WOMEN IN SLEEP AND RHYTHM RESEARCH (WiSRR)
An informal meeting of a group of scientists at the Association of Professional Sleep Societies (APSS) congress in 1992 in Phoenix, Arizona was organized by Mary Carskadon and her colleagues to discuss issues of women in sleep research. Over the last four years, the number of people interested in this forum has grown and an e-mail discussion group was started by Kimberly Cote. Recently, Amy Wolfson and Pamela Thacher have been instrumental in working to get the group formally recognized by the APSS.
The main intention of the WiSRR group is to provide communication and mentorship between women scientists and students studying any aspects of sleep from basic science to clinical issues as they apply to both men and women.
In keeping with the group's mandate, at the June 1997 APSS meeting, Sharon Keenan gave a brief dedication in memory of Helen Bearpark, a respected colleague. Encouraging, and interesting, personal vignettes of their research careers were given b y Drs. Tarja Porkka-Heiskanen, Irene Tobler, Flavia Giannotti and Diane Boivin. We would like to continue our group discussions at future meetings and via e-mail.
To get your name included in the mailing list, please contact Kimberly Cote
An additional focus of the group is to encourage scientific research pertaining to issues in women's health in sleep and biological rhythms; to promote the practice of including women as research subjects, as per Irene.
The next informal informal meetings of WiSRR in 1998 will be in New Orleans, USA (June, 18-23) at the 12th meeting of APSS and in Madrid, Spain (September, 9-12) at the 14th meeting of the European Sleep Research Society (ESRS). Possible discussion topics include:
- Items for the Web Page.
Career Issues:
- Mentorship programs for female students.
- Exchange and collaborative programs for research projects.
Research Issues:
- The curse of the menstrual cycle, how does it relate to sleep and research?
- Are awakenings during pregnancy adaptive?
- Hormones and heat - from ovulation to menopause.
- Why do you need to consider that women's sleep may be different to men's anyway?
- Why do older women complain more about disturbed sleep than men do?
For any questions or comments about WiSRR and the forthcoming meetings, please contact Helen Driver