Who Decides? Gender, Medicine, and the Public's Health

Playwright, author, and activist Eve Ensler opens the Radcliffe Institute conference titled "Who Decides? Gender, Medicine, and the Public's Health." In this excerpt, she describes being diagnosed with cancer and reads from the introduction of her book, In the Body of the World: A Memoir of Cancer and Connection (2013). Ensler is a visiting scholar at the Radcliffe Institute. Learn more about the people and programs of the Radcliffe Institute at

Policy and Access to Care: Gender Gaps and Opportunities in the United States This panel discusses the implications of the Affordable Care Act for women's and men's health, including gendered issues of health care access and policy and questions of insurance and coverage. 00:00 Paula Johnson, Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Executive Director, Mary Horrigan Connors Center for Women's Heath and Gender Biology, Brigham and Women's Hospital; Chief, Division of Women's Health, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital 09:10 Ruth Katz, Director, Health, Medicine and Society Program, the Aspen Institute; Former Chief Public Health Counsel (Democratic Staff), Committee on Energy and Commerce, US House of Representatives 28:04 Louise Slaughter (D-NY), United States Representative 49:31 Julie Rovner, Health Policy Correspondent, National Public Radio 57:12 Q&A moderated by Paula Johnson 01:36:49 Closing remarks by Janet Rich-Edwards, Codirector of the Science Program,

Research Priorities: The Impact of Gender on the Scope, Funding, and Analysis of Health Research This panel considers whether gender drives commercial and public research in particular diseases, the politics of health campaigns, the formulation and analysis of clinical trials, and the role of the marketplace and private funding in addressing diseases that affect women and men differently. 00:00 Daniel Carpenter, Director of the Social Sciences Program, Academic Ventures at the Radcliffe Institute; Allie S. Freed Professor of Government in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and Director of the Center for American Political Studies, Harvard University 03:13 Peggy Orenstein, Journalist and Author of "Our Feel-Good War on Breast Cancer," New York Times, April 25, 2013 16:53 C. Noel Bairey Merz, Women's Guild Chair in Women's Health, Director of the Women's Heart Center and the Preventive and Rehabilitative Cardiac Center at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, University of California, Los Angeles;

Defining Health: How Do Health and Disease Get Defined in Societies? This panel examines, largely through a social-science lens, the role of gender in conceptions of health and disease (including physical and mental health) in different societies, in determining who is responsible for health care through both formal and informal roles, and in developing understandings of risk factors and resilience. 00:00 Welcome by Arthur Kleinman, Esther and Sidney Rabb Professor, Department of Anthropology, Harvard University; Professor of Medical Anthropology in Global Health and Social Medicine and Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School; Victor and William Fung Director of the Asia Center, Harvard University 11:17 Jane Ussher, Professor of Women's Health Psychology, Centre for Health Research, School of Medicine, University of Western Sydney 26:37 Catherine Panter-Brick, Professor of Anthropology, Health, and Global Affairs, Department of Anthropology, Yale University 41:38 Nate Greenslit

Each year, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University hosts a conference that explores the role of gender in a significant aspect of the human experience. "Who Decides? Gender, Medicine, and the Public's Health" explored questions of who decides about health-care provision, research funding, and policy making. 00:00 Welcoming Remarks Lizabeth Cohen, Dean, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study; Howard Mumford Jones Professor of American Studies, Department of History, Harvard University 07:43 Overview of the Topic Janet Rich-Edwards, Codirector of the Science Program, Academic Ventures at the Radcliffe Institute; Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard University Learn more about the people and programs of the Radcliffe Institute at