June Update

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Many of you have experienced, been feeling and seeing the injustice in your lives and that of others. So much painful herstory and history as women carry so much burden but also currently flashing and re-flashing across media. It is traumatizing but also sensitizing allies to be part of the solution. We are a collective of awesome energy. Together we stand bold with our voices powerful, full of passion for a better now, who are for equality and justice for all--- that we hope will be sustainable for the generations to come. We are change makers!!

Now I want to share with you all of the positive things that the Global Gender Center and our affiliates have been up to this month, including the first virtual 12th InWomen's Conference with attendees from 28 countries, and nearly 250 participants throughout the day. We are so proud of our WomenNC scholars Bridget Pittman-Blackwell's interview on "The Measure of Everyday Life" on dress code issues and race in middle school and Nalia Segule, who was awarded the USAID Donald M. Payne Scholarship (read more below). June was also PRIDE month! RTI's PRIDE ERG hosted virtual events each week, and our +Rising working group presented an internal teaser for a newly developed workplace equity training.

The Supreme Court has found in favor of women’s health to choose!  At least for now. But women’s stories are not always on the frontline. Consider reading my recent LinkedIn article on “Supporting a United America Where Women’s Stories are Just as Important”.

 


RTI Gender-related Project Wins in June


















  • Building Evidence on Nutrition Supports for Low-Income Families with Young Children from North Carolina State University (NCSU)

  • WHO Health Related Sustainable Development Goals Data Availability Research, add-on from World Health Organization (WHO)

  • Nepal Early Grade Reading Transition Support (EGRTS) from USAID Nepal Mission




  • PCORI Engagement Award Project Enhancement from Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI)


Feed the Future LSIL complementary research and capacity building activities from International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) - Kenya


RTI Gender-related Publications in June


















  • Bauer CR, Langer J, Lambert-Brown B, et al. Association of prenatal opiate exposure with youth outcomes assessed from infancy through adolescence. J Perinatol. 2020;40(7):1056-1065. doi:10.1038/s41372-020-0692-3

  • Campbell R, Fehler-Cabral G, Pierce SJ, et al. Changing the Criminal Justice System Response to Sexual Assault: An Empirical Study of a Participatory Action Research Project. Am J Community Psychol. 2020;10.1002/ajcp.12428. doi:10.1002/ajcp.12428

  • Gadgil A, Sauvaget C, Roy N, Muwonge R, Lucas E, Sankaranarayanan R. Setting up a Breast Cancer Awareness Project in Mumbai: Methodology, Experiences and Challenges. J Cancer Educ. 2020;35(3):579-588. doi:10.1007/s13187-019-01500-x

  • Gibbins KJ, Pinar H, Reddy UM, et al. Findings in Stillbirths Associated with Placental Disease. Am J Perinatol. 2020;37(7):708-715. doi:10.1055/s-0039-1688472

  • Krall JR, Adibah N, Babin LM, et al. Estimating exposure to traffic-related PM2.5 for women commuters using vehicle and personal monitoring. Environ Res. 2020;187:109644. doi:10.1016/j.envres.2020.109644

  • Minnis AM, Atujuna M, Browne EN, et al. Preferences for long-acting Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention among South African youth: results of a discrete choice experiment. J Int AIDS Soc. 2020;23(6):e25528. doi:10.1002/jia2.25528

  • Monk C, Webster RS, McNeil RB, et al. Associations of perceived prenatal stress and adverse pregnancy outcomes with perceived stress years after delivery. Arch Womens Ment Health. 2020;23(3):361-369. doi:10.1007/s00737-019-00970-8

  • Musara P, Milford C, Shapley-Quinn MK, et al. Preferences and Acceptability of Vaginal Delivery Forms for HIV Prevention Among Women, Male Partners and Key Informants in South Africa and Zimbabwe: Qualitative Findings. AIDS Behav. 2020;10.1007/s10461-020-02949-4.




  • Napierala S, Bair EF, Marcus N, et al. Male partner testing and sexual behaviour following provision of multiple HIV self-tests to Kenyan women at higher risk of HIV infection in a cluster randomized trial. J Int AIDS Soc. 2020;23 Suppl 2:e25515. doi:10.1002/jia2.25515

  • Orta OR, Hatch EE, Regan AK, et al. A prospective study of influenza vaccination and time to pregnancy. Vaccine. 2020;38(27):4246-4251. doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2020.04.054

  • Schaaf M, Boydell V, Van Belle S, Brinkerhoff DW, George A. Accountability for SRHR in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sex Reprod Health Matters. 2020;1-0.

  • Strom KJ, Hendrix JA, Parish WJ, Melton PA, Feeney H. Estimating Crime Laboratory Efficiency in the Testing of Sexual Assault Kits. J Forensic Sci. 2020;10.1111/1556-4029.14490. doi:10.1111/1556-4029.14490

  • Travers CP, Carlo WA, McDonald SA, et al. Racial/Ethnic Disparities Among Extremely Preterm Infants in the United States From 2002 to 2016. JAMA Netw Open. 2020;3(6):e206757. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.6757

  • van der Straten A, Ryan JH, Reddy K, et al. Influences on willingness to use vaginal or oral HIV PrEP during pregnancy and breastfeeding in Africa: the multisite MAMMA study. J Int AIDS Soc. 2020;23(6):e25536. doi:10.1002/jia2.25536

  • Washio Y, Collins BN, Hunt-Johnson A, et al. Individual breastfeeding support with contingent incentives for low-income mothers in the USA: the 'BOOST (Breastfeeding Onset & Onward with Support Tools)' randomised controlled trial protocol. BMJ Open. 2020;10(6):e034510. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2019-03451

  • Wesselink AK, Bresnick KA, Hatch EE, et al. Male Use of Pain Medication and FecundabilityAm J Epidemiol. 2020;kwaa096.

