Leann Birch, PhD (Core Leader): Department of Human Development and Family Studies, College of Health and Human Development
Dr. Birch is a psychologist and Distinguished Professor of Human Development and Family Studies. Her current NIH-funded project focuses on issues related to women's health, especially on the development of eating behavior and problems of energy balance during childhood and adolescence. “Early Dieting in Girls” is a prospective study of the individual and family factors involved in the emergence of dieting, obesity, weight concerns, and disordered eating among girls ages 5 to 15 years.

Robert Gabbay, MD, PhD Department of Medicine, College of Medicine
Dr. Gabbay is an endocrinologist, Co-Director of The Penn State Diabetes Center and Associate Professor of Medicine at The Penn State College of Medicine.  His primary research interest is improving diabetes care for those who are not attaining appropriate goals.   His current funded research from the NIH is the DYNAMIC Study (Diabetes Nurse Case Management and Motivational Interviewing for Change) -  a randomized controlled trial evaluating the efficacy of nurse case managers trained in motivational interviewing, basic diabetes self-management education, and clinical guidelines to improve diabetes co-morbidities.  This study includes approximately 1000 patients (half of which will be women) in nine primary care clinics including three underserved Hispanic clinical centers.  BIRCWH scholars will have an opportunity to evaluate gender-based differences in outcomes.  Dr. Gabbay also leads the effort of the Penn State Diabetes Center Registry—a web-based, secure registry that contains clinical information on over 10,000 patients with diabetes in Central Pennsylvania.  This clinical tool also serves as a potent recruitment tool for clinical trials.  Collaborations with Reading Hospital with a primarily Hispanic population provide an opportunity for evaluation of health disparities in the Hispanic population.  Opportunities exist to evaluate gender differences in care within the large diabetes population in Central Pennsylvania and also to collaborate with numerous other investigators within the institution on diabetes-related projects.

Marianne Hillemeier, PhD Department of Health Policy and Administration, College of Medicine
Dr. Hillemeier is a sociologist, and Associate Professor of Health Policy and Administration and Demography with joint appointments in the Departments of Public Health Sciences and Obstetrics and Gynecology.  Her research focuses on disparities in health.  She served as co-PI of the CePAWHS project that focuses on women's preconceptional and interconceptional health in relation to overall health status and pregnancy outcomes and provides a unique population-based data set of 2,600 women of reproductive age in Central Pennsylvania.  She is interested in disparities in women's access to and use of reproductive health-related services along the rural-urban continuum and the influence of community-level and individual-level variables on indicators of women's reproductive health.

Barbara J. Rolls, PhD Director, Laboratory for the Study of Human Ingestive Behavior
Helen A. Guthrie Chair in Nutrition; Professor of Nutritional Sciences; Professor of Biobehavioral Health; Faculty member in the Intercollege Graduate Program in Physiology; Faculty member in the Integrative Biosciences Graduate Program; Professor of Neural and Behavioral Sciences, College of Medicine. Dr. Rolls principal research interest is dietary influences on energy intake, hunger, and satiety and weight management. Her research is funded primarily by NIDDK. In her MERIT award she has studied how the macronutrient composition and energy density (kcal/gram) of foods affects satiety. In a year-long clinical trial in obese women, she found that advising them to reduce the energy density of the diet by lowering fat intake and by increasing consumption of fruits and vegetables was associated with significant weight loss, reduced hunger and improved diet quality. The research funded by her other NIDDK grant has shown that large portions of energy-dense foods increase energy intake over periods of up to 11 days. In her studies, she compares responses of women and men to determine whether there are sex differences in eating behavior. These findings suggest nutritionally sound dietary strategies for weight management.

Richard S. Legro, MD (Core Leader): Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, College of Medicine
Dr. Legro is an obstetrician-gynecologist with subspecialist training in reproductive endocrinology and the director of the Meharry-Penn State U54 Reproductive Center, described earlier.  His clinical research focuses primarily on polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), the most common endocrinopathy in women (about 5-10% are affected), which consists of unexplained chronic anovulation and androgen excess.  Most women also have metabolic abnormalities including insulin resistance and dyslipidemia.  He is interested in understanding the pathophysiology of PCOS, the genetic underpinnings, and above all validating clinical interventions to improve outcomes.  His research is looking at the effects of various treatments, including lifestyle and pharmaceutical, that improve insulin sensitivity on the PCOS phenotype, as well as other insulin resistant groups.  These trials range from small pilot studies to large multi-center trials. He is the lead investigator of the recently completed Pregnancy in Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PPCOS) recently completed by the U10 Reproductive Medicine Network, which examined the efficacy of clomiphene citrate and metformin on live birth. Several family studies are now investigating the heritability of abnormalities in sisters and brothers of women with PCOS as well as their children. He also is interested in the reproductive and metabolic changes induced by oral contraception in this group and the treatment of dysmenorrhea.

