Season 2

"There are so many age related myths surrounding female sexuality too like, it goes down with age, and once you hit menopause its gone, and old women don't have sex, and old women don't fantasize...I mean every one of these...is a myth and we have data and anecdotal experience to counters them" -Dr. Lori Brotto

In this episode, Dr. Lori Brotto joins us in the first episode of Season 2 to discuss cultivating female sexual health and empowerment. She addresses sex myths, research and historical issues that may influence why many women experience sexual concerns today. Dr. Brotto will go over how one can cultivate sexual desire through interventions, mindfulness and female empowerment.

Links to resources mentioned in this episode:

• Mindfulness and Sex Education for Sexual Interest/Arousal Disorder: Mediators and Moderators of Treatment Outcome
• Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good 
• Tell Me More about Sex in Long-Term Relationships with Dr. Lori Brotto
• Better Sex Through Mindfulness: How Women Can Cultivate Desire
• The orgasm gap: can Netflix’s new sex ed show revolutionize women’s lives?
• We can do hard things: Pleasure is the ultimate frontier
• Exploring the Concept of Perceived Female Sexual Empowerment: Development and Validation of the Sex is Power Scale
• Sexual Education, Gender Ideology, and Youth Sexual Empowerment
• Recovering Empowerment: De-personalizing and Re-politicizing Adolescent Female Sexuality
• Exploring the Effect of Sexual Empowerment on Sexual Decision Making in Female Adolescents

Guest Biography

Dr. Lori Brotto is a professor in the UBC Department of Gynecology, a registered psychologist in Vancouver, and Executive Director of the Women’s Health Research Institute of BC. She received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of British Columbia (UBC). Then, she trained at the University of Washington where she completed her one-year internship in the Department of Psychiatry followed by a two-year Postdoctoral Fellow in Reproductive and Sexual Medicine. Dr. Brotto is a member of the International Academy of Sex Research, the Society for Sex Therapy and Research, the Canadian Sex Research Forum, and the Canadian Psychological Association.

"Women’s hearts are affected by hormonal changes, [such] as those experienced during pregnancy and menopause, which adds an additional risk factor for heart disease in women." -Dr. Najah Adreak

In this episode, we spoke to Dr. Najah Adreak, who brought her expertise to discuss the knowledge gaps in women’s heart health. In this episode, she will go over the risk factor, diagnosis and treatment for women’s cardiovascular concerns. Dr. Adreak will also address the long-standing knowledge gaps in women’s cardiovascular health. She delves into how health research is often solely based on male bodies and how this impacts female patients today.

Links to resources mentioned in this episode:

• Stitching Hearts and Bringing Change
• Incorporating a Women’s Cardiovascular Health Curriculum Into Medical Education
• The Emerging Role of Digital Health Technology in Cardiovascular Care
• Pregnancy and Reproductive Risk Factors for Cardiovascular Disease in Women
• The Lancet women and cardiovascular disease Commission: reducing the global burden by 2030
• Women's cardiovascular health: shifting towards equity and justice

Guest Biography

Dr. Najah Adreak is a clinical researcher with a Master of Science in Surgery at the University of British Columbia (UBC). She has her medical degree from Tripoli University and has trained in the Cardiac Surgery residency program in her country before moving to Canada for further education and training. Dr. Adreak is the Trainee Representative for the Canadian Women Heart’s Health Alliance and an active member of the Training and Education Working Group. She led the western committee for the Wear Red Canada campaign in 2021. 

She is an advocate for cardiovascular health and treatment, especially for underserved women patients. Dr. Adreak is also active in the Canadian Cardiovascular Society, and she has managed many clinical trials within her role as a clinical research assistant in the cardiac surgery department at St. Paul’s Hospital, where she took great pride in improving patients care through research and innovation. She has a strong academic and medical background and outstanding leadership experience. Her long-term goal is to be an academic cardiac surgeon and advocate for women's health and access to quality health care.

