Dr. Laura Riley has been named Weill Cornell Medicine’s inaugural executive director for women’s health, a new role that complements her position as chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. The role will enable her to unify, coordinate, and drive new paradigms for women’s health care across medical specialties.
Riley will leverage multidisciplinary and cross-institutional collaborations to spark new lines of scientific inquiry into women’s health. She will also work to elucidate women’s biological and physiological differences in the medical student and physician assistant curriculum, as women have historically been underrepresented in medical research and education.
Recent research has challenged the one-size-fits-all approach to medical treatment and research. Over the past decade, medicine has increasingly recognized that pregnancy is a window to future health. Women who experience high blood pressure complications during pregnancy or gestational diabetes face increased risk of chronic hypertension, lipid disorders, cardiac issues, and type two diabetes as they age. Early intervention and follow-up assessment in the years after delivery—even one to two years postpartum—can optimize health for the future.
Beyond reproductive health, women’s medical needs extend throughout their lifespans. Women experience differences in heart disease presentation, are more likely to suffer from autoimmune diseases, and experience different physiologic changes across their lives. Young female athletes also experience different sports injuries compared to male athletes. Yet women comprise a population with unique healthcare needs that have historically received minimal research investment.
Riley’s vision for integrating women’s health at Weill Cornell addresses three key areas: clinical care, education, and research. For clinical care, she is exploring models that improve access to specialists and define which patients truly need subspecialist care. These prevention teams could include nurses providing education and administering validated screening, nurse practitioners for initial evaluation, and specialists when needed. The approach would also address the critical need for mental health care integration.
In education, Riley aims to strengthen the curriculum so that medical students and physician assistants understand that women’s biology and physiology may differ across specialties. For research, she envisions tremendous opportunity for clinical and translational research investigating women’s health. The upcoming relocation to 575 Lexington Avenue will co-locate mental health, obstetrics and gynecological and pelvic health services, internal medicine, primary care, and a premier breast health radiology suite—facilitating the integrated, multidisciplinary approach she envisions.
This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: https://research.weill.cornell.edu/about-us/news-updates/dr-laura-riley-unify-womens-health-care-across-weill-cornell-new-role