A Message from
       Teresa Heinz

When I convened the first Conference on Women’s Health & the Environment in Boston a decade ago, I wanted to arm women with information about the relationship between the environment and their health.

Useful information was hard to come by then. There was a shocking lack of scientific research and policy discussion on the potential environmental causes of rising rates of various types of illness. It was almost as though no one wanted to consider the possibility that we might be poisoning ourselves through our environment.

But the 1,000 women who attended that first conference got the idea immediately. They were moms, sisters, daughters and caregivers, and no one needed to tell them what the stakes were. Everyone there had lost a friend or loved one to breast cancer or some other disease, or had seen a child suffer from asthma or autism. And everyone there had at least wondered at some time whether the environment might be connected somehow.

At the very least, they wanted to know more. And they wanted scientists and policymakers to have the courage to ask the question with them: How is our health being affected by the environment, and what can we do about it?

Since 1996, our Conference on Women’s Health & the Environment has been helping women in Boston get answers to that question. We have been able to offer participants the freshest research available, along with the best thinking of experts in health, public policy and advocacy.

This year, I am delighted we are taking this conference on the road to Pittsburgh. We will focus on science, but also on solutions. And I can’t think of a better place to bring this conversation than my hometown, which more than any other city in America has demonstrated both the will and the way to overcome the consequences of environmental degradation.

I am so pleased that Magee-Womens Hospital is lending its expertise and prestige as a conference co-sponsor. And dozens of other partners from the medical community, nonprofit arena, government agencies and academic institutions also are contributing to make this a truly special event.

This free conference is for every woman in our region—and for that matter, every man—who cares about women’s health and who has ever wondered how the environment might be affecting us.

Please plan to join us for “New Science, New Solutions,” a one-day investment sure to benefit the rest of our lives.