Important awards for CAS speaker Vera Regitz-Zagrosek

Prof. Dr. med. Vera Regitz-Zagrosek, pioneer of gender medicine and lecturer in the CAS Sex- and Gender-Specific Medicine, has received two highly endowed prizes in Germany for her life’s work.

On the one hand, she was awarded the Elisabeth Selbert Prize of the State of Hesse, which is endowed with 10,000 euros. “Her findings that women and men need different medical treatments are groundbreaking. She has thus not only contributed to raising awareness in society, but also saved the lives of countless women and men,” the Hessian Minister for Social Affairs and Integration, Kai Klose, paid tribute to her at the award ceremony last September.

The Georg Klemperer Prize is awarded annually by the Board of the Berlin Medical Association. On the occasion of awarding the 2021 prize to Regitz-Zagrosek, the board writes: “It is thanks to her that in medicine in this country – and beyond – there has been an increased differentiation between men and women for some years now.”

Regitz-Zagrosek leads the module “Pharmacology, Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine” in the CAS Sex- and Gender-Specific Medicine and gives a lesson on “Sex and Gender in Myocardial Diseases” in the module “Cardiovascular Medicine”. We are very proud to have her on board and congratulate her on the well-deserved awards!

https://www.hessen.de/Presse/Traegerin-des-Elisabeth-Selbert-Preises-2021-steht-fest

https://www.aerztekammer-berlin.de/50ueberUns/50_Auszeichnungen/04_Georg-Klemperer-Preis/index.html

Partially-sponsored places also available in the second round

Thanks to the INSEL Foundation, we will be able to offer five sponsored places on the CAS Sex- and Gender-Specific Medicine also in 2022/2023. Of the total course fee of 9,400 Swiss francs, 5,000 Swiss francs will be covered by the Foundation. Applicants for a sponsored place must

  • be at the beginning of their career
  • have a demonstrable desire to implement what they have learned into practice in the long term.
  • be willing to act as an “ambassador” for the further sensitisation of the topic in science and society.

The application deadline for a sponsored place is 15 December 2021. Sponsored places are awarded on a competitive basis.

Women have a lower likelihood to receive ICU care

A new study shows that women, and in particular young women, have a lower likelihood to receive ICU care in Switzerland than men, despite being more severely ill. Cathérine Gebhard, course director of the CAS, is last author of the study that was published in mid-April 2021 in the journal Intensive Care Medicine. The retrospective analysis of the data of more than 450,000 neuro- and cardiovascular patients suggests that health care inequalities between women and men might still exist, even in one of the highest ranked health care system worldwide. Careful reassessment of triage algorithms and local protocols might help to ensure optimal and equitable use of critical care resources, thereby improving outcomes.

Read the original publication here.

First international workshop on Sexual dimorphism in cancer

The first international workshop on gender dimorphism in cancer will take place next March, organised among others by the speakers of the oncology module of the CAS. The role of hormonal and genetic differences in cancer susceptibility and response to treatment is still poorly understood. To meet this challenge, there is an urgent need to foster interdisciplinary cross-communication efforts and train the next generation of researchers in basic and translational cancer prevention. Find out more at https://2021sdcmeeting.vfairs.com or on the workshop poster:

SDC Poster 5.02.21

Swiss television reports on sex differences in Covid-19

Under the title “Men – The Weak Covid Sex”, Swiss Television’s health programme “Puls” focused on Monday 21 September on the sex differences in Covid-19 courses. CAS programme director Catherine Gebhard explains the current theories and presents her research in the section: https://www.srf.ch/play/tv/redirect/detail/d020b6eb-d5ff-4bec-bd1c-cad9be5e2c75

Sex and Gender in Medicine become a topic in Swiss politics

The Federal Council must draw up a report on the possible discrimination of women in health care. On Thursday 18 June 2020 the National Council approved a postulate to this effect by Laurence Fehlmann Rielle (SP/GE) with 113 to 69 votes.

Fehlmann criticised that the suffering of women was often not taken seriously. Moreover, research projects and clinical trials were all too often conducted exclusively with men. This leads to recommendations that do not meet the needs of women and to the prescription of drugs that are unsuitable for certain women. In medicine, the man is still considered a prototype.

Even before the postulate was dealt with in the National Council, the Federal Council had already agreed to present a report on the extent to which women were disadvantaged in medical research, prevention and care. It is undeniable that there are inequalities between women and men in this area, said Federal Councillor Alain Berset. These are attributable to both biological and social factors. “What we lack in Switzerland is an overview of the results of relevant studies on the measures that have already been taken and the recommendations that could improve this situation.” Berset pointed out that only a small part of the possible measures are within the competence of the Confederation. Nevertheless, the planned report could serve as a basis for the elaboration of concrete measures with various actors.

Postulat Fehlmann: https://www.parlament.ch/de/ratsbetrieb/suche-curia-vista/geschaeft?AffairId=20193910 (German)

https://www.parlament.ch/fr/ratsbetrieb/suche-curia-vista/geschaeft?AffairId=20193910 (French)

Start postponed until March 2021!

Given the current situation regarding the new coronavirus we have come to the conclusion that the implementation of the CAS is currently not possible within the desired framework. Since networking and personal exchange of experiences and opinions are an important part of the CAS, we also do not want to conduct the continuing education course online.

Therefore, we have decided to postpone the start of the CAS in Sex- and Gender-Specific Medicine until March 2021. The exact dates of the individual modules will be announced as soon as possible.

CAS mentioned in the European Heart Journal

The CAS in Sex- and Gender-Specific Medicine is mentioned in an article about professor Vera Regitz-Zagrosek in the European Heart Journal:

“Another important project for Vera is her contribution to the certificate of advanced studies (CAS) for ‘Sex- and Gender-Specific Medicine’ of the universities of Bern and Zurich. This CAS initiated by Professor Daniel Candinas, Vice-Rector for Research of the Universityof Bern and Professor Beatrice Beck Schimmer will be open for post-graduate students from various fields. The program is coordinated by Professor Cathérine Gebhard, professor for cardiovascular gender-specific medicine and cardiac imaging at Zurich University and the University Hospital Zurich. The course modules include cardiovascular medicine, endocrinology and metabolism, sex- and gender-specific study design, neurology and psychiatry, pharmacology, public health,and other topics. The curriculum teaches a broad and comprehensive spectrum in gender-specific medicine. The start is envisioned for May 2020.”