The Annual Conference on Gender-Specific Medicine's Programs

Marianne J. legato, M.D., F.A.C.P. opened the annual Conference and moderated the panel discussions

Orlando, FL- September 13, 1999 — The Partnership for Women’s Health at Columbia University held its first Annual Conference on Gender-Specific Medicine in Orlando,Florida, on September 13. More than 200 primary care physicians, women’s health experts and media attended. Speakers, from leading teaching institutions in the U.S. and around the globe, came from as far away as Oslo, Norway.

The Columbia University CME-accredited conference was designed for physicians with an interest in the implications of gender on clinical treatment strategies. Speakers presented the latest data and discussed practical uses of the new findings for primary care physicians. Panel discussions gave physicians an opportunity to interact with the experts and ask questions relevant to their own practices. Key topics of discussion included dermatology, the central nervous system, infectious diseases, hormone replacement therapy, nutrition, managed care, cardiovascular disease, urogenital health, and depression.

A panel discussion featuring five of the conference faculty discussing arrhythmia and other cardiovascular conditions in women.

"Gender-specific medicine, health care based on knowledge of biological

Michael Rosen, M.D., Gutavus A. Pfeiffer Professor of Pharmacology, Columbia University, and associate director of the Partnership, presents "Mechanisms for Lethal Arrhythmias In Women"

differences between men and women beyond reproduction, will play an increasing role in diagnosis and treatment of Illness," says Dr. Marianne Legato, founder and director of the Partnership for Women’s Health at Columbia University. There arewidespread differences between men and women in every system of the body — neither is the weaker sex — and understanding these distinctions will benefit us all."

All of the presentations from the Annual Conference on Gender-Specific Medicine will be expanded into full manuscripts and published in the Partnership’s Journal of Gender-Specific Medicine, a peer-reviewed publication with a readership of more than 125,000 primary care physicians.

The peer-reviewed Journal Of Gender Specific Medicine

Dr. Myrna M. Weissman, professor of Psychiatry, Columbia University, discusses"Depression and Gender: Implications for Primary Care"

The first Annual Conference was funded in part by unrestricted educational grants from AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, Bayer Corporation, Janssen Pharmaceutical Inc., Procter & Gamble, The Kellogg Foundation, and Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories.

The Second Annual Conference on Gender-Specific Medicine is scheduled for October 26-27 in New York City.

The Partnershipfor Women’s Health at Columbia University is the first collaboration between academia and the private sector dedicated to advancing the study and practical use of the differences in the normal physiology of men and women and how they experience disease.