Women Age Differently Than Men: A Research Pioneer Explains

Marcia Stefanick, Ph.D., is a professor of medicine at the Stanford Prevention Research Center and professor of obstetrics and gynecology. She received a BA in biology from the University of Pennsylvania and obtained her Ph.D. in Physiology at Stanford University. Dr. Stefanick is a leading pioneer in women’s health research and she has been at the forefront of the study of aging in both women and men, including the role of diet and nutritional supplements, physical activity, and body composition on chronic diseases.

Dr. Stefanick is the Principal Investigator (PI) of the Western Regional Center of the large Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) for which she played a key leadership role in the dissemination of the landmark WHI Hormone Trials, which changed national recommendations regarding menopausal hormone use in older women. She was also the Stanford PI of the WHI Calcium & Vitamin D and Diet Modification trials, the largest diet intervention trials conducted to date, as well as the Women’s Healthy Eating and Living trial for early-stage breast cancer survivors, all of which have influenced national guidelines regarding chronic disease prevention in women. In addition, she is the PI of the Study of Osteoporotic Fractures in Men (MrOS) and MrOS Sleep Study, which have been following men for more than a decade to understand musculoskeletal aging.

Dr. Stefanick championed the creation of the Stanford Center for Health Research on Women and Sex Differences in Medicine (WSDM), for which she is the Co-Director. Her nearly 200 peer-reviewed publications, leadership roles within Stanford's Prevention Research Center, Cardiovascular and Cancer Institutes, and School of Medicine are a testament to her expertise and steadfast commitments to advancing a national research agenda on chronic disease prevention, aging well, women’s health, and the role of sex and gender differences in physiology, and population health across the life course.