The Wyss makes up for lost time with health innovation for women

How women’s health advocacy, data-driven technology innovation, cross-sector collaboration, and investment converge at the Wyss to help close the gender gap in healthcare

By Mariel Schoen

For decades, the disparities between men’s and women’s health have been both obvious and overlooked. While it’s widely understood that women and men are biologically distinct, the implications of these differences have often been ignored in medical research and innovation.

At the heart of this issue is a troubling reality: many drugs on the market today were tested solely on male subjects, and countless conditions that exclusively or disproportionately affect women remain poorly understood. Women often respond differently to the same diseases and drugs as their male counterparts both, in terms of severity and symptoms. As a result, women often spend 25% more time in poor health than men and face later than average diagnoses for over 700 diseases.

On September 25, the Wyss Institute hosted a Women’s Health Symposium aimed at turning the tide on these disparities. The event brought together like-minded investors, clinicians, advocates, researchers, and philanthropists with a shared vision: to close the gender gap in healthcare. This symposium was not just another gathering – it was a call to action, emphasizing the need for systemic change and greater investment in women’s health to enable new diagnostic and therapeutic capabilities specifically targeting disorders affecting women.

The untapped potential in women’s health

Moderated by Wyss Institute COO Angelika Fretzen, Ph.D., M.B.A., the symposium’s opening panel featured influential female leaders from industry, investment, and advocacy, including Carolee Lee, CEO and Founder of Women’s Health Access Matters (WHAM), a non-profit organization committed to accelerating research and innovation in women’s health through a focus on the economic value of investment. Lee was joined by Jessica Federer, M.P.H., Chair of the NYSE Women’s Health Investor Summit and Board Member at Sage Therapeutics, and Christina Isacson, Ph.D., a Partner at Lightstone Ventures.

Their conversation underscored a critical issue: the absence of a dedicated field for women’s health. Unlike pediatrics or geriatrics, women’s health is not yet a recognized specialty in medicine, despite women making up 52% of the population.

As Federer pointed out, “…data on women’s health has only been systematically collected since 1993, since the movie Jurassic Park came out.”

Even 30 years after the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Revitalization Act, which mandated the inclusion of women (and minorities) in clinical research in 1993, there is a lack of significant progress in areas such as Alzheimer’s, heart disease, and many other conditions that have a disproportionate impact on women. This problem has been compounded by the fact that the Revitalization Act’s reach remained limited because only 6% of all clinical trials are funded by the NIH.

Federer highlighted another crucial point: the science and technologies necessary for transformative change already exist; they just need to be applied with a gender-specific focus. This realization sets the stage for what could be a significant leap forward in women’s health. But the challenge remains: how do we channel this potential into tangible change?

Barriers to change – and how to overcome them

Isacson highlighted the critical need for more inclusive research and clinical trials, particularly in high-investment areas like autoimmune, cardiovascular, and metabolic diseases. While acknowledging the increasing capital being poured into these therapeutic areas, she stressed that the core issue lies in the types of questions being asked in regards to women’s health and the lack of representation of women in preclinical and clinical studies. Isacson emphasized that in order to improve treatment outcomes in women, it’s essential for clinical trials to reflect the demographics of the conditions being studied, such as autoimmune diseases for example, where 80% of those affected are women.

She emphasized her commitment to ensuring that trials are designed with this representation in mind, stating that while much more funding will be necessary, allocating those resources effectively to ask the right questions and gather relevant data is vital.

There is capital and now it’s just our responsibility to point those dollars in the right direction to the question we’re asking and the data we’re collecting to contribute and hopefully accelerate timelines and understandings [for women’s health].

“There is capital and now it’s just our responsibility to point those dollars in the right direction to the question we’re asking and the data we’re collecting to contribute and hopefully accelerate timelines and understandings [for women’s health],” said Isacson.

Isacson called for a patient-centered approach, advocating for cross-functional collaboration between investors and scientists to overcome the regulatory and commercial challenges that have historically hindered progress in women’s health.

Lee brought this idea back to the stark disparities in health outcomes between men and women. Her message was clear: without data-driven investment, the progress needed in women’s health will continue to lag. She cited sobering statistics from the 2022 WHAM Report: women are 50% more likely to die following a heart attack than men, and they make up 75% of the 5.4 million people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease in the United States. Yet, despite these realities, less than 2% of federal funding is directed toward women’s health. “How can we have an impact without addressing 52% of the population?” Lee asked.

Women are 52% of the population, 51% of the workforce, make 85% of the spending decisions, are 60% of the wealth in the country, and make 80% of the healthcare decisions. We are not a niche market by any stretch.

Lee is optimistic that further economic analysis will help move the dial for investors. “Women are 52% of the population, 51% of the workforce, make 85% of the spending decisions, are 60% of the wealth in the country, and make 80% of the healthcare decisions. We are not a niche market by any stretch,” said Lee.

Charting a path forward through the Wyss Institute’s innovation engine

During the second half of the symposium, Wyss Founding Director Don Ingber, M.D., Ph.D. and FemTechnology Founder Oriana Kraft led a second panel discussion with Wyss faculty, staff, and collaborators that highlighted several innovative platform technologies being developed at the Wyss Institute, and how they are being applied to create solutions for unmet needs in women’s health.

Christopher Chen, M.D., Ph.D., a Core Faculty member at the Wyss Institute, shared insights on his work addressing lymphedema, a condition that affects a significant number of women following breast cancer and gynecological surgeries. He explained that more women are genetically predisposed to primary lymphedema than men. “There’s really something different about lymphatic vessels in women than in men… We’ve developed bioavailable drugs that can activate the lymphatic system, offering hope for a condition with no current drug treatments,” said Chen.

