7th Annual UIC Women’s Health Research Day
Translating Women’s Health Research into Policy and Practice
April 16, 2025
8:30 AM - 1:00 PM
Location
Student Center West Thompson Rooms ABC 2nd Floor
Address
828 W. Wolcott Ave, Chicago, IL 60622
Calendar
Download iCal FileThe UIC Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH) Program, UIC Center for Research on Women and Gender, and UIC Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in partnership with UIC Maternal Health Research Center are pleased to announce the: 7th Annual UIC Women’s Health Research Day.
Date posted
Mar 7, 2025
Date updated
Apr 9, 2025
Speakers
Translating Research into Practice: Developing a Maternal Health Research Center of Excellence | Rachel Caskey, MD, MPP | Earl M. Bane Professor and Head Department of Medicine, University of Illinois College of Medicine
From Menopause Research to Menopause Policy at the State, Federal, and Global Level | Pauline Maki, PhD | Professor of Psychiatry, Psychology and OB/GYN, Senior Director of Research, Center for Research on Women & Gender Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, University of Illinois College of Medicine
Schedule of Events Heading link
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Schedule of Events
8:30 – 8:50 Networking and Breakfast
8:50 – 9:00 Welcome Note by Dr. Pauline Maki
9:00 – 9:45 Keynote Speaker Dr. Rachel Caskey with 10 minutes Q & A
Introduction by BIRCWH Scholar Dr. Tristesse Burton9:45 – 10:45 Break; Poster Presentations
10:45 – 11:05 Oral Abstract Winners Presentations with 5 minutes Q & A
Introduction by BIRCWH Scholar Dr. Victoria Lee11:05 – 11:50 Keynote Speaker Dr. Pauline Maki with 10 minutes Q & A
Introduction by BIRCWH Scholar Dr. Kelsey Gabel11:50 – 12:40 Panel discussion with 10 minutes Q & A
Moderated by BIRCWH Scholar Dr. Hunter Holt12:40 Announcement of Poster Winners
by BIRCWH Scholar Dr. Rebecca CampbellClosing Remarks by Dr. Irina Buhimschi
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Keynote Speakers
Dr. Rachel Caskey, MD, MPP
Earl M. Bane Professor and Head
Department of Medicine
University of Illinois ChicagoDr. Caskey is a national leader in the field of maternal child health. She combines her clinical interest in women’s health with her public health interest in population health to develop a research platform focused on health care delivery through scalable behavior change interventions. She is a health services researcher focused on novel system-level changes to health care settings to improve outcomes for women and children; with an emphasis on improving access to care for postpartum women and reducing maternal morbidity and mortality. She is Principal Investigator on several federally funded grants.
Dr. Caskey has an appointment at UIC’s school of public health in the Division of Maternal Child Health where she has taught core courses on health outcomes. She is a member of the UIC Cancer Center where she collaborates on efforts to reduce the incidence of cervical cancer. Dr. Caskey has considerable experience working with the State of Illinois, City of Chicago, and the state Medicaid office. She is often asked to provide content expertise on state Medicaid healthcare policy and pharmacy coverage policy decisions. She partners with the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) and Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) on several large research and public health programing efforts. Finally, she has been invited to sit on several city- and state-wide task forces targeting health disparities and prevention activities.
Education and mentorship remain a core pillar of her career. She co-leads the NIH-funded Precision Lifestyle Medicine and Translation Research (PREMIER) T32 postdoctoral training program. She was a residency program director for over seven years and mentors junior faculty and trainees and of all levels. She has received several awards for her teaching and mentorship.
She received her MD from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, PA and completed a combined internal medicine and pediatrics residency program at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI. After residency, Dr. Caskey completed a research fellowship at the University of Chicago, and a master’s in public policy (healthcare policy track) at the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago. She has been on faculty at UIC for over 15 years and has held several leadership roles at UIC. In February 2024 she was appointed Head of the Department of Medicine.
Dr. Pauline Maki, PhD
Dr. Pauline Maki, PhD
Professor of Psychiatry, Psychology and Obstetrics & Gynecology
Director, Center for Health, Awareness, and Research on Menopause (CHARM)
Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs
University of Illinois ChicagoDr. Pauline M. Maki is an internationally-renowned leader in menopause research and education. For the past 25 years, she has led a program of NIH-funded research on menopause and its effects on mental and cognitive health. She has over 200 scientific publications on this topic. Her research addresses important issues in women’s health such as how hormonal changes and menopause symptoms affect women’s cognition, brain function, and mood at midlife and the effect of menopausal hormone therapy on cognition and mood.
Dr. Maki is Past President of the Menopause Society, Secretary and Trustee of the International Menopause Society, and past Chair of the Society for Women’s Health Research Interdisciplinary Network on Alzheimer’s Disease. She has received numerous awards, including the 2018 Woman in Science Award from the American Medical Women’s Association, the 2024 The Vivian Pinn Award for Excellence in Women’s Health Research, and several awards from the National Institutes of Health for her research and service.
