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Summit 2022

Why Attend?

Join the 2nd Edition of the Summit to discuss, discover and ideate about:

The link between gender and effective therapy in medicine

Bridging the missing data gap

Innovative Tracking + Screening in Women’s Health  

The Real World Consequences

01
History

Throughout history women have been considered ‘aberrations’ from the norm, rather than a crucial and vital part of the population to be included in medical trials and long-term studies.

02
Participants

Women of reproductive age were often excluded out of the fear that menstrual cycles and changes in hormones could pose unnecessary complications and act as unpredictable variables.

03
Data

This has resulted in missing data sets and a lack of understanding, diagnosis and treatment of many gynecological conditions that impact large swaths of the female population, as well as unwanted pharmaceutical side effects for non-gynecological diseases, delays in care, underdiagnoses or undertreatment.

04
Future

However – be it by wearables, mobile apps, home testing devices or kits – this is beginning to change, with the emergence of companies beginning to collect large amounts of new data, conduct subsequent research studies and develop new means of treatment.

Summit Schedule

2022
Day I
Day II
Day I
June 1, 2022
4:00 pm

The Link Between Gender And Effective Therapy In Medicine

Did you know that 70% of the people impacted by chronic pain are women? And that women have a fifty per cent higher chance than men of receiving the wrong initial diagnosis following a heart attack? There are sex differences in every single cell in the human body. This Roundtable will explore how those differences influence the way diseases manifest between the genders and how it should influence the way we can diagnose and deliver treatment effectively. Emphasis will be placed on the differences in pain, the Immune System + Cardiovascular System between Men + Women and the Implications that has ...
1 June
Time:  4:00 pm - 4:45 pm
Location:  Did you know that 70% of the people impacted by chronic pain are women? And that women have a fifty per cent higher chance than men of receiving the wrong initial diagnosis following a heart attack? There are sex differences in every single cell in the human body. This Roundtable will explore how those differences influence the way diseases manifest between the genders and how it should influence the way we can diagnose and deliver treatment effectively. Emphasis will be placed on the differences in pain, the Immune System + Cardiovascular System between Men + Women and the Implications that has ...
5:00 pm

How Women's Fertility and The Environment Intersect

Fertility, PCOS, Endometriosis
1 June
Time:  5:00 pm - 5:45 pm
Location:  Fertility, PCOS, Endometriosis
6:00 pm

The Gender Data Gap in Women's Health

Sexual Pleasure, Pregnancy, Medication
1 June
Time:  6:00 pm - 6:45 pm
Location:  Sexual Pleasure, Pregnancy, Medication
7:00 pm

Interuniversity FemTechnology Challenge Winners Present

1 June
Time:  7:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Day II
June 2, 2022
4:00 pm

Menopause

Menopause is an important life milestone and a transition that 50% of the population have already gone through or will go through at some point in their lives. And yet of the women seeking care for significant menopausal symptoms - 75% are left untreated. There are over 34 common symptoms women experience in menopause and yet - in many medical schools menopause is an optional course to be taken by prospective doctors, creating a huge knowledge gap for both patients and providers
2 June
Time:  4:00 pm - 4:45 pm
Location:  Menopause is an important life milestone and a transition that 50% of the population have already gone through or will go through at some point in their lives. And yet of the women seeking care for significant menopausal symptoms - 75% are left untreated. There are over 34 common symptoms women experience in menopause and yet - in many medical schools menopause is an optional course to be taken by prospective doctors, creating a huge knowledge gap for both patients and providers
5:00 pm

The Future of Care

Women's Health is undergoing a transformation when it comes to how we deliver care (holistic care model, care advocates, personalized care plans), when it comes to who we consider as being responsible for care (the caregiving economy and all its burdens)
2 June
Time:  5:00 pm - 5:45 pm
Location:  Women's Health is undergoing a transformation when it comes to how we deliver care (holistic care model, care advocates, personalized care plans), when it comes to who we consider as being responsible for care (the caregiving economy and all its burdens)

Holistic Care Models, Care Advocates, Personalized Healthcare plans

6:00 pm

Neurological differences

Women are disproportionately impacted by neurodegenerative diseases and mental issues ; a closer look at interesting innovations happening in the space
2 June
Time:  6:00 pm - 6:45 pm
Location:  Women are disproportionately impacted by neurodegenerative diseases and mental issues ; a closer look at interesting innovations happening in the space
7:00 pm

Interuniversity FemTechnology Challenge Winners Present

2 June
Time:  7:00 pm - 7:30 pm

InterUniversity Femtechnology

Challenge
01
What is it?