"Most ovarian cancers are high-grade serious. Currently, there aren't any effective screening methods. They commonly are diagnosed on an advanced stage, so most patients will die within 5 years of their diagnoses." -Nicole Keay and Stephanie Lam

In this episode, we are joined by Nicole Keay and Stephanie Lam from The Gynecologic Cancer Initiative. Nicole and Stephanie co-host the Gynecologic Oncology Sharing Hub (GOSH) podcast. They joined us to discuss all things gynecological cancer from what it is, to treatments, and how to support patients or survivors. You will also hear about new initiatives based in B.C. that the Gynecological Cancer Initiative and the GOSH Podcast are working.

Links to resources mentioned in this episode:

• Gynecological Cancer Initiative 
• GOSH Podcast
• Yale Medicine: Gynecological Cancer 
• Basic Information About Gynecological Cancers 
• John Hopkins Medicine: Gynecologic Cancers

Guest Biography

Nicole Keay and Stephanie Lam co-host the Gynecologic Oncology Sharing Hub (GOSH) podcast part of The Gynecologic Cancer Initiative (GCI). It is a podcast dedicated to creating an open space for real and evidence-based discussions on gynecologic cancers

Nicole is an experienced communications professional who has worked in healthcare, non-profit, and telecommunications. She is also a cervical cancer survivor and now uses her experiences to help guide, support, and be a voice for women who have been diagnosed with gynecological cancers. Her journey inspired her to start the podcast. 

Stephanie works as a research coordinator at CGI and previously worked at B.C. Cancer and B.C. Provincial Health Authorities. She builds relationships with gynecological patient partners with aims to share the stories of patients and survivors and hear from researchers and clinicians who are working to improve lives.

"For many people, their right to be in Canada is directly connected to maintaining their employment or student status. If this is interrupted for example, via pregnancy, they risk not only losing their job, but also their home in Canada, their place and community in Canada" -Dr. Lindsay Larios

In this episode, we are joined by  Dr. Lindsay Larios to discuss reproductive care in Canada when you have a precarious immigration status. Dr. Larios addresses our questions related to how abortion and reproductive care rights work in a healthcare system that often discriminates against marginalized groups. 

Links to resources mentioned in this episode:

• Precarious reproductive citizenship: gaps in employment protections for pregnant precarious status migrants in Canada 
• Migrant justice as reproductive justice: birthright citizenship and the politics of immigration detention for pregnant women in Canada
• Pregnant and Precarious: Canadian Immigration through the Lens of Reproductive Justice 
• Reflections on Canadian abortion care in a post-Roe world
• Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Adolescents’ Sexual and Reproductive Health in Low- and Middle-Income Countries 
• How the Texas Heartbeat Bill Will Affect Low-Income Women of Color Across the US: A Commentary 
• Listening to Women: Understanding and Challenging Systems of Power to Achieve Reproductive Justice in South Carolina
• Quality of Life Improves with Access to Choose: Easing Abortion Restrictions Benefits Both Mother and Child, Especially for Families of Color 

Guest Biography

Dr. Lindsay Larios is an assistant professor at the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Social Work. She holds a PhD from the Department of Political Science at Concordia University and a Master of Social Work from McGill University. She is also a research affiliate with the Centre for Canadian Policy Alternatives and the Centre for Human Rights Research.. 

Her research focuses on questions related to citizenship, justice, and human rights by applying a reproductive justice framework to the Canadian immigration context. Dr. Larios is committed to pursuing a community-engaged research program that illuminates the gendered and racialized dimensions of our political knowledge.

"Safety is a major concern that queer and trans folks continue to experience and many of the systems we do have in place in canada that are in place to support all young people, those systems are often not constructed for (or trained appropriately to meet) the needs of 2SLGTBQ+ youth, especially indigenous and racialized youth, and trans and non-binary youth." -Alex Abramovich

In this episode, Dr. Alex Abramovich will be highlighting the barriers that 2SLGBTQ+ youth face when accessing housing and health services. He will discuss how the issue of safety comes into place and how important it is for 2SLGBTQ+ youth to feel like they can be their full authentic selves when choosing different programs.

