NW Women's Health & Sex/Gender Differences Research Conference
Friday, May 8, 2026, at OHSU Auditorium (Old Library)
The Oregon BIRCWH Program, OHSU Center for Women's Health, and the OHSU Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology are proud to announce the 2026 Northwest Women's Health and Sex/Gender Differences Research Conference at Oregon Health & Science University.
This full-day in-person conference is designed to ignite cross-institution, multidisciplinary research partnerships and collaborations within the Portland area and the greater state of Oregon. Previous conferences have been incredibly successful in developing new partnerships that have progressed to grant proposals, funding, and research. The conference highlights the BIRCWH and WRHR programs and their roles within the OHSU community, but also to gives greater visibility to women’s health and sex and/or gender-based differences research on the OHSU campus.
We are honored to have Yoel Sadovsky, MD, and Mary Heinricher, PhD, joining us as keynote speakers.
Placental adaptive responses during human pregnancy
Friday, May 8
8:35 a.m.
OHSU Auditorium
Yoel Sadovsky, MD
Senior Research Scientist, Stanford University, California
Dr. Sadovsky gives his keynote address. During human pregnancy, the placenta is subject to injurious influences that may perturb its function. Placental response may include diverse adaptive pathways that mitigate the injury. We will discuss factors, including small RNAs and extracellular vesicles, that mediate such placental defense mechanisms and support pregnancy health.
Yoel Sadovsky, MD, was program director of the BIRCWH program at the University of Pittsburgh between 2012-2024. He also served as the Scientific and Executive Director of Magee-Womens Research Institute and a Distinguished Professor of OBGYN, and Microbiology and Molecular Genetics between 2007-2024, and was the Elsie Hilliard Hillman Chair of Women's Health Research and Associate Dean, Women’s Health Research and Reproductive Sciences at Pitt. He recently moved to Stanford University, California, where he continues his research work as a Senior Research Scientist and Adjunct Professor in the Dept. of Pediatrics, Division of Neonatal and Developmental Medicine.
Dr. Sadovsky’s research integrates molecular, cellular and informatics tools to decipher placental development and adaption to injury, such as oxidative stress and ferroptosis. He also focuses on trophoblastic non-coding RNAs, which are packaged in extracellular vesicles and communicate among the fetal, placental, and maternal compartments.
Photosensitivity as a Window into Chronic Brain Mechanisms of Chronic Pain
Friday, May 8
3:15 p.m.
OHSU Auditorium
Mary M. Heinricher, PhD
Professor of Neurological Surgery, Behavioral Neuroscience, and Biomedical Engineering, OHSU
Dr. Heinricher will focus on the impact of pain, particularly chronic pain, on women. She will consider some of the underlying neural mechanisms, including how fundamental work in animals is being translated to humans to try to understand why some individuals with chronic pain experience hypersensitivity to other sensory inputs, such as light or sound. Finally, she will emphasize progress in addressing the disparities in pain diagnosis and treatment between women and men.
Mary M. Heinricher, PhD, studies brain mechanisms that regulate pain. After receiving her PhD in Behavioral Neuroscience at Northwestern University, she went to UCSF for post-doctoral and stayed there as faculty until her recruitment to OHSU in 1995. She is now Professor of Neurological Surgery, Behavioral Neuroscience, and Biomedical Engineering. Her work focuses on the properties of brain neurons that modulate pain by enhancing or suppressing transmission of the “pain signal” from the spinal cord up to the brain. Her current focus is on how pain-modulating circuits interact with other sensory systems, and how they are engaged to enhance or suppress pain, e.g., during stress and in PTSD, and looking at how these factors come together to produce long-lasting, “high-impact” chronic pain after brain injury or other trauma.
2026 Agenda
7:45 a.m. – 8:20 a.m. | Registration
8:20 a.m. – 8:35 a.m. | Welcome & Opening Remarks
8:35 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. | Keynote 1: Yoel Sadovsky, MD
9:30 a.m. – 10:10 a.m. | Presentations from BIRCWH K12 Scholars
10:10 a.m. – 11:15 a.m. | Poster session
11:15 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. | Presentations from BIRCWH & WRHR K12 Scholars
12:00 p.m. – 1:15 p.m. | Lunch, Poster Session, and Networking
1:15 p.m. - 1:50 p.m. | Presentation by Circle of Giving winner - neuroscience: Deena Walker, PhD
1:50 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. | Presentations from RSDP K12 Scholars
2:35 p.m. - 3:15 p.m. | Presentations from K99/R00 Scholars
3:15 p.m. - 4:15 p.m. | Keynote 2: Mary M. Heinricher, PhD
4:15 p.m. – 4:20 p.m. | Closing Remarks
4:20 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. | Networking Reception
-
9:35 a.m. – 9:50 a.m. | Identifying the role of sleep and circadian mechanisms on sex-specific cardiometabolic outcomes in shift working populations
Brooke Shafer, PhD
BIRCWH K12 Scholar, Assistant Professor
OHSU Oregon Institute of Occupational Health SciencesNightshift work is increasingly recognized as a risk factor for cardiovascular morbidities and disease, with health disparities between male and female shift workers being well documented. Sex-differences in cardiometabolic regulation and the internal circadian timing system may be contributing factors to these adverse outcomes. Dr. Shafer will present data that begins to uncover underlying sex-specific mechanisms that contribute to disease risk in shift workers.
