Saltzman Receives Pilot Project Program Award for Endometriosis Treatment

Biomedical engineer W. Mark Saltzman has been granted the Wendy U. & Thomas C. Naratil Pioneer Award by Women's Health Research at Yale for his efforts to more effectively treat endometriosis.

Additionally, Sandra Springer, Professor of Medicine, received an award for her work on mobile care for women with a history of justice involvement. Both projects are part of Women's Health Research at Yale's Pilot Project Program, initiated in 1998.

“Both of this year’s pilot projects have the potential to greatly improve the lives of women,” said Carolyn M. Mazure, Norma Weinberg Spungen and Joan Lebson Bildner Professor in Women’s Health Research, professor of psychiatry and psychology, and Director of Women’s Health Research at Yale. “I look forward to the progress our impressive investigators will make on two critical areas of women’s health through these year-long awards.”

Long-Acting Degradable Implants for Endometriosis Treatment

This year’s Wendy U. & Thomas C. Naratil Pioneer Award will provide W. Mark Saltzman, Goizueta Foundation Professor for Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, the opportunity to develop and test long-acting degradable implants designed to treat endometriosis – a painful condition that also can affect the capacity to become pregnant. This approach offers the novel delivery of an FDA-approved drug to treat this common disorder, affecting more than 6.5 million women in America alone.

Saltzman’s research team includes Hugh Taylor, MD, Anita O’Keeffe Young Professor and Chair, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, who has long studied endometriosis. Together, they will determine if a specific estrogen-blocking drug can treat endometriosis with delivery through a manufactured, degradable implantable device. The three phases of this pilot study include determining the proper dose of the estrogen blocker; discovering the optimum placement in the body for a degradable implant; and examining the intervention’s efficacy and safety.

“Funding from Women’s Health Research at Yale is a proven method to bring new technology, new solutions, and new innovation forward,” said Saltzman. “The goal of the program is to get you enough of a research runway so that you can prove to other funders the potential impact of your work, enabling you to continue to develop an intervention, with the ultimate goal of getting it to the women who need it most. This Pilot Project Program award gives me a tremendous advantage.”

Mobile Care for Women with a History of Justice Involvement

Sandra Springer received this year's second Pilot Project Program award. Leveraging Springer's mobile medical unit and mobile retail pharmacy InMOTION, investigators will explore how a mobile model of healthcare can lead to improved outcomes as women rejoin the community from correctional institutions. The goal of InMOTION is to increase healthcare access and remove barriers by bringing healthcare and medications directly to individuals. Working closely with the Connecticut Department of Correction, InMOTION will offer primary and holistic care along with prescription fulfillment where women are living to test the feasibility of mobile medical care to prevent disruptions in care for this population and thus a better outcome.

To learn more about Women’s Health Research at Yale, visit medicine.yale.edu/whr