Here is this week’s news of grants and gifts that may be of particular interest to women in higher education.
The Magee-Womens Research Institute at the University of Pittsburgh received a $3.7 million grant from the American Heart Association. The grant will fund research to see if pregnancy-related blood vessel changes impact later-life risk of cardiovascular disease for women.
The University of Cincinnati received a grant from the National Institutes of Health for research on whether the over-the-counter fatty acid supplement – docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) – can be used by pregnant women to decrease the risk of preterm births. The research is under the direction of Christina Valentine, a visiting professor at the university’s College of Medicine and Emily DeFranco, an associate professor of maternal-fetal medicine at the medical school.
The School of Medicine at Loma Linda University in Los Angeles received a $6.29 million grant from the National Institutes of Health for a study on how high altitude impacts maternal health and fetal development. It is estimated that 140 million people worldwide live at an altitude over 8,000 feet. A lower level of oxygen at these altitudes may have an adverse effect on fetal development that may cause health problems later in life. Researchers at the medical school’s Center for Perinatal Biology will conduct their study with sheep at the University of California’s White Mountain Research Station in Bishop, California, which is at an altitude of 12,500 feet. Sheep embryos’ formation and size closely resembles those in humans.
Murray State University in Kentucky received a $250,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to support programs to increase the recruitment, retention, and promotion of women faculty members in STEM disciplines. The research will include a faculty climate survey of women in STEM and non-STEM fields.