The InterUniversity FemTechnology Challenge has a 21st design to engage University medical students with complementary disciplines: computer science, mechanical engineering, biomedical, social sciences … to innovate ignored and insufficiently solved challenges facing women’s health.

02
Who can participate?

Anyone currently enrolled in University; Bachelor, Master or PhD. Multidisciplinary teams are encouraged to contribute a diversity of perspectives and approaches to the solution. However, single applicants are also permitted. Team members will use research ideally being conducted at their own university to form the basis for the solutions they propose.

03
Why should you participate?

To help bring about real change! It's estimated that more than 90% of discoveries in medical innovation stay within academia and are not implemented to improve the lives of patients. That's a huge knowledge gap right there! Additionally, due to a variety of factors (lack of funding, historic exclusion from medical trials, sociocultural biases) women's health has been subjected to a lack of innovation. From fibroids to endometriosis to menopause to mental health - the possibilities to improve the diagnosis, care, knowledge and treatment surrounding women's health are endless - so why not you?

04
When will it take place?

The Kick-Off will take place in February. The Deadline for enrolling is at the beginning of March. At the end of the 3 month Challenge – teams will pitch their solutions to an interdisciplinary panel of Judges. The Winners of each Challenge will be awarded a prize as well as presenting at the FemTechnology Summit at the beginning of June.

05
What are the topics?

The topics are related to the main themes of the Summi:

I. Disease Manifestation in Women: Chronic Pain, Depression

II. The Environment and Female Reproductive Health: from PCOS to Infertility

III. Differences in Immunity; from cyclical immunity to autoimmune diseases

06
What will the Format be?

Leading up to the Kick-Off Event in February, a series of introductory videos about each of the topics will be posted online, giving a brief overview of each of the topics, the core obstacle to each of the topics and how different interdisciplinary approaches provide unique opportunities to help solve the issues. Once the challenges have been announced and the teams enrolled - there will be an online session held every 2 weeks where teams will get feedback from the community, researchers and start-ups respectively.

Register Your Interest

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aDF9niqcsE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summit 2021

Roundtable Recordings

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aDF9niqcsE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


2021

Speakers

Get a 360-degree perspective from researchers, innovators and tech entrepreneurs about the challenges and solutions emerging in the field of FemTech

Dr. Carole Clair

Associate Professor and Co-head of Research and Innovation Training Department, UniSanté

Alexandra Alvergne

CNRS Research Fellow (Institute for Evolutionary Sciences, Montpellier University)

Laura Symul

Postdoctoral Fellow Statistics, Stanford University

Past Schedule

(2021 Edition)
Day 1
Day 2
Day 1
May 26, 2021
3:45 pm

Opening Remarks

Dr. Vera Regitz-Zagrosek is a Cardiologist and Founder, Institute of Gender in Medicine at Charité Berlin and of the International Society Gender Medicine (IGM)
Dr. med. h.c. Vera Regitz-Zagrosek
26 May
Time:  3:45 pm - 4:00 pm
Location:  Dr. Vera Regitz-Zagrosek is a Cardiologist and Founder, Institute of Gender in Medicine at Charité Berlin and of the International Society Gender Medicine (IGM)
Speaker:  Dr. med. h.c. Vera Regitz-Zagrosek
4:00 pm

RoundTable: Innovative Screening +Tracking Technologies

One of the largest innovations in the medical sphere has been changing the point of Care for Patients … giving the patients themselves access to the knowledge and tools needed to monitor their conditions remotely and have a better understanding of their health. This Panel will explore how certain companies are doing just that for gynecological issues: .... Leon A. Boston, CEO of Mobile ODT: using artificial intelligence for cervical screening, evaluation, and sexual assault forensics......... Siew-Veena, Founder of Testmate Health: at home STD Kits....... Dr. Sonali Mohanty Quantius, Founder of Haplomind: supporting perinatal depression and anxiety.
Leon A. BostonDr. Sonali Mohanty Quantius
26 May
Time:  4:00 pm - 5:30 pm
Location:  One of the largest innovations in the medical sphere has been changing the point of Care for Patients … giving the patients themselves access to the knowledge and tools needed to monitor their conditions remotely and have a better understanding of their health. This Panel will explore how certain companies are doing just that for gynecological issues: .... Leon A. Boston, CEO of Mobile ODT: using artificial intelligence for cervical screening, evaluation, and sexual assault forensics......... Siew-Veena, Founder of Testmate Health: at home STD Kits....... Dr. Sonali Mohanty Quantius, Founder of Haplomind: supporting perinatal depression and anxiety.
Speaker:  Leon A. BostonDr. Sonali Mohanty Quantius
5:45 pm

