Augusta University
Dr. Elena Dent
Augusta University’s Rural Obese At Risk (ROAR) project, led by Dean Sullivan, is quickly making strides to better understand and treat women’s cardiovascular health. This NIH-funded multi-institutional collaboration establishes Augusta University as a specialized center of research excellence on sex differences (SCORE). ROAR’s goal is to transform academic and community understanding of sex as a biological variable (SABV) in hypertension and cardiovascular disease. One objective of ROAR is to train biomedical scientists to consider SABV in their research.
On May 20, 2024, Augusta University hosted the inaugural ROAR SABV workshop with Dr. Lisa Cassis, Vice President of Research at the University of Kentucky. Dr. Cassis started the event with an interactive seminar focused on sex differences in vascular disease. More than 140 registrants including graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty from across the Southeast were in attendance.
Following the seminar, the ROAR team facilitated an interactive workshop addressing best practices and challenges when considering and implementing SABV in research. The workshop was a starting point for trainees and faculty to build a community of researchers interested in better understanding sex differences in research, analyzing and reporting data, and how to incorporate this variable into grant proposals.
Creating a diverse pipeline of biomedical scientists trained to include SABV in their research is just one way ROAR is working to improve women’s health outcomes.
If you want to learn more about opportunities with the ROAR community, please contact Dr. Elena Dent at edent@augusta.edu.
Nina Siso