Institut für Geschlechtersensible Medizin
Gender-sensitive medicine is a key area of medical research and patient care. Women and men can suffer from the same diseases, but these can manifest themselves in different ways in both sexes. This is mainly due to the different genetic and hormonal constitution of the two sexes, which affects their anatomy and physiology. This can result in different disease probabilities, pathophysiologies, symptoms and courses of disease. In addition, sociocultural and biological factors influence the course of disease differently in men and women.
With the establishment of an Institute for Gender-Sensitive Medicine at the University Medical Center Essen, the existing potential of knowledge about gender-sensitive aspects in research, teaching and patient care is to be turned into a directly usable platform for employees and students. The institute bundles and structures the expertise available on campus so that added value for research, teaching and patient care is created in the long term.
Highlights from the institute
March 2025 SPIRIT Summer School
The SPIRIT Summer School on the “Gendered nature of mental illness - How diagnosis and therapy can be improved” will take place in Essen from September 1 to 5, 2025. This event offers a unique opportunity to exchange ideas with experts and to work on the topic. The provisional schedule can be found here.
Participation, as well as board and lodging, are free of charge. Registration deadline: June 15, 2025
Please fill out the registration form & send it to igsm@uk-essen.de to register for the event. Places are limited. We look forward to your participation!
New Year's greetings & review of a successful 2024
The Institute for Gender-Sensitive Medicine wishes you a happy and healthy new year!
We hope you have had a good start to 2024 and wish you all the best for the coming months.
Attached you will find our New Year's letter. Looking back on 2024, we can look back with pleasure on numerous successes. You can find more details in our review of the year.
IGSM receives funding from MKW New professorship for gender-sensitive medicine at the UDE
The University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE) is to receive a new professorship in the field of “Gender-sensitive medicine with consideration of genetic mechanisms”. This will be based at the Institute for Gender-Sensitive Medicine (IGSM) from the summer semester of 2025. The funding of 2.25 million euros over three years is part of a program of the Ministry of Culture and Science that supports the consideration of gender issues in research. The IGSM, founded at the end of 2023, will be significantly strengthened with the new professorship. The UDE and the IGSM are thus taking an important step towards better integration of gender aspects in medical research and education.
08.03.2024 Pioneering institutions in gender research
Gender research has a long tradition at the University of Duisburg-Essen - especially through the Essen Center for Gender Studies. Today, March 8, not only its 25th anniversary is being celebrated, but also another milestone: The kick-off of the Institute for Gender-Sensitive Medicine. Dr. Maren A. Jochimsen, Prof. Dr. Anke Hinney and Associate Professor Dr. Andrea Kindler-Röhrborn explain in an interview how the comparatively short history of the university has led to particular innovative strength.
IGSM in the media
The latest issue of Bild der FRAU magazine has published “Die Große Ärzteliste”, a list of 115 doctors who specialize in gender-sensitive medicine. In collaboration with the Institute MINQ Institute , doctors from 55 cities and 27 specialist areas were selected who stand out for their expertise in treating gender-specific health problems. The list is based on comprehensive research, taking into account further training, publications and qualifications relevant to practice, and is intended to make it easier for women to find trustworthy doctors who take their specific needs seriously. Among others, the two co-founders of the IGSM PD Dr. Andrea Kindler-Röhrborn and Prof. Dr. Anke Hinney and the IGSM members Prof. Dr. Arzu Özcelik, Prof. Dr. Selma Ugurel, PD Dr. Franziska Degenhardt, Prof. Dr. Dagmar Führer-Sakel and Prof. Dr. Susanne Reger-Tan are represented.
04.09.2024|Hier und Heute Medicine in transition: Prof. Dr. Anke Hinney from the University of Duisburg-Essen explains why medical research needs to focus more on women
In the current edition of “Hier und Heute”, Prof. Dr. Anke Hinney from the University of Duisburg-Essen sheds light on the urgent need to pay more attention to women in medical research. From minute seven as well as one hour and nine minutes in, she explains how gender-specific differences in diagnostics and disease progression are often neglected and what impact this has on medical care. With her expertise and passion for the topic, she emphasizes the importance of more inclusive research to better understand and promote women's health.
02.09.2024|New Study Hormone therapy alters the gut microbiome in trans people
How does gender reassignment hormone therapy affect the gut microbiome and therefore the health of trans people? A study conducted by an international team of researchers led by Prof. Dr. Johannes Fuß from the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE) shows for the first time how profoundly hormone therapy changes the composition and function of the intestinal flora - with noticeable differences between the sexes. These findings could be decisive for future health strategies in transgender medicine.
09.08.2024| Television report about the IGSM WDR: Presentation of the IGSM & Interview with Prof. Dr. Anke Hinney
The newly founded Institute for Gender-Sensitive Medicine in Essen is presented in a recent report on the WDR program “Lokalzeit Ruhr”. In a studio interview, the co-founder and acting director of the institute, Prof. Dr. Anke Hinney, explains the fundamental goals and vision of the institute, which is dedicated to researching and implementing gender-sensitive approaches in medical care.
Highlights from the specialist journals
on the topic of gender-sensitive medicine
24.10.2024| Article in ScienceWhy don't pregnant women become anemic?
If more red blood cells are needed in the body - during pregnancy, for example - the blood-forming stem cells must be stimulated to produce them. How these stem cells are activated was previously unclear. In a study recently published in Science, researchers led by Prof. Dr. Dr. Alpaslan Tasdogan, Professor in the Department of Dermatology at Essen University Hospital, have discovered that so-called retrotransposons, small genetic units that can move back and forth within the genome, trigger the activation of stem cells and thus initiate hematopoiesis.
02.10.2024| Article in ÄrzteblattGender Data Gap in medicine
Despite advanced knowledge, medical care often remains gender imbalanced. The article in the Ärzteblatt highlights the impact of the gender data gap on healthcare and discusses why there is an urgent need to close this gap. You can find out what role artificial intelligence can play in this in the article.
Oktober 2024| Paper in Clincal Psychology in EuropeWhy women need to be put in the spotlight when it comes to health
Despite medical advances, the specific health needs of women - both physical and mental - often remain insufficiently addressed. A paper published in “Clinical Psychology in Europe” by Prof. Dr. Cornelia Weise and Carola Hajek Gross sheds light on how gender-specific factors increase the risk of mental illness and why a gender-sensitive approach in clinical psychology is essential.
05.08.2024| Article in NatureHow do doctors perceive their patients' pain?
A study by Alex Gileles-Hillel, physician and scientist at Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center in Jerusalem, and colleagues shows that doctors often take the pain of their female patients less seriously than the pain of their male patients.
The article explains why this might be the case and how this situation could be improved.