Speaker Profile
M.D., Professor, University of California, Los Angeles; Director, UCLA Multiple Sclerosis Program; Jack H. Skirball Chair
Biography
Dr. Voskuhl is an internationally recognized expert in sex differences research, focusing on translation from bedside (clinical observations) to bench (research) to bedside (novel clinical trials). Voskuhl’s lab at UCLA investigates sex differences in neuroimmune mechanisms during health and disease. They demonstrated roles for sex hormones and sex chromosomes in the immune system and the central nervous system. Her lab showed X-dosage and parental imprinting effects on immunity, as well as neuroprotective effects of estrogen receptor ligands. Voskuhl translated findings in her lab to four clinical trials of novel hormone treatments. She received the Berlin Institute of Health Excellence Award for Sex and Gender Aspects in Health Research in 2018, the Kenneth Johnson Memorial Award by Americas Committee for Research and Treatment of MS in 2019, and UCLA’s Innovation Award in 2019. She is currently the President of the Organization for the Study of Sex Differences. Voskuhl received an MD from Vanderbilt University, residency at University of Texas Southwestern, and fellowship at the National Institutes of Health.
Talk
Advancing Sex Differences in Basic Research to Clinical Trials
Major progress has been made in sex differences research at the preclinical level, but these discoveries need translation to clinical trials to benefit both women and men. Beyond inclusion of both sexes with retrospective analyses, now is the time for trial designs prospectively powered to determine treatment efficacy in each sex.
Session Abstract – PMWC 2022 Silicon Valley
Track Co-Chairs:
Aleksandar Rajkovic, UCSF
Researchers have long been recognizing the uniqueness of women’s health and its substantial effect on clinical practice, acknowledging the increasing appreciation of the importance of multidisciplinary approaches to health and disease. In every organ system, there are diseases that are unique to women, more common in women than in men, or characterized by differences in disease course in women compared to men. This Track will focus on the following topics related to Women’s Health:
- Intro to Women's Health
- Aleksandar Rajkovic, UCSF - Reproductive Health
- Hakan Cakmak, UCSF
- Laura Jelliffe-Pawlowski, UCSF - Pregnancy (PANEL)
Session Chair: Yoel Sadovsky, University of Pittsburgh
- Virginia D. Winn, Stanford
- Ananth Karumanchi, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
- Mira Moufarrej, Stanford University
- Liang Liang, 9 MONTHS - Carrier Screening: Perspective on the new ACMG Practice Resource
- James D Goldberg, Women's Health Medical Affairs
- Biological Sex Differences in Disease + Inclusion of Women in Clinical Research/Innovation
- Rhonda Voskuhl, UCLA
- Cardiovascular Health
- Nisha Parikh, UCSF
- Jennifer Ann Tremmel, Stanford - Bone Health/Osteoporosis & Menopause (PANEL)
Session Chair: Risa Kagan, UCSF, Sutter Health
- Danit Ariel, Stanford
- Massimiliano (Max) de Zambotti, SRI International - Showcase
- Carrie Haverty, Mirvie
- Brian D. Brohman, NX Prenatal
- Ripudaman Singh, ARCEDI Biotech
- Claire Tomkins, Future Family
- Donna Russell, Precia Group
- Adam de la Zerda, Visby Medical, Inc.