  • Yee LM, Silver RM, Haas DM, et al. Quality of periconceptional dietary intake and maternal and neonatal outcomes. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2020;223(1):121.e1-121.e8. doi:10.1016/j.ajog.2020.01.042

























We update our website regularly with all RTI Gender-related publications underresources. Please let us know if we missed any of yours. 





June Events & Special Happenings Recap




This month, WomenNC scholar Bridget Pittman-Blackwell was invited to discuss her research on the impact of school dress code policies on African American young women on a recent episode of  “The Measure of Everyday Life”.

Link to the full episode: https://measureradio.libsyn.com/student-dress-codes-and-inadvertent-effects?tdest_id=1011257

"As we re-open some of our public spaces following closures due to COVID-19, now is a time to re-evaluate how we organize such spaces. In recent decades, some public schools have enacted dress codes with the goal of offering a uniform learning environment. In practice, however, some of these efforts might have unintended consequences. What do we know about the effects of what children wear? How can we balance societal interests against individual needs? On this episode, we talk with psychology researchers Bridget Pittman-Blackwell of North Carolina Central University and Erin Dobbins of RTI International on their collaboration with nonprofit organization WomenNC to explore dress codes and student experiences."














We also celebrate Naila Segule, another of our WomenNC scholars!

As a WomenNC scholar this past year, Naila researched the state of trans-inclusive health care at UNC system universities. She worked under the mentorship of Dr. Kathy Batts from RTI's Global Gender Center. Naila graduated this past May from North Carolina State University with a degree in Biomedical Engineer and Global Health Development. Awarded the USAID Donald M. Payne Scholarship, she has the next seven years of her life mapped out. The scholarship fully funds Naila's next two years at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health where she will pursue a Master's Degree in Environmental Health. It also includes the opportunity and funding to complete two summer internships, one in Washington, D.C. and another with one of the USAID missions around the world. Upon completion of her degree and her internships, Naila will receive a five-year appointment to the USAID Foreign Service.


 



 

 

 

 

 

12th InWomen’s Group VIRTUAL Conference
Each year InWomen’s highlights research that addresses the impact of substance use among women, children, and families, as well as gender differences. This year, leading and emerging researchers in the field met to share the current state of research and programs addressing substance use and misuse and its impact on women, children, transgender individuals, and families worldwide at the 12th InWomen’s Group Conference VIRTUALLY for the first time on June 19, 2020 due to the pandemic.

Almost 250 unique attendees from 28 countries joined the conference throughout the day, which was comprised of 96 speakers and presenters, including 40 virtual poster presentations across 10 different breakout rooms.

 

  • Dr. Quinn Gentry, CEO of Messages of Empowerment joined by Dr. Wendee Wechsberg, InWomen's Chair, opened the conference with powerful presentations themed around unity, equality, and justice.

  • Speakers on the morning panel shared innovative approaches to substance misuse, including mindfulness-based interventions (Dr. Diane Abatemarco, Director of Maternal Addiction Treatment, Education and Research Division at Thomas Jefferson University); youth participatory action research (Dr. Elizabeth Salerno-Valdez, Postdoctoral Pathways Scholar & Lecturer at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst); and I-STOP psychotherapy and assisted exercise programs (Dr. Amy Wachholtz, Associate Professor of Psychology and Program Director of Clinical Health Psychology at the University of Colorado Denver; Dr. Nora Nock, Associate Professor in the Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences at Case Western Reserve University).

  • The second panel offered a magnifying glass on the global impacts of substance use via presentations from research conducted in Mexico (Melanie Nicholls, a doctoral student in the
    Joint Doctoral Program in Interdisciplinary Research on Substance Use at San Diego State University and the University of California, San Diego); Kenya (Bernice Apondi, a gender and human rights and policy advocate); Pakistan (Zeeshan Ayyaz, Amitiel Welfare Society); and Vietnam (Dr. Khuong Quynh Long, Researcher at Hanoi University of Public Health, Vietnam).

  • In lieu of InWomen's usual cultural dancing, attendees engaged in an instructor-led yoga break.

  • The third and final discussion panel of the conference was centered around the unique perspectives and testimonials from both substance use treatment providers and survivors (Darlene Walker, Director of Options for Recovery; Jamie Brown, Childcare Coordinator, Options for Recovery; Hendree Jones, Executive Director, Horizons; and Bobby Izhar & Sandra Peralta, Survivors)

  • A special closing session was led by Dr. Claire Sterk, the 20th President of Emory, and Dr. Wechsberg.


For 12th InWomen's Conference Virtual Materials
CLICK HERE

The next InWomen’s Conference is scheduled for June 2021 in Montreal, Canada.








 

Upcoming Events
















Virtual Lunch n' Learn
Deportation and the Traumatizing of a GenerationThursday, July 23, 2020
12-1 pm EDT
Presented by external affiliate Dr. Rebekah Rollston, Affiliate Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Primary Care Blog, Co-Founder of Doctors For A Healthy US (@OurHealthyUS), and Family Medicine Physician at Cambridge Health Alliance If you would like to receive additional event information as it becomes available please email bhoward@rti.org











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