Keeping the Women we Love Healthy

Q&A with Dr. Highlander A revolution in medicine has occurred over the past seven years involving the bacteria in and on your body, your “microbiome.” Someday soon you will be having fecal bacteria tests in the same way that you now have blood tests!  At the Howell Foundation luncheon on August 5th, Dr. Sarah Highlander from the J. Craig Venter Institute, shared the latest research regarding bacteria and health. Before birth a baby has no bacteria but acquires them at the moment of birth from the mother’s vagina or, in the case of a Caesarian birth, from the mother’s skin. In fact, babies born by Caesarian are deficient in many species of bacteria. Babies also acquire more bacteria from breast feeding. The end result is 100 times more bacterial cells than human cells in an individual. Different bacteria reside in different areas of the body and each individual has a signature profile of bacteria. These bacteria perform specific and important functions in each area of t...

Pictured above Hamilton Loeb (left) and Irving Tragen (right).  It is eternally, tiredly and jokingly stated that women really do not need to be understood...  just loved.  But nothing could be farther than the truth according to Hamilton Loeb and Irving Tragen; especially when it comes to women and their health. So why should women's health be important to men? For the same reason that men's health should be important to women.  For Irving and Hamilton, there is just a symbiotic relationship between men's and women's health.    Both having dealt with the health of the women in their lives at some point, the complexity of the illnesses around them made them start paying attention to women's health issues. "Women's health is about respect; it's about caring enough to try and explain to each other what's happening".  It's about two perspectives; two totally different worlds in which women's health research will be the answer t...

"How many of you have wives; how many of you  have daughters; how many of you have sisters?  And I know you all have mothers...  What do you do to help them stay healthy?"  ~Dr. Doris A. Howell Imagine the difference you can make when you give emerging researchers the financial support they need to begin discovering how to improve women's health.  Imagine how research can positively impact women in under-served communities through research programs specifically designed to address their health concerns; women who otherwise might not have access to the latest information on women's health. Imagine the difference the right information at the right time can make on your own health related decisions. Women's health should not be left to imagination.  Women's health starts with research and ends with education. Thanks to the Friends of Howell and all our generous supporters, the Foundation has provided over 200 research scholarships and contributed ov...

Have you ever wondered… Which hormones make you feel powerful and confident? Which ones help you cope with stress? The role hormones play when you fall in love? How hormones make you happy –or not? The Doris A. Howell Foundation will be holding its FREE Evening Series Event with the presentation "Hormones and Happiness" by Dr. Carole Banka.   Come and find out how our hormones are interconnected and the potential they have for making us happy or totally miserable! Registration is now open at  www.howellfoundation.org .  Registration is required, so make sure you reserve your space early, as seating gets filled up quick! When:   OCTOBER 15, 2015              6:00—7:30 PM              Share Your Happiness!              5:00-6:00pm – Registration and  hors d’oevres (cash bar)               6:00-...

Deepika Suresh  Just a short time after she presented her field of research at the Foundation's lunch last May, Deepika Suresh was invited to present the progress of her work at the UCSD Summer Research Conference last week. . When she applied for the Foundation's scholarship, she mentioned that her priority was to learn all that she needed in order to succeed in medical school and ultimately her profession:  "I started in a research lab my first week of freshman year, eager to learn about what research entailed and how I could make my mark in the scientific world". And we are proud to say she is doing just that!  She reached out to us to tell us a little about the progress of her work. "My research project for this summer involves developing an education intervention on genetic risk assessment in young breast cancer survivors (YBCS).  My objective is to develop content about genetic risk assessment in YBCS for a web-based survivorship care plan that my...

Doctoral researchers  to focus on sleep disorders in pregnancy and breast feeding patterns  San Diego, CA - August, 2015 .   The Doris A. Howell Foundation announced the recipients of the Cheryl A. Wilson Scholarships to CDR Ryan Nations with the project entitled “Sleep disordered breathing and pregnancy: prevalence and outcomes at delivery”, mentored by Dr. Cynthia Connelly; and to Jodi O’Brien with the research project entitled “Examining breastfeeding patterns and nurse factors associated with in-hospital formula supplementation” sponsored by nursing faculty member, Dr. Mary Barger; both scholarship recipients are candidates for a doctoral degree at USD Hahn School of Nursing. CDR Ryan Nations and Dr. Doris Howell “There is an old joke that if you don't remember your anesthesia provider they must have done their job well. While there is a bit of truth and humor in that statement, it is my goal as a nurse anesthetist to disprove that joke. Every in...