RoundTable: Gathering Female Specific Data by Innovative Means

This session will cover the innovative ways companies are going about collecting gender specific data in order to: close the data gap and have a better understanding of female specific metrics; ....Eric Dy, CEO + Co-Founder of Bloom Life: remote personalised maternal and fetal healthcare....... Marina Pavlovic Rivas, CEO + Co-Founder of Eli Health: a product monitoring hormones in saliva at home to enable women to make informed decisions about their reproductive and general health........ Dr. Shruthi Mahalingaiah, Principle Investigator on the Apple Women’s Health Study: the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health has teamed up with Apple and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) to gain a deeper understanding of how certain demographic and lifestyle factors could have an impact on menstrual cycles and gynecologic conditions.................... Laura Symul, Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford, whose research focuses on women’s health and menstrual health, using a combination of self-tracked data from mobile phone apps and devices and clinical multi-omics data.
Eric DySarah KerruishMarina Pavlovic RivasLaura Symul
26 May
Time:  5:45 pm - 7:15 pm
Location:  This session will cover the innovative ways companies are going about collecting gender specific data in order to: close the data gap and have a better understanding of female specific metrics; ....Eric Dy, CEO + Co-Founder of Bloom Life: remote personalised maternal and fetal healthcare....... Marina Pavlovic Rivas, CEO + Co-Founder of Eli Health: a product monitoring hormones in saliva at home to enable women to make informed decisions about their reproductive and general health........ Dr. Shruthi Mahalingaiah, Principle Investigator on the Apple Women’s Health Study: the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health has teamed up with Apple and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) to gain a deeper understanding of how certain demographic and lifestyle factors could have an impact on menstrual cycles and gynecologic conditions.................... Laura Symul, Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford, whose research focuses on women’s health and menstrual health, using a combination of self-tracked data from mobile phone apps and devices and clinical multi-omics data.
Speaker:  Eric DySarah KerruishMarina Pavlovic RivasLaura Symul
7:15 pm

Closing Remarks

Dr. Carole Clair specialises in the differences in clinical management induced by the gender of patients. She is also co-head of the department of training, research and innovation at the Center of general medicine and public health. She is a doctor who graduated from the University of Lausanne, FMH specialist in general internal medicine, Master in Science in Epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health.
Dr. Carole Clair
26 May
Time:  7:15 pm - 12:00 am
Location:  Dr. Carole Clair specialises in the differences in clinical management induced by the gender of patients. She is also co-head of the department of training, research and innovation at the Center of general medicine and public health. She is a doctor who graduated from the University of Lausanne, FMH specialist in general internal medicine, Master in Science in Epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health.
Speaker:  Dr. Carole Clair
7:30 pm

FemTech Summit Virtual Mingling

Connect w/ other attendees to discuss what you've listened to, learned + what other innovations you think are needed in the field of FemTech. Need an Ice-Breaker? How about discussing the way YOU think women w/ gynaecological conditions could best be matched to the appropriate care.
26 May
Time:  7:30 pm - 8:30 pm
Location:  Connect w/ other attendees to discuss what you've listened to, learned + what other innovations you think are needed in the field of FemTech. Need an Ice-Breaker? How about discussing the way YOU think women w/ gynaecological conditions could best be matched to the appropriate care.
Day 2
May 27, 2021
4:45 pm

Opening Remarks

Dr. Brigitte Leeners, Director of the Clinic for Reproductive Endocrinology at the University Hospital Zurich who will speak about what the daily life of a patient that comes to her looks like/ the issues they face and how innovative technologies can help with treatment/ facilitate their daily life
Dr. Brigitte Leeners
27 May
Time:  4:45 pm - 5:00 pm
Location:  Dr. Brigitte Leeners, Director of the Clinic for Reproductive Endocrinology at the University Hospital Zurich who will speak about what the daily life of a patient that comes to her looks like/ the issues they face and how innovative technologies can help with treatment/ facilitate their daily life
Speaker:  Dr. Brigitte Leeners
5:00 pm

