Affecting Women's Health'' program published 116 journal
articles, 176 abstracts, and 63 other publications;
Whereas the ORWH collaborates with NIH Institutes and
Centers to support basic, clinical, population, and
translational research in laboratory, clinical, and community
settings throughout the United States;
Whereas the ORWH pursues research efforts to benefit all
individuals burdened by diseases and disorders that are
within the scope of the mission of the ORWH, including men,
women, older and younger adults, children, minority
populations who are disproportionately affected by certain
diseases, people from economically-disadvantaged backgrounds,
and other understudied or underrepresented populations;
Whereas ORWH-supported research has dramatically increased
vital understanding of sex differences research, from single
cells to multiple biological systems and mechanisms, and has
prompted sex differences research in the fields of
endocrinology, immunology, epigenetics, systems biology, and
neuroscience, as well as in new technology-enabled fields
such as genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics;
Whereas research conducted and supported by the ORWH has
been instrumental in revolutionizing policies, research, and
programs focusing on the health, prevention, diagnostic, and
treatment strategies for girls, women, and their families,
leading to remarkable improvements in health and quality of
life;
Whereas the ORWH sponsors education and outreach programs,
with materials tailored for diverse audiences, to improve
women's health by disseminating science-based information to
women and their families, those at risk for disease, health
care educators, and the general public;
Whereas the ORWH has initiated or participated in
collaborative and coordinated research efforts and science-
based public education programs in order to maximize the
Federal investment in research and synergize expertise across
the NIH, with other Federal agencies, and with public and
private organizations;
Whereas the ORWH has a farsighted research agenda for the
next decade entitled ``Moving Into the Future With New
Dimensions and Strategies: A Vision for 2020 for Women's
Health Research'' that is based on the culmination of a 2-
year strategic planning process, involving more than 1,500
leading scientists, advocates for women's health, public
policy experts, health care providers, Federal, State, and
local elected officials, and the general public in 5 regional
scientific meetings;
Whereas the ORWH research agenda is visionary and addresses
the 6 major goals of--
(1) increasing the study of sex differences in basic
research studies;
(2) incorporating findings of sex differences in the design
and application of new technologies, medical devices, and
therapeutic drugs;
(3) actualizing personalized prevention, diagnostics, and
therapeutics for girls and women;
(4) creating strategic alliances and partnerships in order
to maximize the national and international impact of research
on women's health;
(5) developing and implementing new communication and
social networking technologies to increase understanding and
appreciation of research on women's health; and
(6) employing innovative strategies to build a well-
trained, diverse, and vibrant women's health research
workforce; and
Whereas ORWH-supported initiatives and programs continue to
make strides in addressing the expanded concepts of women's
health across the entire lifespan of a woman, while
continuing to explore understudied areas of reproductive
health and the menopausal transition, developing distinct
research career paths for investigators in women's health,
sex differences, and interdisciplinary research, increasing
the number of investigator-initiated women's health research
studies in areas such as cardiovascular disease and stroke,
musculoskeletal and immune disorders, and mental health and
substance abuse, and increasing the scientific knowledge on
the health, diseases, disorders, and conditions that affect
diverse populations of women: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) recognizes the 20th anniversary of the National
Institutes of Health Office of Research on Women's Health
(referred to in this resolution as the ``ORWH'');
(2) commends the ORWH for its leadership in women's health
research, research training, and science-based education
programs;
(3) recognizes ORWH-supported scientists whose studies have
improved women's health and whose research continues to yield
promising discoveries;
(4) recognizes the volunteers who participate in clinical
studies and the patient and professional health organizations
that contribute to the shared research goals of preventing,
treating, and curing the diseases and disorders within the
scope of the mission of the ORWH; and
(5) reaffirms the support of the Senate for the ORWH and
the continued commitment of the ORWH to carrying out research
to improve women's health.
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