By Catherine Wolf, KWMU
St. Louis – Scientists, health care providers and advocacy groups are meeting in St. Louis this week to determine priorities for women's health research.
The National Institutes of Health is hosting the forum at Washington University.
It is the first of several regional conferences.
Jennifer Elam directs the Center for Women's Infectious Disease Research at Washington University. She said attendees will look at seven topics including eating disorders, chronic pain syndromes, and bladder and pelvic floor disorders.
"There's also a new focus on looking at every single disease and looking at how the disease affects women and men differently," Elam said. Not only that, but how they respond to treatment differently."
Elam says participants will develop specific priorities within those areas, as well as consider new topics that arise from public comment periods.