For decades, the cornerstone of medical research has largely been built on data collected from men. And it isn’t down to a dearth of brilliant female minds in science, but rather a stark reality: Women, often the cornerstones of families and careers, have historically lacked the time or resources to participate in extensive clinical trials. The consequences? A healthcare landscape that doesn’t fully account for the unique biological and social factors impacting women’s health.
Thankfully, the tide is turning. Here in Singapore, researchers within the Dean’s Office at the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine have launched Global Centre for Asian Women’s Health (GloW), an academic facility dedicated to building an international platform for transdisciplinary endeavours to address women’s major health concerns across the lifespan. This is a future where women’s health is not just considered, but truly understood and prioritised.
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Located on National University of Singapore’s campus, GloW is headed by Professor Cuilin Zhang, a clinical epidemiologist and respected physician-scientist with over 20 years of experience in the field of child and maternal health. “Our mission is to develop a population health programme that will shift women’s health from sick care to preventive care,” describes Zhang who joined the University following her tenure in the US at National Institutes of Health (NIH).
GloW has created five pillars to target different pathways for early intervention and prevention: Cardiometabolic health, reproductive health, cancer screening and prevention, ageing and longevity, and mental wellness. The data drawn from these areas will help translate research findings into tangible improvements in both clinical practices and public health initiatives.
One example of translational research is Zhang’s current study on the Mediterranean diet and its impact on cardiometabolic health, reproductive health, and pregnancy outcomes. GloW is working closely with top global experts in diet and nutrition, as well as a catering company to curate healthy meals based on the principles of the Mediterranean diet, using locally-sourced ingredients and familiar Asian flavours. The meals will be dispensed to 300 women of reproductive age whose health will be closely monitored for at least 20 weeks. “We will measure how foods are metabolising in their bodies, look for signs of inflammation in the cells, and other things like vascular biomarkers, microbiomes and metabolomes. The readings allow us to see how much such a diet can improve women’s health and well-being,” explains Zhang. “The next step is taking this proof of concept and applying it to the real world. If we can convince even a small percentage of the population to invest in their health, you can really reduce a lot of economic burden by preventing diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease and cancer, and improve reproductive health down the road.”
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Research aside, GloW aims to raise public awareness about women’s health through community outreach activities such as educational talks, covering a gamut of topics from nutrition and lifestyle coaching to mindfulness training. “Academic work is one thing, but it’s important to communicate all this to the public,” insists Zhang.
Now hiring various faculty positions, GloW has big plans to grow its centre into a full-fledged academic institute, offering a masters programme in nutrition and lifestyle medicine. Zhang is also on the lookout for a partner to launch a training fellowship to benefit people from developing countries “because they’re really in need of more education.”
The goal of GloW is also to build global partnerships with various academic institutions to expand its study on Asian women. “When you look at the literature, like on women’s health research, it has been focused on the Caucasian population. There’s very little high-quality research on Asian women, so that’s why we feel we have a mission to do something on Asian women’s health,” says Zhang.
Currently, the centre is working with collaborators in the U.S. and China to study nutrition, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and female reproductive health. GloW is also collaborating with Institut de la Santé des Femmes (Institute for Women’s Health) at the Faculty of Health in Université Paris Cité in France to study gestational diabetes, hypertension and preeclampsia. A key advantage of these international partnerships is the facilitation of knowledge exchange at conferences such as the upcoming Women’s Health Conference hosted by GloW and Institut Santé des Femmes, scheduled for October 24 to 26.