Mainstreaming Gender in Medicine

Professor Vera Regitz-Zagrosek, Professor of Gender in Medicine and Cardiovascular Disease in Women at the Charite University, Berlin, will speak on gender mainstreaming in medicine. Many common diseases affect men and women differently. Some of these differences are due to biology; some to environmental, social, and psychological influences. Women and men access the health care system in different ways, with different expectations. The sex of the physician can also have an impact on the way patients are assessed and treated. Professor Regitz-Zagrosek will be exploring how gender impacts on the diagnosis and course of diseases, on treatment plans, and on the development of surgical processes and drug therapies. She will argue that paying more attention to the role of gender in all areas of medicine, from drug development to decisions about surgery, will have a beneficial effect for both men and women.