Brittany Barreto, Ph.D., is a podcaster, an entrepreneur, and a molecular and human geneticist. (In other words, she’s really smart.) Read her column here each month to learn about what’s happening in the world of technology and innovation in women’s health. Painful periods can be more than an inconvenience. Menstrual pain, officially called dysmenorrhea, affects up to 9 out 10 people who menstruate at some point in their lives. But, for 5% to 10% of women, cramps can be so Healthy

Think back to 1993. What do you remember? Seeing the movie Jurassic Park on the big screen? Listening to Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” on the radio? Surfing the World Wide Web for the first time? 1993 was also the year the government began requiring that the National Institutes of Health include women in medical research. Yep, you heard that right. It was just 32 years ago that the NIH Revitalization Act passed mandating that women be included Healthy

+ Infographic text Almost 20,000 women in the U.S. get urothelial bladder cancer (UBC) each year.  The Four Layers Layers of the Bladder Wall Urothelial/Transitional epithelium Lamina propria Detrusor muscle Fatty connective tissues Most types of UBC start in the cells that line the innermost layer of the bladder, called the urothelium.  Muscle invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) Has spread to muscle layer of the bladder wall Is more advanced Is more likely to spread Is harder to treat  Non-muscle invasive Healthy

+ Infographic text Urothelial bladder cancer is the most common type of bladder cancer.  About 19,000 women in the United States are diagnosed with bladder cancer every year.  Bladder cancer is more common in men — but women have lower survival rates .  Black women with bladder cancer have worse outcomes than white women.  There are several ways to diagnose bladder cancer Cystoscopy — a cystoscope (a thin, lighted tube) is inserted into your urethra to give your healthcare provider (HCP) a Healthy

+ Video transcript Video/Image Voiceover/Audio [HealthyWomen logo] Type 2 Inflammation and Nasal Polyps Then Why Nasal Polyps May Come Back After Treatment Woman blowing her nose while a thought bubble filled with question marks floats over her head GRAPHIC: Nasal polyps SUPER: 4 out of 10 get polyps again after surgery Narrator: Nasal polyps are a type of growth inside the nose or sinuses. They’re not cancerous, but they can interfere with sleep and cause a stuffy nose, loss of Healthy

English + Infographic text El cáncer de vejiga urotelial es el tipo más común de cáncer de vejiga.  Aproximadamente 19,000 mujeres en Estados Unidos reciben diagnósticos de cáncer de vejiga cada año.  El cáncer de vejiga es más común en los hombres, pero las mujeres tienen menores tasas de supervivencia.  Las mujeres de raza negra con cáncer de vejiga tienen peores desenlaces clínicos que las mujeres de raza blanca.  Hay varios métodos para diagnosticar el cáncer de vejiga   Cistoscopía: Healthy

Let’s face it, the holiday season always delivers a contradictory blend of magic, wonder and overwhelm, and a pair of slipper socks may not take the edge off your laundry list of to-dos. Finding time to relax and recalibrate before the decorations are packed away may seem impossible, but the better you treat yourself, the more you can inhale happiness and exhale burnout. We’ve created a list (and checked it twice) of 12 ways to practice self-care during the holiday Healthy

There was a taste of fall in the air. The musty scent of leaves hung heavy as they crunched beneath our feet. October days were getting shorter. And the holidays were looming like shadows in the late afternoon sun. I regarded the soon-to-be festive season with an unsettling feeling of impending doom. This was an autumn like no other. My husband Joe and I were headed to my outpatient physical therapy appointment. My legs were stick thin and I walked Healthy

When Claudia Perez-Favela, a mother of two in California, experienced irregular periods and heavy bleeding, she was concerned that these could be symptoms of cancer. She knew there was a history of reproductive cancer in her family, but she couldn’t see the doctor right away because she was uninsured. After she got health insurance, she tried to set up an appointment with a gynecologist, but there were a limited number of providers in her town, and she had to wait Healthy

English Cuando Claudia Perez-Favela, madre de dos hijos en California, experimentó períodos menstruales irregulares y sangrado abundante, le preocupó que pudiesen ser síntomas de cáncer. Sabía que tenía antecedentes familiares de cáncer ginecológico, pero no podía tener una consulta con un doctor inmediatamente porque no tenía seguro. Después de obtener un seguro médico, trató de programar una consulta con un ginecólogo, pero había un número limitado de proveedores médicos en su pueblo y tuvo que esperar varios meses para tener Healthy