Women's Health Research Day | April 9, 2025
The 19th Annual VCU Women’s Health Research Day was on April 9, 2025 at the Larrick Student Center on the MCV Campus and had a total of 140 participants and 48 posters. This year's symposium was titled Nutrition and Women’s Health.
This symposium featured the following presentations:
Sex-Difference in the Association Between Diet and Dyslipidemia Among Black Americans
Ana Diallo, PhD, MPH, RN | Assistant Professor | Family and Community Health Nursing | School of Nursing | BIRCWH Scholar
Mediterranean Diet and Health Outcomes in Men and Women
Chrisa Arcan, PhD, MPH, MBA, RD | Associate Professor | Epidemiology | School of Public Health
Obesity and Disordered Eating in Adolescents: Opportunities for an Integrated Approach
Melanie Bean, PhD | Associate Professor | Pediatrics| School of Medicine
Risk, Reward, and Decision-Making in Bulimia Nervosa: Mechanistic Insights and Implications
Kelsey Hagan, PhD, LP | Assistant Professor | Psychiatry | School of Medicine | BIRCWH Scholar
Award Winners
Basic Science Research: was awarded to Sara Herz for her work titled Evaluation Of The Role Of Sphingosine-1-Phosphate Receptor-1 In Aromatase Inhibitor Induced and to Hannah Fulenwider for her work titled Painful-Like Behavior In Mice effect of chronic adolescent stress and morphine dependence on T cell profile in male and female rats.
Clinical & Translational Research: was awarded to Madison Marcus for her work titled Characterization of neurofunctional and inflammatory markers in the context of early life stress among a clinical sample of people maintained on buprenorphine for opioid use disorder.
Community & Public Health Research: was awarded to Hannah Stadtler for her work titled Efficacy of a 12-week nutrition intervention to increase general health knowledge and diet-related outcomes amongst men and women living with HIV.
Building Bridges in Interdisciplinary Women’s Health Research Award: was awarded to Marianne Lund and Lashawnda Singleton for their work titled Project Belong: Improving Reentry Outcomes for Juvenile Justice-Involved Youth through Supported Employment and Trauma-Based Care.
Innovation and Women's Health Research Award: was awarded to Tania Gupta for her work titled Hey Chat– What Should I do? Analysis of LLM Responses to Angiographic Emergencies and to Aubree Musicant for her work titled Generating a TCS Knockout Mutant in Sneathia using Homologous Recombination.
The Elizabeth Fries Early Career Investigator Award: was awarded to Hannah Stadtler for her work titled Efficacy of a 12-week nutrition intervention to increase general health knowledge and diet-related outcomes amongst men and women living with HIV.
Women's Health Research Day | April 17, 2024
The 2024 Women’s Health Research Day highlighted cutting edge research in the areas of health, technology, and innovation.
Dr. Barbara Boyan began conference proceedings with her presentation Women’s Health, Technology, and Innovation - An Overview. Claire Gill followed Dr. Boyan with her talk Innovations in Osteoporosis Screening and Treatment. Dr. Linda Burkett then presented Looking Beyond the Bladder: Innovation in Female Incontinence. Following Dr. Burkett, Dr. Jessie Oldham shared her presentation Sex Differences in Musculoskeletal Injury Risk Following Concussion: Innovative Assessments and Future Directions. The formal speaking portion of the conference ended with a panel discussion and audience question and answer portion.
Award Winners
Basic Science Research: Hannah Fulenwider for her work titled Chronic Adolescent Stress Attenuates Morphine-induced Antinociception and Central Amygdala Activity in Adult Male and Female Rats
Clinical & Translational Research: Kelsey Hagan for her work titled Deciphering the Neurocomputational Underpinnings of Risk-Taking in Women with Bulimia Nervosa: Preliminary Results and Future Directions
Community & Public Health Research: Tara Horan for her work titled Maternal Depression Screening in a Community Health Center
Building Bridges in Interdisciplinary Women’s Health Research Award: Lisa Brown her work titled Perinatal Cannabis Use in a U.S. Sample of Postpartum Women: Characteristics, Risks, and Prevention
The Elizabeth Fries Young Investigator Award was given to Hannah Fulenwider.
Women's Health Research Day | April 26, 2023
Award Winners
Basic Science Research: Valerie Ericsson for her work titled SPAG17 deficiency promotes accelerated female reproductive aging and fibrosis leading to reduced fertility and parturition defects.
Clinical & Translational Research: Michelle Eglovitch for her work titled Patient reported insight to guide development and implementation of sleep interventions in the opioid use disorder treatment setting.
Community & Public Health Research: Carol Olsen for her work titled Heartbeats: A Hospital-Based / Community-Linked Interdisciplinary Program to Reduce Maternal Deaths Through Enhanced Collaborative Services.
Building Bridges in Interdisciplinary Women’s Health Research Award: Anna Weisse for her work titled Demographic Correlates of the Perceptions of Prenatal Cannabis Use Survey.
The Elizabeth Fries Young Investigator Award was given to Valerie Ericsson.
Congratulations to all the winners!
Women’s Health Research Day is a celebration and promotion of research activities in Women's Health at VCU. The annual program presented by the Institute for Women’s Health, now in its 20th year, includes a plenary symposium, poster awards and reception highlighting women’s health research by VCU faculty and students.
All VCU faculty, residents, students, staff, and community members interested in women’s health research are encouraged to attend. Authors with original research are invited to submit poster abstracts in any research area that focuses on women’s health or sex/gender differences. Awards will be given for best posters in Basic Science, Clinical and Translational Research, Community and Public Health Research, and Innovation and Women's Health Research. The best overall poster by an Early Career Investigator will be selected to win the Elizabeth Fries Early Career Investigator Award. In addition, a Building Bridges in Interdisciplinary Women’s Health Research award will be given to the poster that best demonstrates interdisciplinary collaboration in women’s health research.