Addressing Health Challenges of Women Across the Life Course: Summary of the Women's Health 2018 Preconference Symposium

Abstract

Although the United States is often ahead in both research and health care fields, it lags behind peer countries in many population health indicators. To address these complex health problems that often reflect the intersection of many socioeconomic and health issues, it is essential that scientists work collaboratively across distinct disciplines. Women's health is but one area which can benefit from such an approach given the multifaceted and complex issues underlying the different aspects of women's health research. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Research on Women's Health (ORWH) and the Office of Women's Health of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cosponsored a preconference symposium at the Women's Health 2018 Conference, held in May in Arlington, VA, to highlight interdisciplinary approaches to research, how researchers can work collaboratively, and how to apply multifaceted approaches to complex real-world problems. Three speakers presented information on a range of subjects related to the health of women across the life course, including the distinction between multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary approaches; the science behind Team Science and how its findings apply to working collaboratively; and gender inequalities in the opioid epidemic. This article summarizes the major points of the presentations and the subsequent discussions.

Keywords: interdisciplinary; intersectionality; multidisciplinary; opioid use disorder; team science; transdisciplinary.