Discussion Questions: Sex-Bias in Research
Bioinformatics Journal Club 12/2/14
60 Minutes Video:
1. What drug had its prescribed dosage reduced by half for women?
2. What was Larry Cahill’s original view on sex differences in research and how has it
changed?
3. After what discovery by the FDA was the dosage for women changed?
Article:
1. What are leaders from the NIH asking drug researchers to do?
2. What disorder mentioned in the article is an example of how sex-differences may
result in different manifestations of disease? What clinical implications do you think
this might have?
3. Why do researchers avoid using female animals in their studies?
4. What University has started a feminist biology program and what are the two
components to feminist biology?
5. Who is Christina Hoff Sommers? What is your reaction to her statement “We don’t
need feminist biology any more than we need femistry or galgebra.”
6. Do you have any suggestions on ways to improve upon sex-bias in research? Are there
ways in which you think Bioinformatics could help in this process?