On March 20th, about thirty ARCS Pittsburgh members were treated to a Behind the Science Tour of the Magee-Womens Research Institute. Since 1992, researchers there have been doing groundbreaking work to cure ovarian cancer, end HIV and AIDS, reduce maternal and infant deaths to zero, combat infertility, and develop new treatments for a wide variety of diseases.
Janice Devine, vice president of development at Magee-Women’s Institute and Foundation, welcomed us and spoke about the history of our nation’s largest research institution dedicated to women’s health and reproductive biology. Its partners include Merck, the American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society, and Stanford, Penn State, Johns Hopkins, and Harvard Universities. The researchers collaborate with investigators in twenty countries around the world. They have 380 world-class faculty and staff running 319 active studies, which address 292 different disease states and conditions. Their research is patient-centric and covers patients from ages nine months to ninety years. There are more than 162,000 clinical trial participants. The institute’s goal is to solve real-world medical problems and improve lives. They also focus on educating and mentoring PhDs and MDs by connecting junior investigators with senior faculty members at the University of Pittsburgh.
Janice stressed that now is the time to focus on women’s health, which is still underfunded in the United States. Less than 2% of research funding goes to women’s health studies. She indicated that one in eight women will get breast cancer in their lifetime. Another major health problem for women is endometriosis, which usually takes up to eleven years to diagnose after visits to eight different doctors.
In 2019 HIV/AIDS was still an epidemic affecting 39 million people worldwide, including 1.1 million in the United States. The researchers have found that using a vaginal ring for birth control also helps prevent HIV while costing less than $1 apiece. The result has been a 30% decrease in the spread of HIV in the countries, mainly in Africa, where the ring is used.
Dr. Kyle Orwig, a professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at the School of Medicine, is particularly interested in helping people have families, even those who have infertility due to cancer or a childhood illness. “Sometimes we talk about ‘how many people in the world are really impacted by infertility.’ For me, the only person that matters is the one that walks in the door today and desperately wants to have a biological child.” He started a fertility preservation program to freeze ovarian tissues for girls and testicular tissues for boys. He is working on ways to repair genetic causes of infertility. “Chemotherapy and radiation treatments cause infertility in about 30% of cancer patients. Adults have the option of freezing their eggs or sperm in advance of the therapy,” he said.
Dr. Katrina Knight, assistant professor in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh, gave an excellent presentation about her work focusing on developing new mesh products for use in pelvic organ prolapse repair. She showed us her design, which is softer and less inflammatory than the meshes currently in use. Pelvic organ prolapse occurs in 50% of women over age 50 and is usually due to maternal birth injuries that happen when a muscle rips or detaches during delivery. Dr. Knight uses computer modeling to simulate a vaginal birth, then studies how to regenerate part of the damaged muscle.
This field trip was made possible through two years of cooperative efforts by our Program Chairs Anoo Verges and Carol Goldburg and by Sarah Shorthouse at the Magee-Women’s Research Institute. It is just one of the many perks of membership in ARCS Pittsburgh.
