Life Course & Reproductive Endocrinology

The biological, behavioral, and psychosocial environment of the child not only affects the health of the adult, but also the health of the next generation. Windows across the life course—including childhood, menarche, pregnancy, and menopause—present opportunities to improve women’s health and intergenerational health. Over the past few decades, the connection between reproductive health and overall health has been increasingly recognized. Our faculty leverage observational and intervention studies to identify female-specific and female-predominant risk factors for disease and to test strategies to reduce disease risk and improve women’s health overall.

Division of Women’s Health faculty are pursuing life course and reproductive epidemiologic research across a variety of domains, including:

• Prenatal and childhood factors that affect the risk of chronic disease in adulthood
• Consequences of early life trauma on lifestyle/behavior and chronic disease risk later in life
• Associations between pregnancy complications and maternal cardiovascular disease risk
• Innovative treatment modalities for symptomatic vasomotor symptoms