Our 20th anniversary celebration truly represented what the Howell Foundation stands for:  a sense of community, the importance of women's health research, empowering women with informational events, and introducing young minds to science with our scholarship program.

Today, after 20 years, the inspiration brought about by Dr. Howell has allowed the Foundation to award  over 200 scholarships to aspiring researchers and doctors,  to hold over 80 educational events and to fund 3 grants addressing the health of underserved and/or "at risk" women in our community.

The celebration was marked with testimonials from our scholars, all of whom are on their way to success.  Our first CEI program is starting to create an impact on Latino women in our community.  The support of our sister organization, Soroptimist International of La Jolla, was felt with donations towards our 2016 programs and fabulous attendance at our luncheon.  Dr. Stanley Maloy from one of our dear partners, SDSU, delivered an eye-opening presentation on the need for the "one world, one health" initiative.

Two items at the luncheon helped mark this incredible journey:  The support of our community with our "20 for 20" campaign, and the inspirational message from Dr. Howell, who urged all of us to keep moving up and forward in women's health.

Our work would not have been possible without the help of our partners.  Thank you for many years of accomplishments! Thank you as well to all our donors and "Friends of Howell".  Meeting our goals has been possible because of your generous and continuous support.

Make sure to read the highlights of our event below.  And please do stay tuned for a promising 2016!

Dr. Howell inspires us with her words: "It's not who you are or where you've been.  It's where you are going that counts".  Dr. Howell couldn't have said it better.  Addressing the audience at the Foundation's 20th anniversary event, she told us the story about the challenges she faced when study ing at McGill University; known for its extensive focus on research.  She says humbly that the technicalities of research may have been difficult at times but yet never missed  a lecture.  And that is how she learned that information is the key for women's health advocacy.   "Take the research that is being done, translate it, and put it into practical use.  Please take it seriously because we have no way to go but up, no way to go but success, no way to go but needed.  It is filling that need that I hope our Foundation will constantly try to do as its mission; and so far I believe we've succeeded." How much exercise do Latina women get during pregnancy?  Study finds cultural aspects play a significant role. It was at the end of 2012 when the Howell Foundation awarded its first Community Engagement Award, "For our Health".  The aim of the study was to pilot test the impact of a physical activity intervention on the physical activity practices of pregnant Latinas. Considering the important influence of family and friends in Latino culture, a social support approach was utilized to develop an intervention that targeted individual, social, and cultural influences on physical activity.  Read more on the results of our first CEI here. THANK YOU!  Our  "20 for 20" campaign was launched early in our 20 th  anniversary year asking donors for any donation that began with a "2". We were delighted to receive donations of $222 and $2,222! Other donations ranged from $20 to $2,000. It is not too late to help us reach our goal by visiting the Howell Foundation website and contributing. This funding represents a wonderful nest egg for 2016 and our next 20 years. Thank you to all for our generosity!

Why a universal health initiative is needed: shifting the current research paradigm to stop illness on its track.  We were very fortunate to have Dr. Stanley Maloy from SDSU speak at the Foundation's 20th year anniversary celebration last November.  The topic: one world, one health.  The his tory of infectious diseases shows that, from the early 1900s up to 1980, death incidences had significantly decreased in the US - except for the 1920s epidemic of the Spanish Flu.  Even though lower death rates from infectious diseases were attributed to historical changes in the 20th century --the development of vaccines and the discovery of antibiotics, to name a few-- the decline is really a consequence of access to clean water. It has, however, not been the case for the past 25+ years.  Every year, there have been new and emerging, antibiotic-resistant diseases --every year!   Furthermore, mortality rates due to the chronic illnesses derived from infectious disease are rising worldwide.  In other words, illness today has NO geographic boundaries. Health shouldn't either.  Read about the shift in paradigm that needs to happen to stop infectious disease here. Acting on women's health: working to provide resources to young breast cancer survivors. Deepika Suresh, 2015 UCSD Howell Scholar, presented her work at the Howell Foundation's 20th anniversary luncheon.  She, along with H. Irene Su MD MSCE and Sally Dominick PhD MPH, are working on developing an education intervention on genetic risk assessment in young breast cancer survivors (YBCS).  "My objective is to develop content about genetic risk assessment in YBCS for a web-based survivorship care plan that my lab is in the process of creating", Suresh comments. "Ultimately, I wanted to find out what the main barriers are that prevent young breast cancer survivors from undergoing genetic risk assessment and how to overcome these." Read about how Deepika is putting her scholarship to work towards women's health! An update of her work can be found here.

Dedicated women coming together to work towards women's health:  The history behind the Doris A. Howell Foundation.

 

S oroptimist International of La Jolla (SILJ) is an organization that is known for acting upon community needs. The concern of the group about women's health led them to take action, especially upon the common practice of not including female subjects in the clinical trials taking place at the time and the outcome for women when facing illness.  Their mission became VERY clear:  get women's health on the radar.  

Read more about the history behind the Howell Foundation here.