9:52 a.m. – 10:07 a.m. | Vulvovaginal Lichen Planus: Standardizing Outcomes, Understanding Mechanisms
Erin Foster, MD, PhD
BIRCWH K12 Scholar, Assistant Professor
OHSU Department of Dermatology, School of MedicineLichen planus is a T-cell mediated autoimmune disease of the skin and mucosal surfaces. When it affects the vulva or vagina, it can result in scarring, ulcers, pain with sex, and interference with daily life. There are no standardized outcomes or druggable targets for this condition, which limits clinical research. Dr. Foster’s BIRCWH project has two aims:
- To create a core outcome set (COS) that can be used consistently in clinical trials to decrease research waste and allow comparisons across trials
- To describe the comorbidity burden and patterns of serum inflammatory markers in three cohorts of patients with vulvovaginal lichen planus
This year’s NW BIRCWH talk will detail the results from a systematic scoping review of the literature on outcomes in vulvovaginal lichen planus, as well as the preliminary data from the retrospective chart review of 182 patients with confirmed vulvovaginal lichen planus in her specialty clinic.
11:20 a.m. – 11:35 a.m. |
Adam Crosland, MD, MPH
Women’s Reproductive Health Research K12 Scholar, Assistant Professor
OHSU Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine11:37 a.m. – 11:52 a.m. | Epigenetic effects of paternal cannabis use on offspring
Rahul D’Mello, MD, PhD
Reproductive Scientist Development Program K12 Scholar, Assistant Professor
OHSU Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of MedicinePaternal exposure to cannabis effects reproductive health, including sperm DNA methylation. We tested the hypothesis that sperm DNA methylation changes caused by delta-9-tetrahydrocannbinol (THC) can be transferred to the offspring using a translational non-human primate model of edible THC exposure. We identified similar DNA methylation changes in the placenta and fetal brain in offspring with preconception paternal THC exposure in the absence of any maternal exposure. These findings demonstrate a need for further understanding of transgenerational risks of environmental exposures.
-
1:15 p.m. – 1:50 p.m. | Regulation of Sex Differences in Alcohol Consumption by Thyroid Hormone in Mice
Deena Walker, PhD
Circle of Giving Winner - Neuroscience, Assistant Professor
Department of Behavioral NeuroscienceThyroid hormone, the main hormone that regulates metabolism, is also implicated in substance and alcohol-use disorder. Dr Walker will present new data implicating a sex-specific role of thyroid hormone signaling specifically in the brain in regulating alcohol drinking in mice.
1:50 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. |
Julia Tasset, PhD
Reproductive Scientist Development Program K12 Scholar, Assistant Professor
Complex family Planning
OHSU Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of MedicineElizabeth Rubin, MD, MCR
Reproductive Scientist Development Program K12 Scholar, Assistant Professor
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine -
2:40 p.m. – 2:55 p.m. | Consequences of artemisinin-based malaria chemoprevention on growth: Evidence from pregnant women and infants
Michelle Roh, MPH, PhD
K99/R00 Scholar
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of MedicineArtemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs), such as dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (DP), are among the most effective tools for malaria treatment and prevention. However, emerging evidence from our group suggests that repeated exposure may adversely impact maternal, fetal, and infant growth. In this talk, we present findings from human and preclinical studies evaluating these effects and the potential biological mechanisms that mediate them.
2:57 p.m. – 3:12 p.m. | Sexual dimorphism of kisspeptin and its receptor in the periaqueductal gray
Karen Tonsfeldt, PhD
K99/R00 Scholar
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of MedicineWomen are disproportionately affected by chronic pain, reporting greater pain from the same conditions as men and experiencing a greater number of chronic pain conditions. Kisspeptin is a sexually dimorphic neuropeptide classically studied for its role in reproduction, and has recently emerged as a promoter of nociception. Here, we characterize the expression and regulation of kisspeptin and its receptor in the periaqueductal gray, a region central to descending pain modulation.
-