Since its founding in 2008, the Women and Infants Health Specimen Consortium (WIHSC) has formed a critical central research infrastructure for the Washington University academic community.

The establishment of such a core has been essential for the success of clinical and translational research in clinically important issues in women’s health, such as pregnancy-specific reference intervals, pre-eclampsia, recurrent pregnancy loss, pre-term delivery and other adverse pregnancy outcomes, as well as gynecologic pathologies such as endometriosis and sexually transmitted diseases.

The consortium now provides specimens to many academic departments at Washington University, including Pediatrics, Microbiology, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pathology, Internal Medicine and Developmental Biology. Many sub-studies using WIHSC specimens and data involve multidisciplinary collaboration from the departments involved in the consortium.