OVERVIEW

The Women & Health Center (W&HC) of the Medical Sciences Campus of the University of Puerto Rico was established in March 1996 in an effort to contribute to the well being of women in Puerto Rico by integrating and coordinating the incorporation of issues relevant to women and their health in the academic endeavors of the Campus. The designation of the W&HC as a Women's Health Center of Excellence in October of 1998 recognizes the University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus' commitment to women's health. The Center is one of thirteen model centers funded by the Public Health Service's Office on Women's Health to provide integrated and comprehensive women's health services. The University of Puerto Rico Center of Excellence is one of the new third generation centers emphasizing minority women's health.

The Women and Health Center operates through three major components: Clinical, Education/Information Dissemination/Professional Development and Leadership; and Research. The three components have Advisory Committees composed of representatives of all the schools on campus and the center has an Advisory Board. Through the leadership of the center's director and co-director, the W&HC acts as a coordinating unit across departments and schools on campus, in health care services for women, as producer and distributor of information on women's health and as fascilitator of interchange of ideas and collaboration among investigators. The most important strategy in the implementation of the model is the coordination and maximization of existing resources, particularly human resources. Additionally, community outreach is a major effort of the center; having established partnerships/alliances within and outside the university, including with community-based organizations.

The UPR Center of Excellence is developing an integrated academic model that includes:

• A "one-stop shopping" medical delivery model that integrates prevention and early detection within the existing clinical services offered by the faculty of the University Medical Sciences Campus.
  
• Fostering of communication and collaborations across academic departments to promote development of joint projects to maximize resources and scope of impact in women's health;
  
• Promotion of curricular changes to integrate women's health focus in the health sciences curricula;
  
• Use of new information technology to provide, produce, and diffuse state-of-the-art, gender sensitive and conveniently packaged education and information on women's health;
  
• Development of a multi-disciplinary research agenda on women's health
  
• Recruitment of women to participate in clinical research trials,
  
• Development of a profile of the health status of Puerto Rican women
  
• Development of a "Women in Academic Medicine Leadership Plan"
  
• Work as advocates in creating consciousness and sensitivity towards women's health issues among health care professionals and in the local community.