Johns Hopkins School of Nursing Receives Funding to Further Women’s Health Research

Supported by federal funding from two new grants, the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing (JHSON) continues to be a leader in advancing women’s health research and prevention of violence against women. Nancy Glass, PhD, MPH, RN, FAAN, professor and Associate Dean for Research at JHSON, will lead both grant projects for the school. 

The “Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health” (BIRCWH) grant, a collaboration between the SON and the Johns Hopkins Schools of Medicine and Public Health, will recruit and develop young investigators to become leaders in researching women’s health and sex differences, especially in the context of diverse populations. Glass, the proposal’s lead author, says the program is a significant step in translating research into tangible improvements for the health of women. 

“More researchers using innovative methods and collaborating with colleagues across multiple disciplines are essential in promoting women’s health and imperative to enhancing the way we approach and implement care. We need to delve further into the sociocultural factors, the global inequities, and the overall biological differences that make certain aspects of women’s care unique.”

With support from mentors, scholars chosen for the grant will research diseases specific to women, differences in disease expression among genders, and social determinants of women’s health including violence, trauma, poverty, and more. 

Placing even greater emphasis on violence against women, the second grant, “IPV Provider Network: Engaging the Health Care Provider Response to Interpersonal Violence Against Women,” will examine interventions within primary care and reproductive health settings in three U.S. states aimed at improving outcomes for racially and ethnically diverse survivors of intimate partner violence. 

Through the intervention, researchers from Johns Hopkins, the University of Pittsburgh, and Futures Without Violence will partner with the Arizona Alliance for Community Health Centers, the West Virginia Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and Massachusetts’s Partners Health/Brigham and Women’s Hospital to train providers in implementing universal education, trauma informed care, safety planning, and appropriate referrals for IPV and sexual assault survivors. While effectiveness will be evaluated in comparison to standard practice, the intervention will also use the MyPlan app safety decision aid, developed by Dr. Glass and colleagues, to create safety plans and offer resources.

Glass is internationally recognized for her work in clinical care and intervention in the areas of violence prevention and health disparities. She also serves as associate director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Global Health – a new program that bridges the international work of the university’s schools of nursing, medicine and public health. The two grants, totaling nearly $5 million, were awarded by the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Research on Women’s Health and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Women’s Health.

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