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Apr 29 2026

Women’s Health Research Day

April 29, 2026

8:30 AM - 12:30 PM

Location

SCW Thompson Rooms ABC

Address

828 S Wolcott, Chicago, IL 60612

Cost

Free

Calendar

Download iCal File
The event speakers and info with the times

Women’s Health Research Day is a yearly event hosted by the Center for Research on Women and Gender, the Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health program, and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. This year’s theme is Maternal Health Innovations.

Call for Abstracts for Oral and Poster Presentations

UIC students, fellows, staff, and faculty are invited to submit an abstract on their basic, clinical or translational research in women’s health or sex- or gender medicine. Abstracts presented at other international, national, and local meetings within the past year are welcome.

The top two abstracts will be selected for brief (5-minute) oral presentations and will be awarded prizes. The other abstracts will participate in judged poster presentations. The abstracts selected for oral presentations and the top two scoring posters will be awarded prizes.

Submit abstracts here: https://uic.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_d69MjtOJdVohtPM

Register Here

Contact

Lily Alexandroff
708.845.6760
lalex26@uic.edu

Date posted

Mar 16, 2026

Date updated

Mar 16, 2026

Speakers

George Saade, MD | Pregnancy as a Window to Future Health | Old Dominion University

Dr. George Saade is a Professor and Chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Associate Dean for Women’s Health, and EVMS Foundation Chair for Women’s Health at Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences Eastern Virginia Medical School at Old Dominion University. He is an elected member of the Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society and Alpha Omega Alpha. He is past president of the Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine and past Chair of its Health Policy and Advocacy Committee. He is the editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Perinatology. Dr. Saade has served on a number of national and international advisory committees and scientific review panels, including NIH, CDC, March of Dimes, ACOG, Wellbeing/Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, and the Health Research Council of New Zealand. He has been principal investigator several NIH grants, including NIH-funded clinical research networks. Dr. Saade is certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology. His clinical area of expertise revolves around adverse pregnancy outcomes and long-term health for mother and offspring. He has authored more than 500 peer-reviewed publications and co-edited several textbooks including the Maternal Medicine and the Critical Care Obstetrics textbooks. He has been voted as Best Doctor and selected to Super Doctors several years in a row.

Beatriz Peñalver Bernabé, PhD | Inside the Invisible World of Maternal Mental Health | UIC

Dr. Beatriz Peñalver Bernabé is an Assistant Professor in the Richard and Loan Hill Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Illinois Chicago and a core member of the Center for Bioinformatics and Quantitative Biology. Her research aims to build a systems-level understanding of reproductive health, enabling precision diagnostics and personalized interventions for women. She earned her PhD in Chemical and Biological Engineering from Northwestern University and completed postdoctoral training in human microbiome research at the University of Chicago and UC San Diego as an Arnold O. Beckman Postdoctoral Fellow. She has received several awards including K12 BIRCWH Fellowship and the Young Investigator Award from the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation. In her lab, Dr. Peñalver Bernabé develops computational, network-based approaches to unravel the complex biological processes behind fertility, pregnancy, and ovarian aging. A current central focus is the microbiota–gut–brain axis in perinatal depression, a common yet underdiagnosed condition. Through her NIH-funded clinical study, MoMent, her team integrates longitudinal multi-omics, neuroimaging, and electronic health record data to uncover how maternal neuroendocrine function, the gut microbiome, and mood are interconnected. Alongside this, her lab explores the metabolic mechanisms driving ovarian aging. Through this work, Dr. Peñalver Bernabé aims to transform women’s health by translating complex biological insights into actionable, personalized interventions.

Sirimon Reutrakul, MD, CDCES | Digital and Therapeutic Innovations for Type 1 Diabetes in Pregnancy | UIC

Dr. Reutrakul is a Professor of Medicine, the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, University of Illinois Chicago. She has clinical expertise in diabetes (type 1, type 2, diabetes in pregnancy and other forms of diabetes) and related complications. Her research interest focuses on the link between sleep and circadian regulation and cardiometabolic outcomes. Her work, funded by the National Institutes of Health, has led to changes in clinical guideline recommendations by the American Diabetes Association, resulting in changes in clinical care of people with diabetes. Dr. Reutrakul is actively involved in diabetes care in Thailand. She is currently the first Vice President of the Thai Association of Diabetes Educators and an Adjunct Professor at the Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital, Thailand. She initiated a certification for diabetes educators for the first time in Thailand in 2017 and is involved in work to influence national policies in diabetes.