Charting a path forward: The Centre’s five-year plan for mature women’s health research

Women’s health has always been at the centre of Sinai Health’s story — from Mount Sinai’s beginnings as a maternity hospital in 1923, to the opening of the Hospital’s menopause clinic in 2000 under Dr. Wendy Wolfman’s leadership, and most recently the establishment of the Weston and O’Born Centre for Mature Women’s Health, which was renamed in 2025.

Today, that history will guide a new era of discovery. The Centre is proud to launch its inaugural strategic research action plan which will shape the next five years of efforts to advance discovery in areas affecting mature women’s health. Dr. Paula Rochon, the Centre’s Director of Research and the inaugural holder of the Barry J. Goldlist Chair in Geriatric Medicine, is leading this work to make older women more visible in science, care and policy.

“This Strategic Research Action Plan outlines a clear, mission-driven roadmap which leverages Sinai Health’s strengths while expanding research impact to improve care and equity for women as they age,” says Dr. Paula Rochon, Director of Research, Weston and O’Born Centre for Mature Women’s Health.

A single, integrated vision for research

When developing the Centre’s Research Action Plan, Dr. Rochon and the team first looked to the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute (LTRI), the powerhouse for research at Sinai Health.  

In November 2025, Sinai Health and the LTRI brought together their full research enterprise under a single, integrated vision: Sinai Health Research. It reflects a deep commitment to embedding research into every aspect of care delivery, education and system transformation. Within this connected, collaborative research ecosystem, Dr. Rochon and her team built the Centre’s new Strategic Research Action Plan, co-created with the Sinai Health community, to further expand and accelerate research focused on women in midlife and beyond.

"The Weston and O'Born Centre for Mature Women's Health Strategic Research Action Plan represents exactly the kind of bold, focused research leadership that Sinai Health is committed to advancing,” say Dr. Anne-Claude Gingras, Vice President, Research and Director, LTRI and Dr. Susanna Mak, Deputy Director, Clinical Research, LTRI. “The Centre is poised to generate evidence that will not only strengthen care at Sinai Health, but shape practice and policy well beyond our walls."

The strategic plan leans on three key drivers:

• Advancing inclusive research by embedding sex, age and gender-based analysis into all health research, recognizing that the needs of mature women are only met when we open opportunities for research across all areas affecting women’s health.

• Building capacity for collaboration by fostering an environment that actively supports this multi-disciplinary research — like the creation of an International Advisory Board to nurture local research talent and grow the next generation of mature women’s health experts.

• Translating knowledge into impact to bridge research and clinical care — bringing new research coming out of the Centre to the public and to policymakers.

The next evolution of research, fuelled by philanthropy

Underlying this work is philanthropy, which helped establish the Centre and built the foundation upon which its research will take shape. Donor funding will continue to be essential in fuelling the work outlined in the Centre’s new action plan and the work of Dr. Rochon and her team.

Thanks to generous support from the community, the Weston and O’Born Centre for Mature Women’s Health is poised to become a beacon for excellence in clinical care, research and education for women. Over the next five years, this plan will be a guiding light for all research being done at the Centre. Already, the team at the Centre is working to advance understanding of conditions that impact mature women differently, with upcoming studies focused on menopause, brain fog and migraines, vasomotor symptoms in women with MS and the gut hormone glucagon-like peptide 1  (GLP-1)  in older adults.

“Mount Sinai Hospital has supported women’s health for more than a century,” says Dr. Gary Newton, President and Chief Executive Officer, Sinai Health. “With the Weston and O’Born Centre for Mature Women’s Health Strategic Research Action Plan, we will shape women’s health care for centuries to come.”

Interested in reading the Centre’s full research plan? Reach out to Tracy Abergel at tracy.abergel@sinaihealthfoundation.ca.