Gender in medicine – New chair at the University of Zurich should inspire gender medicine – News

In drug studies, the man is considered the prototype. A new professorship should also focus on women.

The male body has always been the measure of all things in medical research. However, since the male and female bodies differ in many respects, a uniform dosage or treatment oriented towards the male body can have fatal consequences.

Since this area is still little researched, there is now to be a new professorship for gender medicine at the University of Zurich – which takes better account of gender differences and tries to close a medical gap.

Different needs of the sexes

Women and men have different symptoms of diseases and need different dosages of medication. But although more than half of our population is female, in medicine – and especially in research – it is clear that the man is the prototype, says Beatrice Beck Schimmer, Director of University Medicine at the University of Zurich: “We would like that change, starting at the Zurich location».

For this purpose, there will soon be a new professorship at the University of Zurich, i.e. a new chair for gender medicine. There, the biological differences between the sexes are to be researched in more detail. And these findings should then also flow into the training of future doctors.

I think that would also be a pioneering achievement, especially in Switzerland.

According to Beatrice Beck Schimmer, various examples from everyday medical practice show how important differentiated research can be. A study on heart medication was extremely impressive: it showed that men had the full effect with a 100% dose, but women had the same effect with half the dose. “So the remaining 50 percent is an overdose – you also run the risk of more side effects.”

There are many reasons for the high proportion of men

Why medical research often falls back on the male body, even in recent times, does not only have to do with a male perspective or tradition. In clinical studies, it is more difficult to include women, says Beck Schimmer. Especially if they are of childbearing age, because then a drug could also have an effect on a possible child – or long-term effects. “In addition, we know that women are a little more risk-averse than men when it comes to participating in such a study,” says the doctor.

But there is also the reverse, whereby the effects of drugs on men have not been researched enough – for example osteoporosis. This is exactly where the new professorship should start: It should raise awareness that the two sexes have different medical needs.

Legend:

Thanks to the new professorship for gender medicine at the University of Zurich UZH, awareness of gender-specific medicine is to be raised.

Keystone / Ennio Leanza

Funding for the new chair has been secured for the time being with the help of donations and endowments. According to Beck Schimmer, they would have received around 1.7 million francs. Since this amount is not sufficient for the entire life of the teacher, the University of Zurich also contributes financially.

Now an advertisement follows – in about a year the teacher for the new chair should be known-