The VA Women's Health Research Network (WHRN) is funded by VA Health Systems Research in the VA Office of Research & Development to build and support VA's capacity to assess and improve health and health care of women Veterans. WHRN serves as a national resource for VA researchers and program office leaders to accelerate women Veterans' health research toward having evidence-based impacts on practice and policy.
WHRN provides women’s health related research consultations, supports national research collaborations in priority areas, organizes dissemination conferences/products, facilitates multilevel research-operations partnerships, advances research career development, increases women Veterans’ inclusion in research, and engages them in research functions. Email us at WHRN@va.gov to inquire further about our services.
WHRN offers brief virtual consultations to discuss HSR women Veteran-focused research project development. These sessions may focus on idea brainstorming, reviewing draft aims, addressing methods questions, and more. Consults may include proposal development and/or troubleshooting issues in new or ongoing studies.
WHRN partners with leaders across VA and non-VA program offices focused on advancing women Veterans' health research.
WHRN is regularly tapped to support VA's response to legislatively mandated studies directly or through WHRN's national consortium of VA researchers.
WHRN oversees the VA Women's Improvement Network (WIN), a national, virtual group of women Veterans who use the VA for their care. VA researchers may schedule a WIN session to get member input at different stages of research development (e.g., proposal ideas, survey development, dissemination pathways).
WHRN disseminates research in a variety of ways, including the Spotlight on Women’s Health Cyberseminar Series, Research Snapshots, research conferences, briefings, and more.
Spotlight on Women’s Health (SoWH) Cyberseminar Series: This cyberseminar series focuses on summarizing recent research findings from VA women’s health research or related areas.
Research Snapshots: Snapshots are brief, non-technical summaries written for the public on what is known in different research areas relevant to women Veterans’ health.
Research Conferences: virtual conferences are sponsored by WHRN and are geared towards researchers, program leaders, and clinicians.
WHRN provides research career mentorship to all levels of career stage, including VA women's health fellows, support toward development of VA Career Development Awards (CDAs), and research-related professional development training.
WHRN oversees a national Women’s Health Practice-Based Research Network (WH-PBRN) that facilitates recruitment of women Veterans in VA research by establishing a ready-to-use infrastructure of partnered VA healthcare facilities enabling investigators to involve women Veterans, their providers, and their care settings. There are currently 76 active WH-PBRN sites.
WHRN promotes collaborative research development across the VA. WHRN has launched national research workgroups to accelerate development of new women’s health research in high priority areas. Workgroup members include VA researchers, program office leaders, and clinicians. Activities and workgroup objectives vary in scope and may include collaborations on publications, projects, grants, systematic reviews, and research conferences.
The following research workgroups are open to researchers conducting health systems research focused on women Veterans:
![]() Director, Consortium |
![]() Director, Women’s Health Practice-Based Network |
![]() Director, Engagement |
![]() Deputy Director, Consortium |
![]() National Program Manager, Women’s Health Practice-Based Network |
Complete the WHRN Consortium Membership Survey to join the VA Women's Health Research Consortium e-mail group and stay up-to-date on WHRN activities.