Elizabeth J. Susman, PhD Department of Biobehavioral Health, College of Health and Human Development
Dr. Susman is the Jean Phillips Shibley Professor of Biobehavioral Health.  Her research program integrates behavioral endocrinology and developmental psychology with an emphasis on sex differences. The research is based on theories that consider sexual dimorphisms and the integration of biological, psychological and contextual aspects of development during biological transitions, specifically, puberty, and life transitions. An important component of the research is considering the dynamic bidirectional influences between developing neurobiological systems and experiences during childhood and behavior problems.  Dr. Susman’s longitudinal studies have focused on changes in adrenal and gonadal hormones and growth during puberty and cognition, emotions and antisocial behavior in boys and girls.  Dr. Susman and colleagues also have conducted a clinical trial on sex hormone replacement therapy and aggression and cognition in delayed puberty adolescents. These studies also consider sex differences in reactivity to stress, corticotropin releasing hormone and cortisol, and circadian rhythms in cortisol and antisocial behavior.  A recent emphasis is endocrine and sympathetic nervous system sex differences in reactivity to stressors and obesity in children and youth.

Carol S. Weisman, PhD Departments of Public Health Sciences, Obstetrics & Gynecology, and Health Policy & Administration, College of Medicine
Dr. Weisman is Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Distinguished Professor of Public Health Sciences, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Health Policy and Administration in the Penn State College of Medicine.   She is Principal Investigator of the Penn State BIRCWH Program.  A sociologist and health services researcher, Dr. Weisman's research focuses on women's health care, especially access to primary and preventive services, organizational models for primary care delivery, and quality of health care for women.  Her major current project, the Central Pennsylvania Women's Health Study (CePAWHS), focuses on understanding the determinants of the health of reproductive-age women, particularly in low-income rural and urban communities, and the relationship between preconceptional health and pregnancy outcomes for the mother and baby. She is also co-directing a project assessing barriers to primary care for rural women and is co-leader of the Community Engagement core for the Penn State CTSI.  Dr. Weisman was Chair (2007) of the Board of Directors of AcademyHealth, and is Associate Editor (Editor-in-Chief, 2003-2006) of the peer-reviewed journal Women's Health Issues.  She was the recipient of the Leader in the Field Award from the Family Health Council of Central Pennsylvania in 2008 and served on the Institute of Medicine Committee on Preventive Services for Women (2010-2011).  Dr. Weisman is the author of over 140 publications, including Women's Health Care: Activist Traditions and Institutional Change (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998).

Nancy I. Williams, ScD Department of Kinesiology, College of Health and Human Development; Intercollege Program in Physiology
The focus of Dr. Williams’ work in the Exercise Endocrinology and Metabolism Laboratory is the study of the modulation of reproductive function via alterations in energy balance.  The overall goal is to increase understanding of the mechanisms whereby the metabolic status of the body is communicated to the centers that control the reproductive axis during conditions of chronic energy deficiency and/or energy surplus.  A secondary goal is to improve our ability to predict an individual’s risk of experiencing alterations in levels of circulating reproductive hormones, primarily circulating estrogens, by assessing the contributions of other factors that influence one’s susceptibility to disturbances in reproductive function, including gynecological maturity, perception of stress, and inherent endocrine robustness.  The clinical applications of this work relate to infertility, bone health, reproductive cancers, and physical performance.  Recently, two randomized clinical trials examining the impact of increased exercise combined with caloric restriction on reproductive function and circulating biomarkers for breast cancer in premenopausal women have been completed.  Scholars would gain an understanding of the physiological mechanisms underlying the relationship between energy balance and reproductive function and training in methodological techniques and experimental strategies to assess reproductive function and quantify and manipulate energy balance.

Sheri Berenbaum, PhD (Core Leader):  Departments of Psychology and Pediatrics, College of Liberal Arts
Dr. Berenbaum is a psychologist whose research addresses the development of normal variation in human social behavior and cognition, with a focus on neuroendocrine and genetic influences.  She is particularly interested in the development of gender-related behavior, including the development of gender identity (a person’s sense of self as male or female), sex-related personality and social behaviors (e.g., toy play, activity interests, emotional response, aggression), sex-related cognitive abilities (e.g., spatial ability, verbal memory), and sexual orientation. Her current studies are focused on understanding more about the nature and mechanisms (neural and psychological) of hormonal influences on behavior, and the ways in which these effects are modified by the social environment. This work is also relevant to current controversies in pediatric medicine regarding management of children with CAH and other disorders of sexual differentiation.

Susan McHale, PhD Department of Human Development and Family Studies, College of Health and Human Development
Dr. McHale’s research focuses on children's and adolescents' family relationships, roles and everyday activities and the extent to which these are gendered.  Highlighted in her work are sibling relationship dynamics and the family experiences that foster similarities and differences in the interests, attributes and developmental trajectories of sisters and brothers.  Her early research on children’s and adolescents’ family experiences pointed to the significance of gender dynamics in everyday family life and served as a basis for her interest in the family as a context for gender socialization.  The extent to which sisters versus brothers assume different family roles, experience different kinds of relationships with their parents, and have access to different kinds of resources and opportunities are important ways in which families differ.  She studies the ways in which such family dynamics are linked to  girls’ and boys’ well-being and development.  A body of research has uncovered sex differences in a range of adjustment problems in childhood and adolescence, with problems such as depression and weight concerns more common in girls and risky behaviors and conduct problems more common in boys.  Findings such as these suggest that the study of gender socialization in the family may be central to an understanding of child and adolescent mental health and adjustment.

