Twenty-five years ago, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center's Women's Health Symposium Committee, a group of women brought together by a desire to have women's health recognized as a specialized field, created the Women's Health Symposium. It was one of the first programs in the city dedicated to addressing the specific health and medical concerns of women.
Dr. Norman Relkin (above) and Dr. Lisa Ravdin (below) speaking on Alzheimer's research and memory loss at the Women's Health Symposium, Oct. 11.
Every year since 1982 the Women's Health Symposium has offered women and men a forum in which they can learn about the latest research on women's health and at the same time raise money to support women's health programs at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell.
This year's conference, held Oct. 11 and titled "Ah, Yes, I Remember It Well: Memory, Maturity and Making Sense of It All," addressed a disease that frightens so many older women and men: Alzheimer's.
Expert speakers included Dr. Lisa Ravdin, director of the Cornell Neuropsychology Service and assistant professor of neuropsychology in clinical neurology, who presented information on ways to combat memory loss, and Dr. Norman Relkin, director of the Memory Disorders Program and associate professor of clinical neurology, who discussed his groundbreaking research on the relationship between Alzheimer's and the immune system's natural antibodies.
Over the years the Women's Health Symposium has covered topics ranging from nutrition and exercise to heart disease and cancer, drawing speakers such as the feminist leader Gloria Steinem and Jane Brody, Personal Health columnist for The New York Times. The funds raised by the Symposium currently support the Iris Cantor Women's Health Center at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell. Co-chairs for this highly successful event were Joan Weill and Myra Mahon.
Photography by Eileen Miller.