FemTech Program Set to Revolutionize Women’s Health Through Technology
Summary
- The Miller School of Medicine program aims to resolve the longstanding neglect of women’s health by bringing together experts in health care, technology and business.
- Women make 80 percent of the health care decisions for themselves and their families, but only 8.8 percent of NIH grant spending from 2013 to 2023 focused on women’s health research.
- The FemTech Program, led by Dr. Mairead Moloney, is identifying platforms designed specifically for women’s needs and connecting researchers with companies to bring their solutions to market faster.
The University of Miami Miller School of Medicine’s new FemTech Program aims to resolve the longstanding neglect of women’s health by bringing together experts in health care, technology and business. Spearheaded by the Miller School’s Department of Informatics and Health Data Science, the initiative is creating an ecosystem that relies on technology to drive solutions for the unique health problems faced by women.
“FemTech is the use of technology to support women’s health and wellness, and it’s never been more needed,” said Mairead Moloney, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Informatics and Health Data Science at the Miller School.
Women and Health Care Decisions
According to the Department of Labor, women make 80 percent of the health care decisions for themselves and their families. A recent congressionally mandated report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, however, showed that only 8.8 percent of NIH grant spending from 2013 to 2023 focused on women’s health research. And a report by the World Economic Forum revealed that closing the gender health gap is a $1 trillion opportunity to improve lives and economies.
“We see this as a call to action and think technology is the answer to bridge the gap between what women need and what is available to them,” Dr. Moloney said.
This initiative comes as investment and innovation in the FemTech industry increases. Deloitte has predicted that FemTech will hit a market value over $100 billion by 2032. McKinsey values the overall women’s health market at $1 trillion a year by 2040.
“We want to improve patient outcomes,” said Azizi Seixas, Ph.D., an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, director of The Media and Innovation Lab, associate director of the Center for Translational Sleep and Circadian Sciences and interim chair of the Department of Informatics and Health Data Science at the Miller School. “We believe we can do good through innovation.”
Bringing Together Providers and Innovators
The goal, Dr. Moloney said, is to create a premier academic hub by bringing together like-minded scholars, innovators and health care providers to develop ideas and solutions for women’s health concerns long underserved by the research and the technology sectors.
We can create something remarkable in this amazing environment to improve women’s health care and outcomes.
Lisbeth Garassino, marketing technology expert and strategist
Not only have medical conditions that affect primarily women historically received only minimal funding, but women were not even required to be included in clinical trials until 1993. This has led to decades of missing data, now skewing the results of AI output as it scans historical records that do not include data from women.
Technology, meantime, has been designed without women in mind. To cap it all off, a social stigma surrounding women’s health issues remains.
Using Technology to Address Women’s Health Needs
The team behind the FemTech Program, led by Dr. Moloney, is identifying apps, devices and online platforms designed specifically for women’s needs, training the next generation of innovators to recognize opportunities in women’s health and connecting researchers with companies to bring their solutions to market faster.
Importantly, the FemTech Program organizers are making a concerted effort to look beyond just women’s reproductive health.
“Women don’t know they are underrepresented and misdiagnosed when it comes to cardiac issues and mental health,” said Stacyca Dimanche, research associate for the Department of Informatics and Health Data Science who is helping to put together the initiative. “We are finding and vetting companies and devices that we feel will work for women and that women will gravitate to.”
They launched a FemTech digital platform featuring timely news from global health care sites, venture funding updates and research and product innovations. Users can sign up for a weekly email digest and will soon find Q-&-As with FemTech innovators from around the world. The team also plans to facilitate internship opportunities for students with FemTech organizations that partner with the University of Miami.
For their first community-building event, the FemTech Program hosted a panel discussion of FemTech innovators and health care professionals for faculty, students and community members. Moderated by Dr. Moloney, the panel shared personal experiences that drove them to work in the FemTech space.
“We are building out an ecosystem and everything is there, all in one place,” said Lisbeth Garassino, a marketing technology expert and strategist who is collaborating with UM on the launch of the FemTech digital space. “We can create something remarkable in this amazing environment to improve women’s health care and outcomes.”
Tags: Department of Informatics and Health Data Science, Dr. Azizi Seixas, Dr. Mairead Moloney, technology, women's health