Guest Speaker Bio - Dr. Susan Wood
Dr. Susan Wood is Associate Professor of Health Policy at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services where her work and public advocacy focuses on the use of scientific knowledge in public policy. She is the Director of the Jacobs Institute of Women's Health at GW.
She served as Assistant Commissioner for Women's Health and Director of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Office of Women's Health (OWH) from November 2000 through August 2005. The mission of the OWH is to serve as a champion for women's health, both inside and outside the Agency and provides leadership and science-driven policy direction in support of the regulatory, scientific and public health mission of the FDA. She resigned on principle over the continued delay of approval of emergency contraception over-the-counter by FDA.
Previously, Dr. Wood was the Director for Policy and Program Development at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office on Women's Health, where she led the development of policy for the Office and recommended action for the Assistant Secretary for Health and the Secretary. She also coordinated the activities of the Public Health Service Coordinating Committee on Women's Health, and represented the Office in the areas of international health, reproductive health, legislation, and health care policy.
From 1990 to 1995, Dr. Wood worked on Capitol Hill for the Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues, an organization of Members of Congress dedicated to advancing legislation which promotes legal, economic, and health equity for women--co-chaired by Reps. Patricia Schroeder and Olympia Snowe. She began as AAAS/Biophysical Society Fellow in 1990, when she shifted direction in her career from basic biological research to science and health policy. Initially as Science Advisor and later as Deputy Director to the Caucus, Dr. Wood helped develop and promote the Women's Health Equity Act, and was directly involved with many policy initiatives and legislative proposals which would advance biomedical research, women's health, family planning, and health care reform.
Prior to coming to Capitol Hill, Dr. Wood was a research scientist at the John Hopkins University School of Medicine, in the Department of Neuroscience, where her research focused on cellular mechanisms of sensory transduction. She received her Ph.D. in biology from Boston University Marine Program at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA, where she carried out basic research on the biochemistry of vision. She has published a number of research articles in scientific journals, as well as articles on health policy. Awards that Dr. Wood has received include the Boston University Marine Program Alumni Award, a National Research Service Award from the National Institute of Mental Health, the Biophysical Society Congressional Science Fellowship, a Woman of Achievement Award, the Assistant Secretary for Health's Superior Service Award (1999), the Keystone Award in Women's Health Research (2000), the Secretary's Distinguished Service Award (2003), and the Commissioner's Special Citation (2004).
