WHAT: The Women's Health Initiative (WHI) embarks on its next phase of research with 12 new contracts awarded last week by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health. The studies will help explain the postmenopausal hormone therapy and other clinical trial findings and will investigate the impact of genetic and biological markers on common diseases affecting postmenopausal women. The WHI was a major 15-year research program designed to address the most frequent causes of death, disability and poor quality of life in postmenopausal women -- cardiovascular disease, cancer, and osteoporosis.
The new 2-year research projects will apply innovative technologies to study factors affecting the major diseases in postmenopausal women. Investigators will conduct their research using blood, DNA and other biological samples and clinical data from the 161, 808 postmenopausal women who participated in one or more of the three WHI clinical trials or in the observational study. The total cost of all of the awards is $18, 679, 000.
The studies, institutions, and principal investigators are (alphabetically by institution):
The NHLBI intends to fund a second round of studies using biological specimens from the WHI in 2008.
WHO: Dr. Jacques Rossouw, WHI project officer, is available to comment on these awards and the NHLBI's interest in maximizing the scientific yield from this landmark study.
CONTACT: To schedule interviews with Dr. Rossouw, contact the NHLBI Communications Office at 301-496-4236. To interview Dr. Ho, call Karen Gardner, 718-430-3101, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 718-430-3101; to interview Dr. I-Min Lee, call Jessica Podlaski, Brigham and Women's Hospital, 617-534-1603; to interview Dr. Cummings, call Kevin McCormack, California Pacific Medical Center, 415-600-2984; to interview Dr. Li or Dr. Prentice, call Kristen Woodward, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, 206-667-5095; to interview Dr. Jackson, call Michelle Gailiun, Ohio State University Medical Center, 614-293-3737; to interview Dr. Lichtenstein, call Siobhan Gallagher, Tufts University, 617-636-6586; to interview Dr. Seldin, call Carole Gan, UC ?V Davis Health System Public Affairs Office, 916-734-9047; to interview Dr. Cauley and Dr. Kuller, call Jim Swyers, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, 412-586-9773; to interview Dr. Xu, call Karen Richardson, Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, 336-716-4453.
Part of the National Institutes of Health, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) plans, conducts, and supports research related to the causes, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of heart, blood vessel, lung, and blood diseases; and sleep disorders. The Institute also administers national health education campaigns on women and heart disease, healthy weight for children, and other topics. NHLBI press releases and other materials are available online at: www.nhlbi.nih.gov .
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) -- The Nation's Medical Research Agency -- includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov .