The Women’s Brain Foundation (WBF) and Medscape Education have joined forces to address a critical gap in medical education. the two organizations announced the launch of a new learning center focused on sex and gender differences in brain and mental health care.
The WBF, established in 2017, has been at the forefront of promoting the inclusion of sex and gender-based evidence in research, drug development, and healthcare. Medscape Education, known for its extensive reach in medical education, serves over 13 million healthcare professionals worldwide.
This new initiative is part of Medscape’s “Medscape Essentials” program, which aims to address areas of high unmet need in medical education. In the previous year, Medscape self-funded one-third of its continuing and independent medical education activities, demonstrating a significant commitment to advancing medical knowledge.
The learning center aims to enhance awareness and understanding among healthcare professionals regarding sex and gender differences in brain health. It builds upon previous WBF forums that have engaged various stakeholders in the healthcare ecosystem, including policymakers, academia, patient associations, drug developers, regulators, and funding agencies.
Antonella Santucionne Chadha, MD, PhD, founder and pro bono CEO of the WBF, commented: “This initiative is vital. Healthcare professionals must understand that there exists intrinsic bias, not only in prevalence and incidence of specific diseases, but because many diseases progress differently in women than in men – and women respond differently to treatment in terms of efficacy and safety profiles. Collaborating with a platform like Medscape is important to our work because it can help us accelerate practice changes. We want to bring this evidence straight into the clinic. And the Medscape platform can help us do that.”
The need for such education is clear. Neurologic disorders affect approximately one in three people worldwide and are the leading cause of disability and the second leading cause of death globally, according to the most recent Global Burden of Disease Study. Despite this prevalence, sex and gender differences in brain health have been poorly explored.
S. Christy Rohani-Montez, PhD, Director of Clinical Strategy at Medscape Education, added: “This Medscape Essentials program will help to unveil sex and gender disparities, which historically within neuroscience research have exhibited a strong sex bias favoring males, and often omitted sex as a variable altogether. Medscape’s commitment to bridging the educational gaps in key areas like this supports our values surrounding health equity and our mission to be the most trusted and valued source of health information and education throughout the career of a healthcare professional.”
