Susan F. Wood, PhD

Susan Wood is a Research Professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health.

Contact Professor Wood at:

• Phone: (202) 994-516
• Fax: (202) 994-0011
• Email: eohsfw@gwumc.edu

On Capitol Hill, in the Department of Heath and Human Services, and now at SPHH's Project on Scientific Knowledge and Public Policy, Professor Susan Wood has dedicated her career to applying scientific evidence to health policy decisionmaking. She joins the School from the FDA, where she was Assistant Commissioner for Women's Health and Director of the Office of Women's Health until 2005, when she resigned on principle over the continued delay in approving emergency over–the–counter contraception.

A long–time champion of women's health, Dr. Wood previously served as Director for Policy and Program Development at the U.S Department of Health and Human Services' Office on Women's Health. Prior to joining DHHS, Dr. Wood was Science Advisor and then Deputy Director of the Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues. In that capacity, she was directly involved with policy initiatives and legislative proposals designed to advance biomedical research, women's health, family planning and health care reform. Professor Wood has been honored with the FDA Commissioner's Special Citation (2204), the DHHS Secretary's Distinguished Service Award (2003) and the Keystone Award in Women's Health Research (2000), among other awards.

She is also Adjunct Associate Professor in American University's School of Public Affairs, where she teaches women's health policy.

Education

Bachelor of Science (Biology/Psychology), Southwestern at Memphis, 1980
Doctor of Philosophy (Biology), Boston University, 1989
Research Fellowship training (Neuroscience), Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 1990

Research

Dr. Wood's expertise is women's health and the intersection of research, data and policymaking. In 2004, she received the Atlantic Fellowship in Public Policy to conduct research on women's health policy at the agency that regulates therapeutics in Great Britain. Prior to shifting focus to health policy, Dr. Wood engaged in basic biological research on the biochemistry of sensory transduction. Click here for a list of selected, recent publications.

Community Service

As a board member of Women's Policy, Inc., the National Women's Health Network, and WomenHeart, and a founding member of the board of advisors of Scientists and Engineers for America, Dr. Wood maintains her focus on science–driven policy in public health. She has also served on the DHHS Coordinating Committee on Women's Health and on the Screening Committee of the Science Fellowship Program offered by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Departments

• Environmental and Occupational Health

Institutes & Centers

• Project on Scientific Knowledge and Public Policy

Publications

• Women's health and the FDA.
  Wood SF. Women's health and the FDA. N Engl J Med 2005;353 (16):1650-1.
• The regulatory perspective of gender analysis.
  Wood SF. The regulatory perspective of gender analysis. Int J Sex Diff Study of Health, Dis Aging 2003;1 (1):64-7.
• Why women should be included in clinical trials, Guest editorial, 2002.
  Wood SF, Miller MA, Hollinger KA. Why women should be included in clinical trials, Guest editorial, 2002. Good Clin Pract J 2002;9 (9):3-4.
• Office of Women's Health, Food and Drug Administration: future directions for women's health.
  Wood SF. Office of Women's Health, Food and Drug Administration: future directions for women's health. J Am Med Womens Assoc 2001;56 (4):197-8.
• Health policy report, J Womens Imaging 2001
  Wood SF. Health policy report, J Womens Imaging 2001; (1):2.
• Role of advocacy groups in research on women's health.
  Seaman B, Wood SF. Role of advocacy groups in research on women's health. In: Goldman M, Hatch M, editors. Women and health. San Diego: Academic Press; 2000. p. 27-36.