Lawrence I. Sinoway, MD Department of Medicine (Cardiology), College of Medicine
Dr. Sinoway is a cardiologist with a principal interest in neural control of circulation.  His specific area of interest is the neurocirculatory regulation during exercise in normal subjects and in those with pathophysiologic conditions.  He is currently principal investigator of two NIH funded studies, one of which is investigating muscle reflex control of the circulationand the second is to study interstitial norepinephrine and exercise.  Dr. Sinoway is also program director and a project leader of a Program Project Grant (PPG) to study autonomic neurovascular regulation.  Dr. Sinoway’s ongoing studies would provide a PSU-BIRCWH scholar with an exciting opportunity to investigate gender differences in muscle reflex response to exercise and vascular control, or to investigate the effects of factors specific to women, such as variation in hormones across the menstrual cycle, on vascular control, muscle reflex response or neurocirculatory regulation.  In addition, as one of Penn State’s leading cardiologists and program director of the Penn State GCRC, Dr. Sinoway will mentor scholars interested in more global issues related to cardiovascular health including the study of sex differences in age of onset, symptom pattern at onset and risk factors for cardiovascular disease or gender differences in quality of care received as treatment for cardiovascular disease.

Joshua Muscat, PhD (Core Leader): Department of Public Health Sciences, College of Medicine
Dr. Muscat is an epidemiologist and member of the Penn State Cancer Institute.  His principal research interest is in cancer etiology, and he has spent much of his career focusing on women’s cancer including breast and ovarian cancer. His research experience encompasses almost two decades of clinical studies on environmental and dietary factors related to the risk and progression of malignancies. His current funded research relevant to this core are ongoing studies of genetic factors that differentially affect the risk of lung cancer in women. He has identified specific genes that predispose women to increased susceptibility to tobacco smoke carcinogens. His ongoing work is examining whether biomarkers of tobacco smoke are greater in women than in men and whether this has adverse health consequences. Dr. Muscat is also actively involved in the area of environmental and lifestyle factors in women’s cancer. His active research is exploring the effects of cosmetic grade talcum powders and their relationship with ovarian cancer, and he has published in the area of environmental organochlorine compounds, their biological concentrations in blood and breast tissue, and their effects on breast cancer risk and progression.

Neil Christensen, PhD Department of Pathology, College of Medicine
Dr. Christensen is an immunologist whose research focuses on the papillomavirus. The overall research theme in Dr.Christensen’s laboratory is studies on immunity and pathogenesis of papillomavirus infections. Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection causes hyperproliferative lesions in cutaneous and mucosal epithelium. A proportion of these HPV infections have been shown to progress to malignancies of the uterine cervix. The major subprojects include: 1) characterization of viral capsid neutralizing epitopes; 2) vaccine development; 3) analysis of T-cell recognition of viral epitopes on virus-infected papilloma cells; 4) papillomavirus animal model systems; 5) model systems to test for anti-viral compounds, and 6) methods to propagate human papillomaviruses. Current goals are to test both protective and prophylactic vaccines using animal models of papillomavirus infections. Current studies include identification of host receptor molecules involved in papillomavirus uptake and internalization, and the development of a transgenic animal model to study the role of HLA Class I in papillomavirus immunity.

Douglas Leslie, PhD Department of Public Health Sciences, College of Medicine
Dr. Leslie is a Professor of Public Health Sciences.

Craig Meyers, PhD Department of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine
Dr. Meyers is a Professor of Microbiology and Immunology.

Andrew Read, PhD www.thereadgroup.net Departments of Biology and Entomology, Eberly College of Science and College of Agricultural Science
Dr. Read is an evolutionary biologist and Director of Penn State's Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics www.cidd.psu.edu.  He has worked on various aspects of the evolution of infectious disease agents for more than twenty years.  Current interests are focused on understanding  the 'natural' selection imposed by medical and public health practices, and finding ways to ameliorate the evolution that drives in disease-causing organisms.  This involves problems in vaccine-driven pathogen evolution, drug resistance and the evolution of insecticide resistant insects that vector diseases.  Most work in his group currently concerns the three players in malaria - the parasites, the mosquitoes and the vertebrate host - and is investigating whether malaria vaccines would lead to the evolution of more virulent parasites, and the effect of contrasting patient treatment regimens on the evolution of drug resistance.  Other work involves the search for evolution-proof insecticides against mosquitoes that transmit malaria, and whether vaccination was responsible for the dramatic increases in virulence in Marek's disease, a viral pathogen on poultry.