RoundTable: The future of Contraception and Fertility

The field of Fertility and Contraception has long been opaque and difficult to navigate, not mention a field rife with unpleasant and unforeseen Side Effects. Medicine as a whole, however, is entering an era of personalization – this panel will explore in what ways this will revolutionize female contraception (is it impossible to envision a future where female contraception is more specifically tailored to the user?) and fertility....... Pascal Koenig, CEO + Co-Founder of AVA: a bracelet that tracks multiple physiological parameters, including pulse rate, breathing rate, and temperature in order to detect the five most fertile days of a woman’s cycle in real time, while also delivering personalized insight about reproductive health and pregnancy .........Frederik Petursson Madsen, CEO + Co-Founder of Oui: a new approach to contraception that works by topically engineering the cervical mucus to provide effective contraception with minimal side-effects....... Dr. Lynae Brayboy, Chief Medical Officer of Clue: an FDA approved menstrual tracking app........ Eirini Rapti, CEO + Founder of Inne: which uses the hormones found in saliva to determine a woman’s most fertile window thus acting as both a fertility aid or a form of contraception
Eirini RaptiDr. Lynae BrayboyFrederik Petursson MadsenPascal Koenig
27 May
Time:  5:00 pm - 6:30 pm
Location:  The field of Fertility and Contraception has long been opaque and difficult to navigate, not mention a field rife with unpleasant and unforeseen Side Effects. Medicine as a whole, however, is entering an era of personalization – this panel will explore in what ways this will revolutionize female contraception (is it impossible to envision a future where female contraception is more specifically tailored to the user?) and fertility....... Pascal Koenig, CEO + Co-Founder of AVA: a bracelet that tracks multiple physiological parameters, including pulse rate, breathing rate, and temperature in order to detect the five most fertile days of a woman’s cycle in real time, while also delivering personalized insight about reproductive health and pregnancy .........Frederik Petursson Madsen, CEO + Co-Founder of Oui: a new approach to contraception that works by topically engineering the cervical mucus to provide effective contraception with minimal side-effects....... Dr. Lynae Brayboy, Chief Medical Officer of Clue: an FDA approved menstrual tracking app........ Eirini Rapti, CEO + Founder of Inne: which uses the hormones found in saliva to determine a woman’s most fertile window thus acting as both a fertility aid or a form of contraception
Speaker:  Eirini RaptiDr. Lynae BrayboyFrederik Petursson MadsenPascal Koenig
6:45 pm

RoundTable: Pain and Symptom Management

From as far back as Ancient Egypt medicine has been rife with recorded descriptions of gynecological conditions and the physiological pain they cause. In fact, ancient Egypt has the first recorded use of the term ‘wandering uterus’ – but it was not until ancient Greece and then Rome after it that the term ‘hysteria’ was coined, often used to dismiss a vast array of symptoms exhibited by women, attributed to their physiological abnormalities. And yet a disturbing lack of innovation to help track, manage and perhaps even cure the pain caused by gynecological conditions has been historically achieved – until today. In this panel we explore the innovative technologies being put forth to treat gynecological conditions: from pre-empting menopausal symptoms, to treating endometriosis with cannaboids to the all importance of tracking the symptoms to help manage them......Alexandra Alvergne; an Oxford Fellow and CNRS researcher whose research focuses on understanding the relationship between reproduction and female health, including working on contraceptive dynamics, infection and menstrual health, diversity in age at menopause and the impact of reproduction on ageing......... Dr, Sari Prutchi Sagiv, VP of R&D at Gynica : a medical company researching and developing cannabinoid solutions to target gynaecological symptoms and diseases......... Cécile Real, Co-Founder + CEO of EndoDiag: company developing new endometriosis diagnostic solutions for healthcare professionals. These solutions are intended to contribute to a better endometriosis diagnosis, a more personalized patient management, more efficient treatment options and fertility strategy.......... Chantelle Bell & Anya Roy, Co-Founders of Syrona Health : a startup that tracks endo and health symptoms, and allows users to access a community of patients with similar symptoms as well as providing doctor approved insights.
Chantelle BellCécile RealAlexandra AlvergneDr. Sari Prutchi SagivAnya Roy
27 May
Time:  6:45 pm - 8:15 pm
Location:  From as far back as Ancient Egypt medicine has been rife with recorded descriptions of gynecological conditions and the physiological pain they cause. In fact, ancient Egypt has the first recorded use of the term ‘wandering uterus’ – but it was not until ancient Greece and then Rome after it that the term ‘hysteria’ was coined, often used to dismiss a vast array of symptoms exhibited by women, attributed to their physiological abnormalities. And yet a disturbing lack of innovation to help track, manage and perhaps even cure the pain caused by gynecological conditions has been historically achieved – until today. In this panel we explore the innovative technologies being put forth to treat gynecological conditions: from pre-empting menopausal symptoms, to treating endometriosis with cannaboids to the all importance of tracking the symptoms to help manage them......Alexandra Alvergne; an Oxford Fellow and CNRS researcher whose research focuses on understanding the relationship between reproduction and female health, including working on contraceptive dynamics, infection and menstrual health, diversity in age at menopause and the impact of reproduction on ageing......... Dr, Sari Prutchi Sagiv, VP of R&D at Gynica : a medical company researching and developing cannabinoid solutions to target gynaecological symptoms and diseases......... Cécile Real, Co-Founder + CEO of EndoDiag: company developing new endometriosis diagnostic solutions for healthcare professionals. These solutions are intended to contribute to a better endometriosis diagnosis, a more personalized patient management, more efficient treatment options and fertility strategy.......... Chantelle Bell & Anya Roy, Co-Founders of Syrona Health : a startup that tracks endo and health symptoms, and allows users to access a community of patients with similar symptoms as well as providing doctor approved insights.
Speaker:  Chantelle BellCécile RealAlexandra AlvergneDr. Sari Prutchi SagivAnya Roy
8:15 pm

