The Ludeman Family Center for Women’s Health Research Community Advisory Board is an integral part of the center’s operations – supporting, funding and providing strategic direction. In 2023, Margaret Bathgate finished her two-year term as chair, Mary Noonan began her term as chair, and we added three new members. Merrell Aspin, Debra Lappin and Jill Montera joined the Advisory Board in July.  

This conversation with Margaret Bathgate and Mary Noonan shows how important the Advisory Board is to the Ludeman Center and highlights their hopes for the future. 

When did you first hear about the Ludeman Center and decide to get involved? 

Mary: I first learned about the center in 2012 because I had two friends on the board at that time — Mary Sissel and Katie MacWilliams. Once they told me about the Ludeman Center, Mary asked me to join the board. At that point it was fairly new, and I was delighted to be asked. 

Margaret: When I was on the CU Foundation Board of Directors, I heard the Ludeman Center mentioned many times, always in approving terms. The individuals who were involved with the center were well known to me and highly respected. My stepmother, Eileen Honnen McDonald, has attended the Annual Community Event every year since its inception, including the paper bag lunches in the basement of the Tattered Cover. She invited me to sit at her table for several years and I was hooked.  

What do you see as the most exciting accomplishments in the past few years?  

Margaret: I think the fact that we not only survived COVID but thrived is amazing. We had two Annual Community Events virtually and met our fundraising goal both times. We supported our researchers when they were struggling to survive financially and keep their work going. We secured new endowed chairs — making us the women's health center with the most endowed chairs nationally.  

Mary: I'm on the same page, Margaret. The most exciting thing to me has been the growth. And here I'm talking about the number of researchers. I don't think there were ten when I started on the board. Now there are over 100. That is incredible growth. I would also add the number of endowed chairs, the center's reach in terms of the researchers and the number of donors. 

What are you most excited about in the next five years for the Ludeman Center? 

Mary: You know, for me it's getting into this next strategic plan. I'm really hoping that we will allow ourselves to be bold when we put this together. I think once you get this group of people in the room, they won't have any trouble being bold and generating big ideas. I'm really looking forward to that. 

Margaret: I love how we are embracing technology to move research and education of sex differences forward. Our endowed chair in biomedical informatics will enable our scientists to use data to augment their research. We never had that before. With AI and everything that's coming down the pike here, we are right on the cutting-edge. I love that. 

What keeps you involved in the Advisory Board? 

Margaret: You know, there are so many anecdotes about the bias against women in medicine. The clinical study that Judy has been quoting lately was a blood pressure medication study where they were instructed to recruit women and they didn't. They still went on and did the study with few women, and it was research directly affecting women. It's head scratching to me that we're still dealing with this. I think that it's extremely important that healthcare be an even playing field. In some cases, they're only testing drugs on men and not on women, but they're prescribing them to women. Those can have some adverse effects, like what happened with Ambien. That needs to change. 

Mary: You're so right, Margaret. It's so shocking when you hear somebody like Judy talk about the fact that it wasn't until the 1990s that they even thought about including women in clinical trials. Even now, I would hate to know the exact percentage of clinical trials that exclude women or under enroll. I think we'd all still be appalled. Those are the kinds of things that act as a call to action. The center is trying to address that in a very focused way. With the strength of the healthcare industry and the community here in Colorado I think that's something that we've already made great strides in.  

2023 New Advisory Board Members 

Merrell Aspin: Merrell earned a master of science in healthcare policy and management from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and an undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt University. She is a former healthcare policy professional with over ten years of experience working on state and federal healthcare quality, data analysis and insurance issues. Merrell is also a dedicated volunteer for several organizations including the Colorado Food Bank and the Colorado Parent Teacher Association.  

Debra Lappin: Debra earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Denver and a law degree from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law. She is a longtime health and science policy strategist and works closely with academic, government, industry and nonprofit institutions on innovative public-private partnerships, pre-competitive collaborative research and development strategies. Debra has served as an advisor to the NIH and CDC, participated in committees at the National Academy of Sciences and more. 

Jill Montera: Jill earned her degree in business administration from the University of Colorado. She has more than 25 years of experience in client relations, consulting, project management and human resources across multiple industries. She recently worked with Altvia, a startup software company, and has launched Hathor Blue, a boutique consulting firm. Jill also volunteers with several community organizations in the area.