Optimizing and personalizing women’s health throughout the lifespan
At the University of Twente, a multidisciplinary group of researchers works on women’s health and gender medicine-related topics and has come together to work on technological solutions for health and well-being to identify and address knowledge gaps, specific unmet needs and unresolved problems in various life phases of women. This collaboration is referred to as the Technology for Women's Health research pillar.
Together, we work on gaining knowledge on the (changes in) physical and mental health of women, including anatomy, physiology and pathology of the female body but also looking at wellbeing throughout their life. This research can also support understanding why differences between men and women occur in health and disease manifestation, but also why women often respond differently to a treatment. In doing so, we can develop or adapt technologies, that can be used in both the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases that (primarily) affect women. These diseases are women-specific diseases, such as gynaecological disorders, breast cancer, and ovarian cancer but also diseases that occur more often in women, such as osteoporosis. Additionally, the group will address the design and uptake of technology for women as an essential part of research in Women’s Health.
With this new collaboration, we focus on bringing innovative technologies specific to women’s health to those in need, thereby supporting the personalization of prevention, diagnosis, treatment and aftercare, consequently leading to improved results in Women’s Health. Our focus hereby is to improve women’s health and well-being – during different parts of life, such as pregnancy, lactation and (post-)menopause – thereby benefiting both women, their children and loved ones, and thus impacting society as a whole.
Highlighted Research projects
Our mission
Empower women through education and knowledge creation and translation by developing a network of collaborative and well-funded research on basic research and discovery on technology optimization and development; on technology application in appropriate home, primary care, or clinical setting; on real-world data acquisition/analysis of gender differences in symptoms, diagnosis and management; on quality-of-life studies from holistic viewpoints; on outreach to engage with society to identify gaps and elicit opinion for improved solutions.
Objectives
- Design and development of new data strategies and technologies for and with women.
- Responsible use of data & AI, combined with patient perspectives to personalize health and care pathway prevention, diagnosis, treatment and follow-up
- Increasing participation of women with and without female-related health conditions and voicing of unique experiences in health care and research.
- Optimizing (self-)care and quality of life for women from a holistic point of view (mental, physical and social wellbeing).
Contact
If would you like more information, please contact Nikki van de Veerdonk via n.a.vandeveerdonk@utwente.nl. Are you looking for a specific core team member? Meet the team here.