About Us
Programs & Activities

Newsletter (NVA News)
The NVA newsletter, featuring articles written by vulvodynia experts, is packed with information on diagnosis, treatment and research. These newsletters are directed at both vulvar pain sufferers and health care professionals.

Patient Self-Help Guide
The NVA publishes a self-help guide for patients, I Have Vulvodynia… What Do I Need to Know?  The guide provides a comprehensive overview of vulvodynia from both gynecological and chronic pain perspectives.  In addition to focusing on the treatment of vulvodynia, the guide features self-help tips and coping strategies for vulvodynia patients, as well as information on general gynecological health.

Healthcare Provider Referrals
The NVA maintains a comprehensive database of healthcare professionals that treat vulvar pain disorders.  In an effort to assist women in making information choices about their healthcare, the NVA expanded the information contained within its healthcare provider referral database in 2005.

Patient Health Survey
The NVA has received and analyzed more than 2,000 health surveys from vulvodynia patients in the US. The survey asks questions about diagnosis, treatment, quality of medical care, pain severity and quality of life. The NVA continues to collect survey responses from vulvar pain sufferers across the world to gain a better understanding of possible etiologies, treatment success (and failure) and quality of life issues affecting women with vulvodynia.

Support Network
The NVA maintains a support network of approximately 100 contact leaders across the United States, Canada and a few other countries. The NVA communicates with its support leaders and provides them with up-to-date information. The leaders serve as resources, receiving phone calls from other women in their region, and in some cases, organizing support group meetings.

Public Awareness
The NVA strives to increase public awareness and understanding of vulvodynia.  Women need to know that the NVA exists to answer their questions, help them find knowledgeable medical professionals and provide them with compassionate support.  To this end, NVA provides extensive information to health care reporters, editors and producers who are willing to cover the topic in their venue. Vulvodynia has been featured in several popular magazines such as Marie Claire, Good Housekeeping and Health; it has also been featured in major newspapers, such as the Chicago Tribune, and on a primetime CBS television show, The Body Human. In 2001, vulvodynia was also featured on both HBO’s Sex And The City and The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Medical Research
The NVA is dedicated to promoting, and providing funding for, vulvodynia research. To date, the NVA has disseminated over $250,000 for medical research and continues to fund deserving studies. If you are interested in donating to our Medical Research Fund, please contact Chris Veasley at 401-398-0830.

Career Development Award
In an effort to encourage interested faculty to pursue their clinical and/or academic interest in vulvodynia, in 2006 the NVA created the Dr. Stanley C. Marinoff Vulvodynia Career Development Award. To date, the NVA has awarded $15,000 and will continue to give these grants on an annual basis. If you are interested in making a donation for this purpose, please contact Chris Veasley at 401-398-0830.

Research Advocacy
In order to promote interest in vulvodynia and establish research directives, the NVA worked with the National Institutes of Health in 1997 and 2003 to organize conferences on the disorder. As a result of these conferences and NVA’s urging, in 2000 the U.S. Congress directed NIH to fund vulvodynia research. For the first time in history, NIH funded vulvodynia studies at major universities, including Harvard, Yale, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and the University of Michigan. In recent years, the NIH also funded research projects at Johns Hopkins Medical School, the University of Rochester Medical Center and the University of Iowa Medical School.

Medical Professional Education
To educate medical professionals on the treatment of vulvar pain, the NVA exhibits and organizes symposia at major medical conferences across the US. We also distribute complementary educational materials and patient brochures to medical practitioners.