Set the Pace: Health Equity Restitution
"Looking back, the hardest part wasn’t the chemotherapy, or the surgery, or the radiation. It was not being heard” - Georgina Eku Edewor Thorley (BA English and Theatre Studies, 2008), breast cancer survivor
Support For HER
For too long, women have faced extensive diagnostic delays, fewer treatment options, and a limited understanding of their underlying biology. Focused research could lead to real change.
Conditions that are unique to women - like endometriosis, gynaecological cancers, or menopause - receive less funding and significantly less attention than conditions affecting men. In fact, only five per cent of global research and development funding goes to women’s health (four per cent of that is on women’s cancers, leaving just one per cent for everything else).
Through the For HER project, Warwick is working to improve all areas of the research journey, from initial investigation to the implementation of effective treatment in a healthcare system more suited to women.
With your help, we can commit to a future where these inequalities are no longer accepted. Our region is one of the most ethnically and socioeconomically diverse in the country, and our patient population is made up of people from both urban and rural communities. Working in partnership with our patients means generating impact with a global reach.
Women were mostly excluded from clinical trials until the 1990s. So, the ways in which conditions like heart disease or asthma affect men and women differently are poorly understood.
Across the UK it takes approximately eight years for a woman to receive an endometriosis diagnosis. For women from ethnically diverse communities, it takes 11 years.
Women spend 25% more of their lives in poor health, losing an average of nine years to debilitating conditions. Addressing these inequalities could add at least $1 trillion to the global economy annually by 2040.
Hear from: Georgina, patient and alumna
Despite getting a small breast lump checked, early detection didn’t happen for Georgina. Two years later, Georgina sat in a room with a surgeon and an oncologist as they argued about her prognosis.
She felt like she was talking to a wall.
Georgina researched her condition so extensively that she felt she had a PhD in her own survival. She sought out doctors who viewed patients as partners and began to look for people with similar experiences. Georgina found a whole community of women who had been dismissed or silenced through the process of their own care.
Uncommonly, less than a year after hearing the phrase “incurable,” Georgina found out that she was cancer-free.
Hear from: Iona, researcher
Iona is a researcher in Professor Erin Greaves’ lab where she explores novel avenues, using innovative techniques established in cancer research, which haven’t been used in endometriosis before. Like cancer, endometriosis involves cells surviving where they shouldn't, evading immune destruction.
Iona’s research could transform how endometriosis is understood, diagnosed, and treated.
Through the generosity of Warwick’s donor community, mother-of-three Iona has been able to continue her research for another year. Now, harnessing AI, she seeks to discover new diagnostics that are significantly less invasive and painful, resulting in a quicker diagnosis for the one in ten women living with endometriosis.
Warwick’s leadership in women’s health research is grounded in these key areas of proven expertise:
Innovation
A team of Warwick mathematicians, engineers, and clinicians have redesigned the needle used in IVF procedures. Researchers from our Department of Chemistry are trialling new testosterone patches for women going through menopause.
Early intervention
One in six pregnancies ends in miscarriage. We have developed a pre-pregnancy test to detect a womb lining problem that is a hidden cause. Additionally, every week around 1,000 women use the Warwick-pioneered Miscarriage Support Tool on the Tommy’s website to predict their chance of a successful pregnancy and access personalised advice.
Evaluating efficiency
Warwick research findings are informing the roll out of key women’s health policy objectives across England. The Rapid National Evaluation of Women’s Health Hubs examined opportunities and barriers to be addressed in the provision of women’s healthcare.