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Dear Members, Some of you may be interested in the following free seminar to be held at Brunel University on 13th March from 1 - 2 pm on reproductive health and infertility in Australian women - those wishing to attend should confirm by emailing [log in to unmask] Professor LENORE MANDERSON Australian Professorial Federation Fellow (Women's Health), Monash University Half a woman: Biological dysfunctions and biographical disruptions among Australian women "In this paper, I draw upon extensive interviews conducted with 90 rural and urban Australian women, whose lives have been disrupted by various woman-specific reproductive health conditions affecting their fertility and ability to conceive, everyday health and wellbeing, bodily appearance and self-image. These include serious common disorders of pregnancy, endometriosis, polycystic ovarian syndrome and hysterectomy, all of which require that women re-conceptualize themselves, reshaping their identity around the immediate and longer term impact of these conditions. Depending on the severity of the condition, age at onset and the significance that the woman attributes to it, her life may be dominated by visits to general practitioners, specialists, medication, and for some of these conditions, hospitalization and surgery. Such medicalization operates to marginalize women from their well, "normal," peers and friends. At the same time women react to and internalize their bodies' failure, questioning their own competence as women and their inability to control this." Prof Manderson PhD, FASSA, is a medical anthropologist, known also for her work as a sociologist, public health professional and social historian of medicine. From 1988-1998 she was Professor of Tropical Health at the University of Queensland, during which period she conducted research in Asia and Africa on reproductive health, sexuality and gender, infectious disease, and development, and in Australia with Anglo-Australians, immigrant and Indigenous Australians. Since 1988, she has worked closely with WHO in particular with the Special Programme in Research and Training in Tropical Disease. In 1999 she took up appointment as Professor and Director of the Key Centre for Women's Health in Society at the University of Melbourne, and in 2006 commenced as Research Professor at Monash University. In 2001, Lenore was awarded an inaugural ARC Federation Fellowship. During the five years of this Fellowship she is undertaking research on social aspects of chronic disease, disability and aging which includes, in collaboration with clinical, biological and other social scientists, a major multidisciplinary study in Australia, Thailand, Malaysia, Lao PDR and Myanmar. She is an elected Fellow of both the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia and the World Academy of Art and Science. VENUE: POSTGRADUATE CONFERENCE CENTRE PLEASE CONFIRM ATTENDANCE * * * If you would like to attend, require further information or wish to meet the speaker, please email [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> . * * * All Public Health @ Brunel events are free and open to all. Please feel free to circulate to any interested colleagues. Thanking you and best wishes, Ella Tighe Research Fellow Centre for Public Health Research School of Health Sciences and Social Care Brunel University Gaskell Building GB070 Uxbridge UB8 3PH Tel: +44 (0)1895 267339 Public Health @ Brunel: http://www.brunel.ac.uk/research/centres/cphr