SFU examines diverse approaches to women’s health at campus conference

By: Agnetha de Sa

SFU hosted its inaugural Women’s Health Research Symposium to explore research spanning eight faculties at the Burnaby campus on October 25. It is the first time that the symposium, which looks at interdisciplinary solutions to issues surrounding women’s health, has been held at the university.

“We don’t have a medical school or a nursing school or those types of programs but a lot of the work that is underway here promises to be really transformational for women’s health,” said Angela Kaida, faculty lead for the SFU Women’s Health Research Symposium.

“This symposium is an opportunity to showcase and really celebrate the huge diversity of women’s health research that’s underway, and to really nurture a community of women’s health researchers who might not really think of themselves as women’s health researchers, but are really doing important work to improve women’s health.”

The conference was hosted in collaboration with the Women’s Health Research Institute (WHRI), an organization based in the BC Women’s Hospital. The institute has partnered with other post-secondary institutions in the past to facilitate discussion around women’s health in the province.

According to Kaida, the university wanted this symposium to set itself apart from other similar events held by choosing researchers from non-traditional fields and research initiatives.

“Let’s look at who else is doing work that . . . we might not think about as women’s health research but stands to make a huge difference,” said Kaida. “We were able to go . . . across our campus identifying researchers whose work does fit into the bucket of women’s health research but [is not] typically discussed as such.”

The event provided attendees the opportunity to see the “ways in which women’s health research is being enacted at SFU,” Kaida stated.

Through three different panels, ranging from innovation in technology and science to laws and policies that promote women’s health, the attendees were introduced to the various facets of research at the university. There was also a poster display for master’s and PhD students which were judged for monetary prizes and allowed students to get some exposure of their work.

At the breakfast held specifically for the student attendees, those interested in women’s health research had the opportunity to hear from the vice-president of research at SFU and keynote speaker Joy Johnson. A key objective of the symposium was to include students in the exchange, Kaida explained.

“I have a lot of respect of the trainees that we have here at SFU,” she said. “The ways in which women’s health and intersectionality and diversity and gender equity are being discussed by many students and many student groups is really helping to transform the conversation.”

Johnson spoke about the history and speculation as to the future of gender, sex, and health research in the country, highlighting some of her own experiences through her various positions.

“Gender gets under our skin at a very early age,” said Johnson. “The toys that we give children and the way that they interact indeed is highly gendered” which has implications for health.

“No matter what, we should be thinking about gender,” she said on the topic of academic research.

“This is hopefully the beginning of a discussion and I think there are a few events on the horizon that make it quite timely for us to be having this event,” Kaida stated in reference to the Women Deliver international conference that will take place in Vancouver in 2019.