We’re getting used to instant, personalized health data. Your watch keeps tabs on your heart rate. Your phone app tracks how many steps you walk each day. Your smart scale assesses your weight and Body Mass Index. Personal health information propels us as individuals to make diet and lifestyle choices, select treatments for illness, and lay out our plans.

Population health information, on the other hand, examines patterns across groups of individuals and communities to understand and impact the complex factors influencing our overall wellness.

But for centuries of scientific research, this information was only studied and gathered from half the population: males.

Unfortunately, excluding women from medical research continued until the early 1990s, when the NIH Revitalization Act was signed into law, directing the inclusion of women and minorities in research. Yet, 30 years later the knowledge gaps from this practice persist, evidenced by the sex and gender-based health disparities locally and globally.

Does sex matter? The answer, of course, is yes. From basic cell biology to the way women metabolize medicine and experience symptoms of illness, women are fundamentally different — and scientific research must rigorously continue investigating how.

Enter Magee-Womens Research Institute & Foundation (MWRIF) — a national leader determined to build a new status quo, guided by the belief that women’s health is everyone’s health. MWRI is the largest research institute in the U.S. devoted to women’s health and reproductive sciences.

MWRI receives more National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding than anywhere else in the U.S. for women’s health and reproductive sciences, and projects are varied and vital, including:

• HIV prevention for some of the world’s most vulnerable populations
• Noninvasive prenatal testing
• Clinical trials that allowed a pregnant breast cancer patient to safely deliver a healthy baby
• Techniques to preserve the fertility of childhood cancer survivors

MWRIF also hosts several fundraising events throughout the year, including the Women Who Rock annual female-fronted benefit concert. On October 21, Women Who Rock will return to its home base of Pittsburgh at Stage AE.

Meanwhile, MWRIF is gearing up for the 3rd Annual Race to Beat Women’s Cancers on Sept. 3, 2023. Proceeds from #RBWC23 fund life changing research in women's cancers and patient care initiatives at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital, Magee-Womens Research Institute & Foundation, and A Glimmer of Hope Foundation.

Visit Magee-Womens Research Institute and Foundation for more information on Women Who Rock, the Race to Beat Women’s Cancers and other ways to support women’s health.