Internationally recognized women’s health researcher Dr. Jerilynn C. Prior becomes the tenth recipient of MSFHR’s Aubrey J. Tingle Prize.
Created in honour of MSFHR’s founding president & CEO, the Aubrey J. Tingle Prize is awarded annually to a B.C.-based clinician scientist whose work in health research is internationally recognized and has had a significant impact on advancing research – and its implementation – to improve health and the health system in BC and globally.
Jerilynn Prior
This year’s recipient, Dr. Jerilynn C. Prior, has spent her career studying women’s menstrual cycles, menopause, perimenopause (the transition into menopause) and osteoporosis. Research that has had a direct impact on practice and care internationally.
As the founder and scientific director of the Centre for Menstrual Cycle and Ovulation Research (CeMCOR), part of UBC’s Division of Endocrinology, and a professor of endocrinology and metabolism at UBC, Dr. Prior has successfully funded, led and publicized randomized controlled trials, population-based studies, observational cross-sectional and prospective studies that have helped improved the health of women internationally.
Her research and synthesis has shown the importance of progesterone as well as estrogen for women’s bone, heart and breast health. She has successfully trialled progesterone for hot flushes in menopause and perimenopause, and has demonstrated that perimenopause is hormonally distinct from menopause, entailing higher rather than lower or dropping estrogen levels.
In addition to authoring 180 peer reviewed papers and holding six patents, Dr. Prior is a sought-after speaker for both professional and lay audiences. She is also the author of the award-winning fiction book Estrogen’s Storm Season: Stories of Perimenopause, designed to inform and empower perimenopausal women.
MSFHR is delighted to name Dr. Prior the recipient of the 2019 Aubrey J. Tingle Prize. The presentation will take place on April 4 at the 21st Annual LifeSciences BC Awards.
This story originally appeared on the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research website.