Closing Remarks

The Rector of ETH Zurich will deliver the closing remarks to the ETH Zurich FemTech Summit
Prof. Sarah Springman
27 May
Time:  8:15 pm - 8:30 pm
Location:  The Rector of ETH Zurich will deliver the closing remarks to the ETH Zurich FemTech Summit
Speaker:  Prof. Sarah Springman
8:30 pm

FemTech Summit Virtual Mingling

Connect w/ other attendees to discuss what you listened to + learned today. Need an Ice-Breaker? Try coming up with what YOU think the biggest data set missing for female health is + how you think one might go about finding it.
27 May
Time:  8:30 pm - 9:30 pm
Location:  Connect w/ other attendees to discuss what you listened to + learned today. Need an Ice-Breaker? Try coming up with what YOU think the biggest data set missing for female health is + how you think one might go about finding it.

About the Summit

Hosted annually, the FemTechnology Summit features top Startups, Researchers and Medical Doctors working in the field of women’s health – brining them together to showcase innovations happening in the field and highlight where work still needs to be done. 

ETHZ Human Medicine: The path via ETH Zurich (for the Bachelor’s degree) and one of its partner universities (for the Master’s degree) lays the foundations for an education in human medicine that will go on to open up opportunities for exchange with the world of science and pave the way towards new developments and technologies. Tackling methods used in the world today, for instance in the areas of personalised medicine and medical engineering, provides a greater understanding of the opportunities and limitations of future treatment methods. ETH Zurich was a FemTechnology partner for the first edition of the Summit 

Women at the Table,  founded and based in International Geneva, is the first Civil Society Organization to focus on feminist systems change by exercising leverage points in the key sectors of technology, the economy, sustainability and democratic governance. We accomplish this  by using the prism of technology, innovation & AI.  

Co-founders of the <A+> Alliance for Inclusive Algorithms, we focus on correcting algorithmic bias. This bias is notably present in medical research and outcomes which is why we are proud to co-sponsor the first ETHZ FemTech Summit.   

We are leadership of the UN Women Generation Equality Forum Action Coalition for Technology & Innovation for Gender Equality. 

PODCASTS: 

–> About the Summit <–

https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/how-technology-can-help-with-perinatal-depression/46636416

https://femtechinsider.com/femtechnology-femtech-summit-interview-oriana-kraft/

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3kBEnPmV5pTLbbziyF3riw?si=L8NNgz_7RT6fKdIqNEQm2g&dl_branch=1

https://rss.com/podcasts/epfelles/

–> About Hormones + Female Health <–

 https://helloclue.com/podcast/hormonal-podcast-clue

ARTICLES:

–> About our Panelists <– 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/07/health/femtech-women-health-care.html

https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/how-an-app-is-helping-women-self-diagnose-perinatal-depression/46515038

https://www.20minutes.fr/sante/2026871-20170310-bientot-solution-faciliter-diagnostic-endometriose

https://www.letemps.ch/societe/carole-clair-une-vocation-legalite

https://www.letemps.ch/societe/laura-symul-un-oeil-regles-jouent-un-role-crucial-survie-espece

Oriana Kraft conceived, curated and produced the first edition of the FemTechnology Summit as her Bachelor’s Research Project at ETH Zurich.  Since then she’s become passionate about improving women’s health; from startup ecosystems, to medical education and convinced of the need to connect the great innovations happening in FemTech with the huge remaining gaps in medicine for women, particularly connecting innovative solutions directly with the patients who need them most. 

Since graduating from ETH Zurich, Oriana decided to produce the second edition of the FemTechnology Summit, is working on a media project regarding the personalisation of women’s health and an Aggregator.

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