Women at the University of Wisconsin conduct groundbreaking research every day to advance their fields of study and contribute to a better understanding of the world.

UW ranks sixth in the nation for research universities among private and public universities, according to the National Science Foundation’s annual ranking. Women in research, specifically in STEM areas, are still underrepresented in research funding, according to a study by JAMA.

Women applying for research funding are 34% less likely to receive funding than their white male counterparts, with Black women being significantly less likely to receive funding at 71% compared to their male counterparts, according to JAMA.

Associate Professor at the Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work Tawandra Rowell-Cunsolo said challenges for various members of marginalized groups in science reflect as a lack of opportunities rather than direct interactions of discrimination.

“I think that it’s about whether or not you have the same access to opportunities as others who are a part of the dominant class,” Rowell-Cunsolo said.

For over 25 years, Rowell-Cunsolo has been conducting research to better understand health and wellbeing in the legal system, she said.

Rowell-Cunsolo has designed interventions for people with HIV coming out of prisons in New York City. She said she does this by trying to reduce unhealthy substance use and improve sexual safety.

“I deal with people who are considered a vulnerable population because of their legal system status, and I’ve seen a much stronger focus on making sure that they remain protected,” Rowell-Cunsolo said.

Rowell-Cunsolo is working on multiple different studies, including a project that establishes linkage to care for people transitioning out of the Wisconsin prison, which is a smaller-scale pilot study using administrative data sources from the Institute for Research on Poverty at UW.

She hopes her research will be used later on by policymakers to create and improve detention facilities, and by other researchers to fill the gaps that they see in their own research.

“It takes a while for research to really have an impact, and we may not see that impact over the course of our career, but hopefully we’re starting to plant the seeds,” Rowell-Cunsolo said.

Assistant Professor and Director of the Sjögren’s Disease Clinic at UW Health Dr. Sara McCoy is another exemplary female researcher at UW.

McCoy established the seventh Sjögren’s clinic in the nation at UW Health, and established UW Sjögren’s biorepository, according to the UW Department of Medicine. McCoy said she aims to work with others to understand Sjögrens disease.

“You need different people from different backgrounds to focus on something that they’re interested in, which is going to be unique by different backgrounds, so that you can make that particular entity better,” McCoy said.

The work McCoy conducts includes understanding how stem cells may be connected with dry mouth, as well as developing new diagnostics for Sjögren’s disease, according to McCoy.

Sjögren’s disease is a female predominant systemic autoimmune disease that can cause severe dryness of the mouth and eyes, according to Mayo Clinic.

“Our patients are left with therapies that, to be quite frank, do not actually help to a significant degree,” McCoy said.

People diagnosed with Sjögren’s disease have few options of treatments as there are no FDA disease modifying approved therapies. The best therapy experts currently use to treat the symptoms of Sjögren’s disease is the same drug that was used to treat the first described patient in 1888, McCoy said.

The disease can be painful for patients, and prevent them from doing everyday activities like looking at a computer screen at work or swallowing food, according to McCoy.

“When I see these patients and they’re so burdened, so dramatically, and you have nothing you can do for them it feels really bad,” McCoy said. “In my lab work, I can actually say I’m trying to advance understanding so we can improve therapy.

UW Geoscience Professor Annie Bauer researches how earth became an habitable planet, and is working with other scientists from varying fields at the Wisconsin Center for Origins Research.

“We’re trying to have a lot more cross talk between people that are interested in that question specifically and come at it from a variety of different angles,” Bauer said.

Bauer said she values the diversity other scientists from different fields bring to the table while investigating the complicated question of how earth became habitable.

Throughout her career, Bauer said she has been talked down to on account of being a woman, but has not let that stop her from pursuing a career in science.

“I don’t let it get to me because I think it would just slow me down,” Bauer said. “Generally, the department that I’m in here is extremely accepting, and my male colleagues here are quite wonderful. Often a few of them speak up in favor of anything they see that’s not equitable, and that was one of the reasons that I came here.”

Bauer encourages women to pursue careers in the scientific field, in spite of obstacles they may face. Women have been at the forefront of UW research for close to 150 years, according to the UW Department of History.

Kate Everest Levi was awarded the first UW history PhD for her dissertation on German immigration in Wisconsin, according to the UW Department of History.

“Don’t be afraid to try lots of things, and it’s okay to not be good at things too,” Bauer said.