Our women’s health blog is alive!  We thought it might be nice to introduce the people behind the blog.  Of course, we plan to identify several guest authors from among the many experts at Northwestern University and Northwestern Memorial Hospital, but the main engine will be ignited by our small, but mighty staff.

Sharon Green, the elder.
Sharon has over 30 years experience in many healthcare settings including research laboratories, hospitals, universities, public health agencies, nonprofit community organizations, government, and consumer advocacy coalitions – but she’s still trying to decide what to do when she grows up. Her experiences range from collecting bone marrow samples used to identify chromosome abnormalities present in certain cancers to spearheading a national letter writing campaign that led to the first significant federal increase in breast cancer research funds.  She came to Northwestern in 2005 and worked at the cancer center before joining the Institute as its Executive Director in 2007.  Her professional passions are new organization development and assuring the consumer’s perspective is paramount in everything she builds.

Sarah Bristol-Gould, the research scientist.
While being a fun conversation starter at bars, summing up her scientific research in reproductive endocrinology was challenging to do for family and friends.  Over time Sarah developed a knack for explaining the mysterious life of a science graduate student including the long days, nights and weekends in the lab, the stress of publishing manuscripts and writing grants, and the heartbreak when what seemed like a good hypothesis was either totally out of line or was scooped by a competitor.  She spent ~6 years developing animal models to study ovarian disease; debated with the thought leaders on whether or not female ovaries can replenish their supply of germ cells; and worked to develop models for fertility preservation in endangered species.  However, once the challenge of motherhood was on her plate, she decided that all night mouse experiments were no longer the cat’s meow.  Sarah joined the Institute gang in 2007 to take a crack at the administrative side of research, and currently runs the Illinois Women’s Health Registry project.  She educates community women on the importance of participating in clinical research and helps investigators recruit participants for their studies.  By bugging researchers to include both male and female perspectives in their research protocols she is breaking down barriers in sex and gender medicine and advancing women’s health in Illinois. Once researchers find out Sarah also runs our small grants program, she finds them very receptive.

Barbara Sutcliffe, the fixer.
Barbara Sutcliffe is the Institute’s go to person.  With extensive experience in project and business management, she brings order to chaos and loves an intellectual challenge.  Her boating experience helps her navigate the vast Northwestern ocean of policies, procedures and resources that keep the Institute on an even keel and ensures smooth sailing.

Megan Faurot, our passionate educator.
She joined the Institute in 2008, bringing an extraordinary passion for developing a dynamic “pipeline” to inspire and prepare young women to become science leaders. Megan’s teaching experience began at Young Women’s Leadership Charter School of Chicago where she was determined to create educational opportunities that “breakdown the classroom walls” and expose high school girls to what is currently happening in science and medicine in the real world.   As the Director of Education Programs, she collaborates with scholars at Northwestern University and Northwestern Memorial Hospital to develop programs that open up laboratory and clinical doors to small cohorts of high school girls enabling them to explore the wide variety of career options in science and medicine.  Megan’s educational scope and efforts also focus on the development of a certificate and master’s program in women’s health to support current researchers, clinicians and educators who are devoted to advancing women’s health and would appreciate input on that concept.

Michelle Desjardins, the newest.
Michelle gave up her opera career to enter the field of medicine.  Having recently completed a post-baccalaureate degree in premedical science, she is now applying to medical schools.  She joined the Women’s Health Registry team as a volunteer a year ago and is delighted to be working with the rest of the team on a full-time (and paid!) basis.  As the Registry Outreach Coordinator, her wonderful voice now resonates with an appeal to join our Registry.  She will be traveling around Illinois to special events with the Registry information wagon in tow, and corresponding with current and potential Registry participants to make sure we deliver our message to as many women in the state as possible.  In other words she’ll be the friendly voice on the line begging you to fill out your renewal survey!  Although she has only been with the Institute for Women’s Health Research for three weeks, she has big plans to start a pizza and karaoke night and dares the other Institute staff to challenge her rendition of Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.”

We’ve also identified 2 graduate students, Candace Tingen and Allison Kim, who are interesting in teaching us the ropes of the blogging world.  We assure that they will add just enough sass and savvy to our blog site to keep it interesting, yet informative.