Chen’s research has led to the discovery that under normal conditions, lymphatic vessels sense excess fluid and actively drain it. However, during inflammation, they lose this ability, which can be restored by manipulating specific signaling pathways. Chen’s team has developed the world’s first drugs that target those pathways to reduce edema. These drugs are being tested in animals, and further developed by Wyss startup Ropirio Therapeutics, which is now in the fundraising stage.

Wyss Core Faculty member Jennifer Lewis, Sc.D., works closely with Chen on the Wyss’ 3D Organ Engineering Initiative. During the panel discussion, Lewis described her pioneering work on engineering vascularized 3D printed tissues – a platform technology uniquely enabled by the Wyss. “When I got to Harvard I was really attracted to the Wyss, because I believe here at the Wyss we build the future – and we build it quickly,” said Lewis.

When I got to Harvard I was really attracted to the Wyss, because I believe here at the Wyss we build the future – and we build it quickly.

Lewis highlighted one team from her lab that is working to give breast cancer survivors safer options for breast reconstruction and augmentation. Developed in collaboration with Chen, their ReConstruct technology uses 3D bioprinting to engineer vascularized breast tissue made from a patient’s own cells in the lab. The grown tissue flaps can be directly connected to blood vessels in the body. The team has de-risked and validated the technology in mice and is working to launch a startup.

Ellen Roche, Ph.D., an Associate Faculty member at the Wyss Institute, discussed her lab’s focus on cardiovascular implants and how her research has expanded to address women’s health issues, such as obstetric fistulas and other gynecological concerns. Roche is working to develop personalized implants using minimally invasive hydrogels to repair heart defects, a platform technology that could also be applied to obstetrics, especially in underserved communities where surgery may not be accessible.

Roche emphasized the importance of designing medical devices tailored for women, noting that many existing devices, such as left ventricular assist devices (LVADs), are made for men and do not fit women’s bodies. Roche and colleagues are working to bring the female voice to medical device design, specifically advocating for better cardiovascular devices designed with women in mind.

As Head of the Wyss Diagnostics Accelerator, Rushdy Ahmad, Ph.D., is passionate about international health access equity. “Women are the largest portion of the underserved population in the universe,” said Ahmad. “Asking the right clinical questions is critical in order to develop biomarkers for diagnostic platforms, which can lead to earlier detection of diseases like endometriosis and ovarian cancer.”

The development and delivery of any diagnostic is a long, intricate process that requires deep collaboration between researchers, clinicians, and regulatory bodies. The Wyss Diagnostics Accelerator (DxA) is focused on facilitating these collaborations to accelerate the availability of life-saving diagnostic tools for underserved populations. It is uniquely positioned to achieve this goal due to its close collaboration with world-renowned hospitals Mass General and Brigham and Women’s. The DxA’s direct engagement with clinicians, such as fellow panelist Daniel Cramer, M.D., Sc.D., Director of the OB/GYN Epidemiology Center at the Brigham, can ensure the relevance and practicality of new diagnostics also through testing them at the Brigham’s FDA-approved CLIA lab.

Inventing the future for women’s health at the Wyss

The Wyss is at the forefront of translating scientific discovery into real-world solutions that can impact patients’ lives. It’s model and technology development pipeline provide a faster track to impact also by circumventing the limitations of traditional federal grant cycles.

“If I submit a grant today, it doesn’t get funded until a year from now. Because of that, you don’t take chances. The Wyss allows me to change that cycle – I can bring something that I think is really important to the Wyss and receive funding within a month. If the project starts working, other staff start to jump in, and it starts to self-assemble,” said Chen. “In some ways, the passions and expertise of the Wyss staff act as a self-selection process, but it’s up to us as investigators to figure out what things we’re working on that really matter.”

The Wyss Institute’s proactive and innovative model could serve as a blueprint for closing the gender gap in medicine. Scientific discovery and technology development efforts at the Wyss are anchored by the newly launched Women’s Health Catalyst. Spearheaded by Adama Sesay, Ph.D., Senior Engineer and member of the Wyss’ Advanced Technology Team, and Angelika Fretzen, who is also the Wyss’ Technology Translation Director, the Catalyst embodies a bold step toward a reimagined future where healthcare is truly inclusive, aiming to explore conditions that affect women most, like autoimmune disorders and cardiovascular health, and to develop new technologies that address conditions in women or are equally effective for men and women.

A call for collaboration: it takes a village

The discussions at the symposium made clear that progress in women’s health requires more than just scientific innovation – it demands collective action.

Admiral Susan Blumenthal expressed her enthusiasm to see the next chapter of women’s health written at the Wyss. “I’m so excited to be here at the Wyss because this is a collaboratory for innovation, and this is really about bringing the tools of the 21^st century to bear on the issues that affect women, and to build and to discover new frontiers now and in the years ahead,” said Blumenthal, who was the first Deputy Assistant Secretary for Women’s Health in the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

I’m so excited to be here at the Wyss because this is a collaboratory for innovation, and this is really about bringing the tools of the 21st century to bear on the issues that affect women, and to build and to discover new frontiers now and in the years ahead.

The Wyss Institute is poised to play a crucial role in this effort as a nexus for women’s health innovation, but we cannot do it alone. To achieve the vision of a world where women’s health is fully integrated into the broader healthcare landscape, new champions are needed – champions who understand that women need to receive their fair share of health care, and that they are not a niche market but a significant opportunity for impact.

“Multidisciplinary collaboration has been at the core of the Wyss model since its inception,” said Fretzen. “Now, we are working to expand our ecosystem to include new partners from industry, investment, and philanthropy, each bringing unique perspectives and resources to accelerate the pace of change.”

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