Today (4 March) marks 6 years since the Aberdeen Centre for Women's Health Research (ACWHR) was launched and the anniversary will be marked by an event which will hear from world-class keynote speakers including Dr Woo Yin Ling and Dr Heather Morgan as well as talks from ACWHR Director Prof Abdel-Fattah and ACWHR member Dr Mairead Black.
The programme will also include the first memorial lecture for the late Dr Sohinee Bhattacharya, a highly esteemed figure in obstetric epidemiology who sadly passed away last year. This year Professor Wendy Graham will deliver the lecture.
Launched by Her Excellency Dr Sheikha Aisha Bint Faleh Al Thani in March 2018, the Aberdeen Centre for Women’s Health Research central mission is to achieve excellence in research across the spectrum of women’s health, and to enhance the University's position as a global leader in this area.
Led by renowned clinical academic, Professor Mohamed Abdel-Fattah, the Centre has made significant contributions to the improvement of women’s health in areas prioritised by women themselves such as pelvic floor dysfunction, heavy menstrual bleeding, endometriosis and fertility. Notable accomplishments include ground-breaking research on HPV vaccines and their role in preventing cervical cancer. ACWHR also hosts the Aberdeen Maternity and Neonatal Databank, started by the Centre’s founder Professor Sir Dugald Baird in 1951. The unique Databank stores information on some two hundred thousand pregnancies and deliveries in Aberdeen and has been used to produce hundreds of impactful women’s health publications.
Over the past three decades, academics in Aberdeen have developed a unique portfolio of world-class clinical research on safe, effective, and personalised health care for women spanning conception, childbirth, and gynaecological health.
The Centre has attracted around £30 million in grant funding and generated over 800 peer-reviewed publications. Many of these have been published in high-quality medical journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, and British Medical Journal, have been highly cited, and have had a profound impact on clinical practice and policy.
Professor Abdel-Fattah, Director of the ACWHR said: “Since its inception The Aberdeen Centre for Women’s Health Research has been a frontrunner in the field of Women’s health.
“Our members have made a range of pivotal advances in the efficacy and safety of common treatments and transformed the landscape of women’s health through their clinical and research leadership of successful national and international collaborations.
“We celebrate the anniversary today as part of wider International Women’s Day events as we look forward to continuing with our mission to improve women’s health across the world.”
ENDS