Interviewee: Alana Fort, MPH, College of Pittsburgh | Editors: Romina Garcia de leon, Janielle Richards (Weblog Co-coordinators)
Printed: April 18th, 2025
Are you able to inform me about your analysis?
I’m a analysis assistant on the Heart for Ladies’s Biobehavioral Well being on the College of Pittsburgh Medical Heart, engaged on two NIH-funded research: the MsBrain2 Research (PIs: Dr. Rebecca Thurston, Dr. Pauline Maki) and the RISE (Relationship Influences on Sleep, Emotion, and Coronary heart Well being) Research (PI: Dr. Karen Jakubowski). The MsBrain2 Research explores how menopausal signs relate to midlife girls’s mind well being and cognitive functioning longitudinally, whereas the RISE Research focuses on the connection between sleep, cardiovascular well being, and relationships in girls at midlife. Moreover, the RISE Research examines how trauma, adversity, and psychosocial components comparable to intimate companion violence have an effect on girls’s well being.
At midlife and through the menopause transition, girls are extra inclined to poor sleep and insomnia signs, each of which can be associated to bothersome vasomotor signs like sizzling flashes and evening sweats, in addition to negatively have an effect on psychological well being (for extra on this– Alana suggests checking our this podcast with Dr. Rebecca Thurston). We gather blood samples to evaluate inflammatory biomarkers, conduct 7T MRI mind scans and carotid artery ultrasounds, measure bodily well being metrics, administer questionnaires, conduct interviews and cognitive assessments, and assess individuals’ sleep with quite a lot of gadgets.
What’s the present standing of your analysis?
The RISE Research is nearing the completion of participant enrollment, which is thrilling as a result of it means we’ll quickly start analyzing the info. For my grasp thesis, my major goal is to research whether or not self-compassion is linked to raised sleep outcomes among the many MsBrain Research cohort. Ladies accomplished questionnaires throughout their visits, and we measured sleep high quality and insomnia signs each subjectively and objectively (utilizing wrist-Actigraphy) to evaluate the connection.
What drove you to review girls’s well being?
Ladies’s well being, notably throughout midlife and menopause, has traditionally been underrepresented in analysis. There’s nonetheless quite a bit we don’t know, which has vital implications for girls’s remedy, in addition to their psychological and bodily well being as they age. I discover it actually thrilling to contribute to analysis that may truly be translated into helpful outcomes for girls—not simply throughout their reproductive years however all through their lives.
I’m notably fascinated about exploring features of optimistic psychological well-being. For instance, I hope that by specializing in enhancing girls’s self-compassion throughout midlife, we might doubtlessly enhance sleep outcomes for them. The sphere of girls’s well being, particularly menopause analysis, tends to focus closely on detrimental signs, which may really feel overwhelming and discouraging. I bear in mind speaking to my very own mother about my analysis, and he or she mentioned it sounded “miserable.” I wish to be a part of analysis that doesn’t simply spotlight the challenges girls face but additionally supplies hope and sensible methods for enhancing their high quality of life. In spite of everything, if I had been to speak to my physician in 30 years and listen to nothing however detrimental issues about getting old, I’d discover that actually disheartening.
The place do you see your analysis heading?
I accepted a brand new position as a medical coordinator on the Oregon Alzheimer’s Illness Analysis Heart at Oregon Well being and Science College (OHSU) in Portland! I’m excited to contribute to cognitive getting old analysis. I’m going to be engaged on some pilot imaging research associated to cognitive functioning within the middle’s longitudinal cohorts. I plan to proceed my work in girls’s well being analysis as nicely.
My curiosity has additionally expanded to exploring the optimistic features of well-being and their position in defending bodily and psychological well being. Most analysis tends to give attention to detrimental experiences and their detrimental results, however I consider it’s equally essential to research what components or interventions—comparable to remedy or resilience-building strategies—will help buffer towards these detrimental impacts. I’m excited to proceed researching ways in which optimistic experiences and interventions can assist girls’s well being as they age, notably in midlife.
