New online course explains gender
differences in human health

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH), in collaboration with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Office of Women’s Health has launched a new online course, “The Science of Sex and Gender in Human Health.” The course offers participants a basic scientific understanding of the major physiological differences between the sexes, their influence on illness and health outcomes, and their implications for policy, medical research and health care.

The course was designed for researchers, clinicians, members of academia, and students in health professional schools. It is free to the public, is self-paced and consists of six lessons that cover definitions of sex and gender; the development and implementation of applicable Federal guidelines and regulations; cell physiology; developmental biology; pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics; and clinical applications of genomics. The course is accessible at http://sexandgendercourse.od.nih.gov/index.aspx.