Forum for Reproductive Sciences and Women's Health

Coordinating Academic and Research Interests

The Forum for the Reproductive Sciences and Women's Health consists of faculty and trainees from the Colleges of Agriculture, Arts and Sciences, Pharmacy, and Medicine. The Forum sponsors weekly research seminars with the goal of providing a basis for coordinating academic and research interests of the faculty and trainees from various disciplines, to share information, and to stimulate basic and applied research in both reproduction and a wide range of women's health issues at the University of Kentucky. Participating members have research interests in the following subjects: aging, neuroendocrinology and endocrinology of reproduction, molecular mechanisms of hormone action and hormone dependent cancers including breast cancer, reproductive physiology of domestic animals, puberty, menopause, genetic disorders, infertility, and contraception.

History

The University of Kentucky Forum for Reproductive Sciences and Women's Health was established in 1980 as a multidisciplinary forum to discuss, foster, and promote reproductive sciences on the University of Kentucky campus. The members of the Forum established a weekly seminar series to cultivate an interchange of ideas. The weekly meetings vary in their nature and scope from graduate student presentations of proposed or completed experiments, to faculty updates of ongoing research projects, to long-term planning, or presentations by outside speakers.

Symposium in Reproductive Science and Women's Health

Each spring the Forum sponsors the University of Kentucky Symposium in Reproductive Science and Women's Health. Its purpose is to bring faculty, clinicians, and trainees in the field of reproductive sciences together to exchange ideas and information with each other and with recognized leaders of the reproductive sciences research community. This conference is a keystone of the research and graduate training program at the University of Kentucky. Registration is open to anyone interested in attending.

Focus on Women's Health at the University of Kentucky

The University of Kentucky is home to a wide range of internationally recognized programs dedicated to the advancement of women's health that range from clinical and psychosocial to the basic sciences. These efforts are supported by several centers including The Center for the Advancement of Women's Health headed by Dr. Leslie Crofford and the University of Kentucky Center for Research on Violence Against Women headed by Carol Jordan. The University is also home to a $2,500,000 grant on Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health (BIRCWH) from the NIH dedicated to the training of investigators, as well as, a $10,000,000 grant for a Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) in Woman's Health from the NIH under the direction of Dr. Thomas Curry.