Welcome to the University of Colorado School of Medicine on the Anschutz Medical Campus. A Top Ten Medical School, our departments, centers and institutes work with the University of Colorado Hospital, Children's Hospital Colorado Barbara Davis Center.

Healthy Women

Women historically have been the primary healthcare providers and health decision-makers for their families, and the primary caregivers for ill or disabled family members. When women are healthy, they benefit as do their families, communities, and societies.

Women make up 51% of the U.S. population, 59% of the over-65 population, and 71% of Americans older than 85. Yet we know far too little about how gender influences health, disease, and aging. That is because medical research frequently has excluded women-even though we know diseases often present differently in women than men, and women's responses to diseases and their treatments can differ from men's.

The Center for Women's Health Research has taken the lead in focusing vital research on Cardiovascular Disease and Diabetes because:

• Cardiovascular disease (heart disease, stroke, peripheral arterial disease) is the No. 1 killer of women in the United States.

• Diabetes is the 5th leading cause of death in the nation. It has no cure, and its consequences for the heart are more severe in women than men.

These diseases urgently need new medical research and knowledge to combat their deadly effects in women. Other research areas critical to women's health will be added as the Center grows.