Women make up more than half of the population in the United States. They use health care services more frequently than men do. And, women make most of the health care decisions for their families. However, while women live longer, they experience poorer health than men on a variety of outcomes. To date, too few institutions have established interdisciplinary research institutes dedicated to advancing science in the field of women’s health.
With The Blavatnik Family Women’s Health Research Institute, Mount Sinai is filling that gap and taking a leadership role by leveraging existing faculty in several departments and institutes with overlapping research interests.
The Institute aims to build and expand a research portfolio in key areas of women’s health, including:
- Mental health and depression
- Disparities and health equity research
- Maternal and infant morbidity and mortality
- Quality of care
- Gynecological cancer
- Reproductive endocrinology and infertility
- LGBT health
- Global health
Collaborative Research
Leveraging the strengths of the clinical and research expertise of the Mount Sinai Health System, The Blavatnik Family Women’s Health Research Institute collaborates with faculty in these areas of women’s health with overlapping research interests:
- Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Science
- Population Health Science and Policy
- Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences
- Neuroscience
- The Tisch Cancer Institute
Core Resources
We will leverage many of the existing core resources at Mount Sinai and will build additional core resources to advance science in women’s health. The Institute aims to build and expand the following core resources:
Perinatal Biobank
- Contains human placenta, umbilical cord, and additional pregnancy-related specimens (e.g., blood, urine)
- Allows examinations of associations between prenatal exposure, birth outcomes, and maternal outcomes
- Serves as a resource for studies in epigenetics, immunology, and metagenetics
Perinatal Database
- Detailed standardized database that includes information on antenatal, intrapartum, postpartum, and early childhood data
- Allows studies on the 18,000 annual deliveries within the Health System
Ongoing Research and Clinical Trials
The Institute is focusing on participating in the following ongoing research and clinical trials taking place at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai: