Putting women’s health in the spotlight
A new research network in the School of Biological Sciences has been set up to focus on Women’s Health. These researchers are working to undo a longstanding male bias in health research, to help drive more effective healthcare for all.
Article first published 2 July 2025 on Cambridge University's website, written by Jacqueline Garget.
How is it possible that a woman is fifty percent more likely to receive the wrong initial diagnosis for a heart attack than a man? Or that men who report pain to a doctor tend to be prescribed pain medication, but women are more likely to be given sedatives or antidepressants?
The historically male-dominated medical profession has driven a male bias in health research and care.
For centuries, many aspects of female biology were not discussed – and in some cultures this is still the case today. Women have been side-lined or excluded from research into health conditions and drug treatments, their fluctuating hormones thought to be too much of a complication to getting reliable results.
The result is an alarming lack of understanding of many women’s health conditions, the ways women experience illness and disease differently to men, and the differences in their response to treatments.
A new network of Cambridge experts, including Professor Emma Pomeroy, Department of Archaeology and Newnham College are trying to redress the balance.
Dr Pomeroy, is turning to the past to shed light on how women’s health might be improved today. As an archaeologist studying human bones dating from the present day back to 400,000 years ago, she’s gaining a long-term perspective on the origins of contemporary health issues.
“I want to understand which aspects of our health we might have the power to change, and which are so deeply embedded in our biology that they’re beyond our control.”
Pomeroy is using innovative methods to uncover evidence of key transitions in women's lives - such as puberty, the onset of menstruation, pregnancy, childbirth, and menopause – and wants to understand how these milestones intersect with broader aspects of health.
“Accessing information about past lives can really help us understand women’s health today, particularly the major changes in women’s lives like menopause that have been largely ignored by society,” she says.