Cluster focus

This cluster has brought new faculty to campus to undertake scientific research on sex and gender differences in health and disease. Such investigations are fundamental to understanding differences in disease epidemiology and health outcomes, as well as the overall control mechanisms of physiological processes in both sexes. In addition to multiple social differences in gender roles that impact health, there are significant biological differences between the sexes in such areas as gene expression that have been relatively unexplored. Further inquiry in this area can help understand mechanisms and develop treatments for diseases that manifest differently in males and females, such as heart disease and immune-related diseases. Another goal of the cluster was to bring more female scientists to UW-Madison. Increasing the number of women science faculty helps to not only create gender balance in the departments, but also to provide role models and mentors for the increasing number of women going into biological sciences. (For example, the student body of the School of Veterinary Medicine is now 70 percent female; the School of Medicine and Public Health enrollment is 50 percent female).

Cluster accomplishments

  • Cluster faculty are investigating diverse issues related to women’s health ranging from estrogen effects on neurological diseases to fungal diseases that afflict primarily women to the history of issues in women’s health and their social context.  All cluster faculty have brought new expertise to campus, which, in turn, offers new cutting-edge opportunities for graduate student and postdoctoral training.
  • Cluster faculty have catalyzed broader collaborations on the basis of sexual dimorphisms in disease, fungal pathology, and the history of women’s health.  As these talented women become more senior (2 of the 3 have achieved tenure; one in 2008, one in 2009, and the third to follow soon), this impact will be increasingly apparent.
  • Cluster faculty are developing new courses (e.g., “Race in American Medicine and Public Health,”) and organizing colloquia (e.g.,  A.W. Mellon Foundation Interdisciplinary Workshops in the Humanities) that otherwise could not be offered.
  • A cluster faculty member recently published a book with Harvard Press, Hot and Bothered: Women, Medicine and Menopause in America 1897-2000.
  • Cluster faculty have received prestigious awards to support their research, including NIH R01s, a Burroughs Wellcome Award in the Biomedical Sciences, and a March of Dimes Starter Scholar Award.

Cluster structure

The cluster hires are affiliated with the UW Center of Women’s Health Research, a multidisciplinary center staffed by more than 13 faculty and staff members. The center is one of 20 National Centers of Excellence in Women's Health designated by the U.S. Public Health Service's Office on Women's Health. The center has monthly administrative meetings and an annual advisory meeting. In addition to participating in these meetings, cluster faculty also meet regularly on their own to determine common research tracks and plan ways to collaborate.

Cluster coordinator, faculty and lead dean

Cluster Coordinators

Cluster Faculty

  • Judith Houck, Associate Professor, Medical History and Bioethics and History of Science
  • Christina Hull, Assistant Professor, Bimolecular Chemistry and Medical Microbiology and Immunology
  • Jyoti Watters, Associate Professor, Comparative Biosciences

Lead Dean