12/03/2026
Oman Health Innovation Summit 2026
REGISTRATION OPEN via our website
Meet The Speaker: Prof. Dr. med. Jörg D. Leuppi
Women receive diagnoses later, are operated on less often with modern methods and experience more side effects. To see this in Switzerland in 2026 is frightening.
In autumn, I will talk alongside my wife in Oman about gender differences in medicines and lung diseases. During my preparation, I realized again how much we still have to learn in this area.
It has long been known that women's bodies are structured and function differently from those of men. A classic example is the heart attack:
➡️ While men often report pain radiating to the arms and neck, women more often show shortness of breath and a diffuse feeling of pressure. Years passed before this knowledge prevailed and was recognized.
There are also differences in medications:
➡️ Women are more likely to report side effects because dosages have often been tested on male bodies. Many active ingredients are metabolized differently, but this is too rarely taken into account in practice.
Despite these findings about biological differences, the reality remains sobering. Women are referred for surgery later and are less likely to receive the most advanced treatments.
This is mainly due to one reason:
Medical research is disproportionately often carried out on men, male cells or male laboratory animals. There are ethical reasons for this, because no one wants to expose pregnant women to unnecessary risks. The result is a knowledge gap that puts women at a disadvantage.
Fortunately, something is also moving in Switzerland. In 2023, the Swiss National Science Foundation launched a national research programme with CHF 11 million over 5 years. The interest was enormous: 389 researchers applied, 140 proposals were submitted. 19 projects were financed. In addition, the first full professorship in gender medicine was created at the University of Zurich in 2024.
These are good developments – even if they come too late. Personally, I also have to admit that I still have a lot to learn. I am all the more looking forward to the exchange in Oman and to further advancing this important topic.
