The Los Angeles Times published a front-page Column One story on Dr. Natterson-Horowitz's cross-species research to fill in the gaps left by a dearth of studies into medical conditions affecting women.
"Dr. Barbara Natterson-Horowitz is a UCLA cardiologist with a long-standing interest in cross-species health.
Her latest focus is on cross-species similarities in female health, a field that has long been underfunded, understudied and misunderstood. Diseases that primarily affect women get a disproportionately small amount of research money relative to the years of healthy life they steal.
In addition, women have historically been a minority of clinical trial participants, and for several years those of childbearing age were barred as research subjects in the U.S., a policy the National Institutes of Health reversed in 1986.
We can’t go back in time, Natterson-Horowitz says. But we can fill some of the gaps by looking to the animal world."
Science writer Corinne Purtill spoke with Dr. Natterson-Horowitz for the Los Angeles Times' Boiling Point newsletter about climate change, gender and what we owe our fellow animals.
"We are not the only living things being forced to learn to adapt on this planet. Warming temperatures have contributed to hundreds of local species losses, and accelerated the pace of extinctions. The ways that our non-human planetary neighbors adapt may offer clues (or warnings) for us.
That is especially true as Natterson-Horowitz turned her attention to cross-species similarities in female health, the subject of her most recent work. Because roughly 70% of the 1.3 billion people living in poverty worldwide are female, the United Nations has identified women and girls as uniquely vulnerable to the harm wrought by climate change."
Photo by Milo Mitchell
Dr. Natterson-Horowitz’s research and writing have been featured by prominent news outlets, including the New York Times, Scientific American, Newsweek, National Public Radio, Psychology Today and Smithsonian Magazine. Focused on the overlap between human and animal health, her scientific findings have made her a popular speaker and contributor.
