Journal of Clinical Nutrition & Dietetics

Intentional integration of sex, gender, and intersectionality in public health and nutrition research

7^th World Congress on Public Health and Nutrition
February 09-10, 2022 | Webinar

Jamie White

National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA

ScientificTracks Abstracts: J Clin Nutr Diet

Abstract

A new hallmark of 21st century biomedical research is the integration of sex as a biological variable and gender as a sociocultural variable factored into study design, analysis, and reporting. These variables interact and intersect with other variables such as age, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomical status having implications on public health. Globally, various policies and mechanisms have been implemented to improve the outcomes of research and medicine. The NIH, CIHR, and the European Commission require applicants to address sex and gender considerations in grant proposals, and offer resources to help stimulate the scientific community to consider sex and gender influences on health and in science. Unfortunately, there is still an overreliance on males; a lack of transparency and reproducibility of studies; inattention to sex and gender effects; and inconsistent reporting of sex/gender-specific findings, all of which have compromised the rigor, reproducibility, and generalizability of basic science and clinical studies. Irreproducible results, biases and/or unforeseen toxicities put people at risk of being harmed, contributing to the erosion of public and patient trust in medicine and science. The entire biomedical enterprise including key stakeholders such as government, private funders, non-profits, publishers, academia institutions, and industry have to make concerted efforts to integrate sex, gender, and intersectionality into research. We all must bridge across silos to actualize the power of systemwide solutions promoting the promise of sex and gender integration into biomedical studies, including public health and nutrition research. Uptake, accountability for, and a critical appraisal of sex and gender throughout the biomedical enterprise will be crucial to achieving the goal of relevant, reproducible, replicable, and responsible science that will lead to improvements in precision health and better evidence-based personalized care for all, but especially for women.

Biography

Jamie White serves as the Health Science Strategy and Relations Lead and a health science policy analyst in the Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In this position, she provides strategic guidance and consults with leadership concerning policy and programmatic challenges in science, health, and the biomedical workforce that are of significance to the agency. In addition, she conducts a wide range of staff functions involving strategy, vision, and process planning, and creating and maintaining external and internal partnerships through strategic engagement.