Links to resources mentioned in this episode:

• Alcohol and cannabis use during the COVID-19 pandemic among transgender, gender-diverse, and cisgender adults in Canada
• Examining COVID-19 vaccine uptake and attitudes among 2SLGBTQ+ youth experiencing homelessness 
• Barriers to and facilitators of accessing HIV services for street-involved youth in Canada and Kenya

Guest Biography

Dr. Alex Abramovich is an Independent Scientist with the Institute of Mental Health Policy Research at The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. He is an Assistant Professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. Dr. Abramovich is a Canada Research Chair in 2-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (2SLGBTQ+) youth homelessness and mental health. He has been addressing 2SLGBTQ+ youth homelessness for almost 15 years. He is an internationally recognized leader in the area of 2SLGBTQ+ health and homelessness. The overarching aim of his program of research is to investigate the health and social inequities experienced by 2SLGBTQ+ individuals. In this work, Dr. Abramovich focuses on improving the health and service needs of 2SLGBTQ+ youth and young adults. 

"...premenopausal women were actively banned from participating in clinical drug trials in the United States, and it wasn't until years later around the late 1990s that females were introduced back into clinical health trials in both the States and in Canada. So within those years, we lost decades of research in females, which leads to a lack of understanding women's health and sex differences in general." -Amanda Namchuk and Tallinn Splinter

In this episode, Amanda Namchuk and Tallinn Splinter will join us to discuss the exclusion of women from health research and how that has impacted us in the past, present and foreseeable future. They discuss how a lack of research on women and their bodies has led to a gap in research on sex and gender. Amanda and Tallinn will also go over how to better address this gap both on an individual and systemic level.

Links to resources mentioned in this episode:

• Are we Moving the Dial? Sex-and Gender-based Analysis
• Exclusion of Women From Clinical Research: Myth or Reality?
• History of Women’s Participation in Clinical Research
• Not Enough Studies are Looking at Sex Differences
• Harnessing the Power of Sex Differences
• Women's Involvement in Clinical Trials
• Why Women Have be Excluded from Medical Studies About Their Own Bodies

Guest Biography

Amanda Namchuk is a third year PhD student in the Institute of Medical Science at the University of Toronto. She is studying chronic stress and the cognitive symptoms of depression. Tallinn Splinter recently completed her B.Sc. in Biology at the University of British Columbia and is interested in studying the sex differences in brain health, genetics, and women’s health. Both Amanda and Tallinn were part of the Sex-and-Gender-Based Analysis research team for the Women’s Health Research Cluster, where they co-authored a paper evaluating the integration of sex- and gender-based analysis in projects. 

"Researchers have marked quite particular changes that occur in the brain and that would include reductions in brain structure and brain volume in different regions and it also looks like these reductions that are seen in before to after the pregnancy they go back to normal afterwards and then it looks like there are also some changes during the post-partum period but the specifics are a bit hard to say yet because it is fairly new.” -Ann-Marie de Lange

In this week’s episode of Women’s Health Interrupted, we are joined by Ann-Marie de Lange, to discuss pregnancy and brain health, also referred to as “mommy brain.” De Lange will delve into how pregnancy may have long-lasting impacts on the brain and what processes go on in the brain when you give birth. She will also address what women can do to improve their brain health and address many of these issues when getting pregnant.

Links to resources mentioned in this episode:

• A history of previous childbirths is linked to women's white matter brain age in midlife and older age 
• Women with a history of previous childbirths show less evident white matter brain ageing
• The maternal brain: Region-specific patterns of brain aging are traceable decades after childbirth
• Women's brain aging: Effects of sex-hormone exposure, pregnancies, and genetic risk for Alzheimer's disease
• Pregnancy leads to long-lasting changes in human brain structure 
• Less can be more: Fine tuning the maternal brain
• Do Pregnancy-Induced Brain Changes Reverse? The Brain of a Mother Six Years after Parturition
• The birthing brain: A lacuna in neuroscience

Guest Biography

Dr. Ann-Marie de Lange, at the University of Oxford, leads the research group Femilab at Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne. In this research group she focuses on using big datasets (e.g the UK Biobank) and machine learning to study brain aging in large-scale population cohorts, with a particular interest in women's brain health. She also works closely with Klaus Ebmeier (Neurobiology of Ageing) and Lars Westlye(multimodal imaging group at NORMENT), using neuroimaging and genetics to study how female-specific factors relate to women’s brain health in midlife and older age, as well as maternal mental health and brain plasticity during pregnancy and postpartum.