Faculty Researchers
The Scientists Advancing Women's Health Research
Over the last 20 years, the Ludeman Center has funded 104 researchers and provided $2.34 million in funding to support their ground-breaking research. For every dollar awarded to them, they have received $67 in external funding, allowing them to pursue their scientific research in women’s health and sex and gender differences. Our strong reputation for success in career development means that we connect early-career researchers to renowned faculty leaders who are committed to mentoring the next generation of scientists. We also offer 12 researcher trainings each year to teach them essential academic skills, including grant-writing and presentation skills.
Research Areas
The Ludeman Center researchers study diseases that pose great risks to women across the lifespan, including heart disease and diabetes, in order to discover preventative measures and technological advances to better identify and treat these diseases.
Cardiovascular Disease
Our researchers are filling the gap in knowledge, informing the development and testing of treatments to benefit both women and men, helping the public to recognize signs of heart disease in women and guiding healthcare providers to better evaluate and treat heart conditions in women.
Diabetes & Metabolism
Our researchers are finding answers to inform diabetes prevention and management and providing women with tools to break the cycle of disease in their own lives and the lives of their children and grandchildren.
Intersection of Mental & Physical Health
Our researchers are addressing patients' critical needs, including how to help manage the anxiety that women with certain types of heart disease often experience. The early-life biological origins of depression is also being investigated to better inform diagnoses and treatment approaches with the goal of finding a cure.
Researcher Spotlight
Jacinda Nicklas, MD, MPH/MSPH
Dr. Nicklas is an associate professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and currently sees patients at the Anschutz Internal Medicine Clinic and the CU Medicine Weight Management and Wellness Center at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus. In early 2023, she co-founded the Postpartum Transition Clinic—a specialized clinic for women with high-risk pregnancy conditions like preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, preterm birth and gestational hypertension.
Brian Stauffer, MD
For the past 20 years, Dr. Stauffer has been a dedicated cardiologist, researcher, and professor with his career serving as a blueprint for studying biological variables and sex differences. During his Ludeman Center-funded research project, his research group looked at several aspects of blood vessel health that contribute to the development of heart attacks and strokes and examined the impact of oral contraceptives in young women and hormone replacement therapy in postmenopausal women on blood vessel health and the risk of blood clot formation.
Kimberley Bruce, PhD
Dr. Bruce is an assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes. She wants to use her expertise to interrogate the molecular mechanisms driving lipid disorders. Her laboratory is aimed at finding new mechanisms relating to lipid lipoprotein processing in the brain that she can target to improve outcomes for previously incurable diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and multiple sclerosis, diseases which are more likely to impact women.
Meet the Ludeman Center Researchers
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Empowering Researchers through Networking Events and Trainings
The Ludeman Center offers 12 researcher trainings annually, as well as events including the Women’s Health Symposium and biennial National Conference on Women’s Health and Sex Differences Research. Researchers engage in tailored, hands-on practices and connect with leading healthcare providers and peers in the medical field.
Are You an Independent Early-Career Researcher Looking to Receive Funding?
From the Women's Health Innovation Scholar (WHINS) to the Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH), the Ludeman Center provides seed grant funding, mentorship support and career development training to scientists in the field of women's health and sex and gender differences research.
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