The Center for Transdisciplinary Research in Women’s Health (CTR-WH) held its second annual conference, Transforming Women’s Health: Discovery, Delivery, & Development of the Oral-Systemic Connection, on January 26-27, 2013 in Tampa, FL.

National experts and community practitioners gathered together to address oral-systemic approaches to improving women’s health. The enthusiastic group of multidisciplinary professionals included primary care physicians, dentists, dental hygienists, researchers/academics, and health educators.

Discussions ranged from the oral-systemic connection, the mechanisms through which professions can provide collaborative care to women, to future collaborative opportunities for research, policy, and practice in women’s health.

Cutting edge presentations and workshops from leading researchers across the U.S. and Canada focused on:

• HPV related oral conditions
• Autoimmune diseases and oral health
• Affordable Health Care Act and its implications to women’s health and oral health
• Health literacy
• Brief motivational interviewing

Conference speakers included: Bree Weaver, MD; Christine Pierce Campbell, PhD, MPH; Leticia Reyes, DVM, PhD; Aimee Busquet, MS; Frank Catalanotto, DMD; Patrick Cannon, PhD; and, Sandra Vamos, EdD. USF Health speakers included Donna Petersen, ScD; Ellen Daley, PhD; Rita DeBate, PhD; Deborah Cragun, MS; and Laura Merrell, MPH.

The Center for Transdisciplinary Research in Women’s Health, an innovative multidisciplinary academic and community partnership, is committed to bridging the gap between and among professional disciplines to create a new paradigm for women’s health. This new paradigm crosses the divide between current discipline-specific women’s health research, practice, and policies.

The University of South Florida College of Public Health is the academic home for the Center for Transdisciplinary Research in Women’s Health.  Ellen Daley, PhD, and Rita DeBate, PhD serve as co-directors for CTR-WH and Cheryl Vamos, PhD, is the associate director.

(lr) Drs. Ellen Daley, Rita DeBate, and Cheryl Vamos

Drs. Daley, DeBate, and Vamos teach in the Department of Community and Family Health. Dr. Daley is an associate professor and earned a doctorate degree in community and family health from the USF College of Public Health.  Dr. DeBate is an associate professor and directs the college’s doctoral programs.  Dr. Vamos, a research assistant professor, earned a master of public health and doctorate in community and family health from the USF College of Public Health.

Drs. Christine Pierce Campbell, Ellen Daley, Bree Weaver, and Anna Giuliano

(lr,) Drs. Patrick Cannon and Frank Catalanatto

(lr,) Dr. Leticia Reyes, Debroah L. Cragun, Aimee Busquet, and Dr. Ellen Daley