Women's Health Specialty, Other Issues on Agenda of 'Reframing' Conference

SEVERAL HUNDRED health care providers, medical school faculty, philosophers, and other scholars are expected to convene in Chicago, Ill, this week (October 15 through 17) to debate whether a medical specialty in women's health should be created. The conference, "Reframing Women's Health: Multidisciplinary Research and Practice," is sponsored by the University of Illinois at Chicago's Center for Research on Women and Gender. Its purpose is to explore strategies for enhancing research and clinical practice in women's health. Much of the first day of the meeting will be taken up by discussions on the need for a specialty in women's health and what kind of curricula would be necessary for establishing such a specialty. "This is the first national meeting that focuses on the creation of a women's health specialty," says Alice Dan, PhD, conference chair and director of the Center for Research on Women and Gender. On the second day,