In partnership with Halle Berry and the International Menopause Society, she works to advance federal and state legislation to advance menopause awareness, training, and care in the United States and globally. Her work has received accolades from the Office of the Vice President of the United States and the Office of the First Lady of the United States.
Panelists
Dr. Pavitra Kotini-Shah, MD
Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine
Director of Research Strategy and Innovation for the Dept of Emergency Medicine
University of Illinois ChicagoDr. Kotini-Shah is a tenured Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and the Director of Research Strategy and Innovation for the Dept of EM. She is fellowship trained in point-of-care ultrasound and resuscitation research. She completed a NIH BIRWCH K award in 2023 that supported her work on understanding sex/gender disparities in cardiac arrest. She is currently working on translational research on sex hormone and inflammation differences in cardiac arrest patients. Simultaneously, she is conducting community-oriented research addressing gender disparities in Bystander CPR. Her work in cardiac arrest/resuscitation and interest in women’s health allowed Dr. Kotini-Shah to serve on the Maternal Morbidity Review Committee for the Illinois Department of Public Health. She is also an advocate for gender parity in the workplace and has published on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on academic faculty. Her advocacy efforts for women are exemplified by publication of Op-Ed on sex as a biological variable, interviews on the radio and podcasts on sex differences in acute cardiovascular conditions, and appearances on news media educating the public on bystander CPR. Her scientific work has resulted in presentations at the American Public Health Association, American Heart Association, American College of Emergency Physicians, and Society for Academic Emergency Medicine. On a national level she is on the Science Subcommittee for the American Heart Association (AHA) and is a Collaborative Member of Women’s Health Access Matters (WHAM). She has travelled international for resuscitation research and presented at international conferences in Rwanda and India on sex and gender disparities in acute cardiovascular conditions.
Dr. Gokhale
Dr. Priyanka Gokhale, MD
Assistant Professor
Medical Student Physician House Advisor, Division of Academic Specialists
University of Illinois ChicagoDr. Gokhale is an Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Illinois Chicago. She serves as the Lead for Colposcopy at the Center for Women’s and has special clinical interests in the management of cervical dysplasia but continues to practice full spectrum obstetrics and gynecology. Dr. Gokhale’s other academic focus is within medical education; she is a Physician House Advisor within the College of Medicine and the Assistant Director for Undergraduate Medical Education in Obstetrics and Gynecology. She has received numerous teaching awards including the Council on Resident Education in Obstetrics and Gynecology National Faculty Award. Her research includes work on barriers to care within cervical cancer screening and prevention. Dr. Gokhale received her undergraduate degree from the University of Maryland and attended medical school at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. She completed her residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Northwestern University, where she served as an Administrative Chief Resident.
Dr. Stacie Geller, PhD
Dr. Stacie Geller, PhD
G William Arends Professor Obstetrics & Gynecology Center for Research on Women and Gender
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
University of Illinois ChicagoDr. Stacie Geller is the G William Arends Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Director of the Center for Research on Women and Gender in the College of Medicine at the University of Illinois Chicago. She is a local, national, and international leader in addressing maternal health for over 25 years. She has extensive experience working in maternal health focused on factors associated with maternal morbidity and mortality and has developed an innovative model for early identification of high-risk pregnant women. Using this model, Dr. Geller has done extensive work in IL to reduce maternal morbidity and mortality. Her work has been adopted by the CDC and ACOG and recommended as a best practice for in-depth hospital review across the U.S. Dr. Geller has worked with IDPH to develop the Maternal Mortality and Severe Maternal Morbidity review processes and committees. She is a founding member of both of the state’s MMRCs and co-chairs the SMM review committee. Dr. Geller is involved in a number of policy and program initiatives to improve maternal health care. Some of this work is focused on housing insecurity during pregnancy and postpartum. Currently, Dr. Geller is the Co-PI of a PCORI grant to address racial disparities in prenatal and postpartum care for Black women in Chicago. She is currently engaged in working with Emergency Departments in Illinois to improve their care of pregnant and postpartum patients.
Abigail Suleman, MPH
Abigail Suleman, MPH
Blood Buds Co-Founder & Mentor
Bleedership United Founder
University of Illinois ChicagoAbigail Suleman (she/her) is a daughter of Nigerian immigrants, multimedia artist, birthworker, researcher, and menstrual advocate. She enjoys spending time with her “babies,” going on walks, and drinking tea. At the University of Illinois Chicago, Abby earned her Master of Public Health in Maternal and Child Health Epidemiology (2023), BS in Chemistry (2021), and BA in French (2021). She founded and directed “Blood Buds,” a student-led initiative designed to make sustainable menstruation accessible to all people. Currently, she manages a research study on a Black maternal health perinatal program and coordinates a period research team for sustainable periods on campus. Ultimately, she aspires to advance health and racial justice and bring people together in impactful, storytelling spaces.