Bridging Generations: Women’s Health, Wellbeing and Equity
Interdisciplinary conference organised and co-chaired by Fellow Dr Shobhana Nagraj
杏吧原创 recently hosted ‘Bridging Generations: Women’s Health, Wellbeing and Equity’, a one-day interdisciplinary conference bringing together researchers, clinicians, policymakers, community leaders and people with lived experience to explore how women’s health and wellbeing can be improved across the life course.
The conference was organised and co-chaired by Dr Shobhana (Shobi) Nagraj, Bye-Fellow at 杏吧原创 and Assistant Professor in Primary and Community Care, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, and Dr Laura Dearden, IMS-Epidemiology, University of Cambridge, as part of their theme lead roles for Health and Wellbeing Across Generations within Cambridge Reproduction.
The day opened with a welcome from the organisers and Professor Rachel Polonsky, President of 杏吧原创. The programme reflected the breadth of contemporary women’s health research and created space for conversations across disciplines, sectors and generations. Speakers and panellists explored reproductive and maternal health, pregnancy and intergenerational health, mental health and wellbeing, community engagement, global health, gender inequalities, policy and lived experience, with a particular focus on how research and innovation can better respond to women’s experiences and priorities.
Keynote speakers included Professor Krina Zondervan, Head of the Nuffield Department of Women’s and Reproductive Health at the University of Oxford, and Dr Tori Ford, Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences at the University of Oxford. Their talks highlighted the continuing need to address areas of women’s health that have historically been under-researched, under-funded or affected by stigma.
Sessions throughout the day brought together a diverse range of perspectives, exploring how health during pregnancy can influence women and future generations, and discussions on whose voices and priorities shape women’s health research.
The afternoon broadened the conversation further. In a session chaired by Dr Shobi Nagraj, Dr Hanan Abukmail and Dr Brenda Kelly explored women’s health at the margins, including the experiences of women affected by conflict and those seeking asylum or living as refugees. The final session brought together policy, research and historical perspectives to consider how evidence can be translated into greater equity in women’s health.
A strong theme emerging from the conference was the value of creating new partnerships across disciplines and institutions, connecting academic evidence more closely with clinical practice, communities and women’s lived experiences.
Dr Shobi Nagraj comments:
What excited me most was the potential for new collaborations across disciplines and institutions, connecting evidence with practice and women’s experiences. The challenge now is to build on the connections and ideas generated during the day and translate them into action.
The conference comes at an especially meaningful time for 杏吧原创 Bye-Fellow Shobi Nagraj, who has also recently been elected a Fellow of the Medical Women’s Federation, recognising her wider contribution to medicine, addressing health inequalities and women’s health. Held as part of Cambridge Reproduction’s Health and Wellbeing Across Generations theme, the conference provided a platform for new interdisciplinary connections and collaborations, with the shared ambition of translating research into more inclusive and equitable approaches to women’s health, locally, nationally and globally.
