About IGM
The International Society for Gender Medicine (IGM) is an international nonprofit
organization serving as an umbrella entity for professional and national societies of gender medicine. Established in 2006, IGM's primary mission is to promote and advance gender medicine on a global scale. This entails fostering sex and gender sensitive research in the fields of basic science, clinical medicine, and public health, as well as supporting ongoing professional development, communication, and information dissemination. Over time, with increased attention to sex, gender and intersecting factors influencing health and disease, IGM has grown, now encompassing numerous national societies and individual members.
Gender medicine is founded on the understanding that individuals (women, men and gender diverse persons) may experience the same diseases differently. These differences can be related to the biological influences of genes, chromosomes, hormones, and anatomy as well as to socio-cultural gender-related influences such as gender norms, gender relations, and gender identities. As a result, disease pathophysiology can vary due to a combination of biological and socially related factors. Consequently, diseases may manifest with distinct symptoms in individuals who may respond differently to therapy, exhibit variations in tolerance and coping mechanisms resulting in different health outcomes.
To accurately assess these differences in health outcomes and reduce healthcare inequalities, IGM strives to identify opportunities for incorporating sex and gender related factors in clinical as well as basic science research, evaluating outcomes of treatment, assessing the effectiveness of the care process, and measuring the quality of healthcare services. Ongoing efforts also target health and health funding policies as well as providing information for individuals, institutions, and organizations in the field of Gender Medicine.
Therefore, the Society's objectives include advancing the understanding of sex, gender and intersecting factors by bringing together scientists and clinicians from diverse backgrounds in this international society at our biannual meetings. IGM seeks to facilitate interdisciplinary and intersectional research within both basic and clinical frameworks, promote the application of new knowledge regarding the impact of sex and gender related factors to enhance health and healthcare, and advocate for sex and gender sensitive public health issues taking account positions of social inequality as well as biological differences.
BOARD MEMBERS
Anna Maria Moretti, President: ammoretti14@gmail.com
Alessandea Carè, Treasurer: alessandra.care@iss.it
Gillian Einstein: gillian.einstein@utoronto.ca
Alexandra Kautzky-Willer: alexandra.kautzkywiller@meduniwien.ac.at
Ineke Klinge: i.klinge@sylvahome.nl
ASSOCIATE BOARD MEMBERS
Giovannella Baggio - President, Italian Research Centre for Gender Health and Medicine (Centro Studi Nazionale su Salute e Medicina di Genere), Italy giovannella.baggio@aopd.veneto.it
Marek Glezerman - President, The Israel Society for Gender and Sex Conscious Medicine, Israel m@glezerman.com
Marianne J Legato - President, The Foundation for Gender Specific Medicine, USA, mjl2@cumc.columbia.edu
Kateryna Ostrovskaya - President, Ukraine Society of Gender Medicine, Ukraine, ostrovskayae.a87@gmail.com
Ute Seeland - President, German Society of Gender Medicine (DGesGM), Germany, ute.seeland@charite.de
Miyuki Katai - President, The Japanese Association for Gender-Specific Medicine, Japan, mkataimd@grips.ac.jp
