2021 Summit

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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.

Updates:

2021 Speakers - what's new?

MOBILE ODT's cervical screening technology will support a national cervical cancer screening project in India

Cervical cancer affects 1 in every 79 Indian women. India contributes to 1/5th of all cervical cancer cases in the world. The EVA cervical screening technology of Mobile ODT will support a national cervical cancer screening project in India. It will be the most comprehensive and largest cervical cancer screening program performed in India, to date. In the words of CEO, Leon A. Boston at the 2021 Summit: "The only way to make an impact on cervical cancer screening is with artificial intelligence. This is going to be a game-changer for cervical cancer across the world."
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Integrating gender into the curriculum of all Swiss medical schools?

Carole Clair and Joëlle Schwarz, co- heads of the Medical and Gender unit at the University of Lausanne's Centre of General Medicine and Public Health (Unisanté), began introducing courses on the influence of sex and gender on health into the medical curriculum in 2019. They have now received funding from the umbrella organisation Swissuniversities to integrate gender into the program of all Swiss medical schools in collaboration with all Swiss medical universities.
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Cirqle Biomedical wins the 2021 Index Award

The Index Project foundation focuses on design that solves real needs in society – ‘design to improve life.’ OUI were awarded the Index Award for their innovative non hormonal contraceptive. Based on a completely novel approach to birth control, the OUI capsule reinforces the natural mucus barrier that exists in the cervical canal thereby making ovulatory cervical mucus impenetrable for sperm cells. OUI encourages women to take ownership of their bodies by utilising the female body's own defences to aid birth control.
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Roundtable Recordings

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.