PITTSBURGH, Sept. 26, 2017 -  To advance ongoing and innovative research in women’s health, a $1 million prize will be awarded to a team of top scientists at the inaugural  9-90™ Research Summit, taking place Oct. 8-10, 2018, in Pittsburgh. The international summit will bring together the world’s leading women’s health research scientists and thought leaders to establish a national agenda in women’s reproductive sciences and health research, and will ignite the next generation of scientific leaders.

 

The Richard King Mellon Foundation has funded the Magee Prize, supporting the Magee-Womens Research Institute (MWRI) mission and accomplishments, to change the way the world thinks about women’s health.  As the nation’s largest research institute devoted exclusively to women’s health research, MWRI scientists are focused on tackling some of the most problematic health issues facing women.

 

“The earliest stages of development contribute to many diseases that affect humankind,” said Michael Annichine, chief executive officer, MWRI. “Our initiative supports our 9-90™ movement -- that maternal and fetal health in the first 9 months of pregnancy can have a profound impact on the health and wellness of a person throughout the next 90 years of life.”

 

The Magee Prize will be awarded to a collaborative team of researchers from anywhere in the world who propose the best project in women’s health research.  The winners will be selected based on innovation and collaborative research in disciplines that include early human development, reproductive sciences and gender-based biology. The winners will collaborate with MWRI researchers to improve women’s health around the globe.

 

“If there were a Nobel Prize in women’s health research, the Magee Prize would be it,” said Carrie Coghill, chair of the MWRI board. “We will reward research that promises to discover new information and translate that research into treatment or disease prevention. MWRI envisions new thinking, new expectations, and a new approach to health care research and practice by raising women’s health research and global collaboration to the prominence it deserves.”

 

The 9-90™ Research Summit will be an opportunity for the exchange of ideas and dialogue among biomedical women’s health research experts, and seeks to bring about a movement that will solve some of the most vexing health issues, particularly focused on:

 

• Breakthrough 9-90™ research studies of the 9 months of pregnancy to identify ways to prevent and cure illnesses and diseases that can occur over the next 90-plus years of a person’s life.

• Investigations in gender-specific biology and medicine to provide powerful insights into women’s cancers, pelvic floor health, fertility, metabolism, drugs and food supplements, aging, and medical disorders that affect women and men in a distinctive manner, all from the unique viewpoint of a woman’s biology.

• Efforts to reduce and eradicate the global threat of communicable diseases, including HIV/AIDS.

 

“This landmark prize and summit will have an impact not only on the local and regional Pittsburgh community, but also on the national and global community,” said Yoel Sadovsky, M.D., executive director of MWRI. “We firmly believe in our ability to stimulate ‘science without borders,’ reaching beyond Magee to the nation and the world.”