The centre aims to be a virtual hub that brings together knowledge and translates it into innovations in healthcare for women. From their various positions, Hanneke Takkenberg (professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery), Greet Vink (director of the Research & Development Office and Smart Health Tech) and Jeanine Roeters van Lennep (internist in vascular medicine) wish to stimulate collaboration among doctors, researchers and the outside world.
What prompted the establishment of the Netherlands Women’s Health Research & Innovation Center?
Jeanine Roeters van Lennep: “In January 2024, Greet Vink returned from CES in Las Vegas, the largest technology fair in the world. She said: ‘Jeanine, women’s health is going to be huge, even in the tech field.’ At the same time, the World Economic Forum published a report on the economic effects of poor women’s healthcare. In the Netherlands alone, that costs 12.6 billion euros annually! Greet Vink, Hanneke Takkenberg and I decided to gauge how much interest there was in women’s health among our colleagues at Erasmus MC. We organised several meetings, which received an overwhelmingly positive response. We did not expect such a high level of interest. But it does indicate how relevant this topic is.”
Why did you not expect this?
“The topic is now alive in academia, but it has not always been that way. I have been working on this subject since my PhD in 2001. For a long time, I was seen as a bit of a weirdo, always bringing up the importance of gender differences. Everyone knew that whenever Jeanine raised her hand, there would be that question again. But I thought: someone needs to ask it. Often, it led to an opportunity for reflection.
“Now, the scientific evidence is piling up, and differences between men and women are no longer only examined from an activist standpoint, but from scientific interest. You can sense that things are moving. It’s not just coming from doctors or clinical researchers, but also from fundamental research and all other fields. It’s exciting to see that there is finally momentum, especially after working on it for so long.”
Why did you find it important to start a health centre specifically for women?
“Healthcare is very siloed: gynaecology, cardiology, internal medicine. This separation is bad for healthcare in general, but perhaps even worse for women’s health. I regularly encounter diagnoses in women where I think: how could this have been missed? For example, a woman has blood loss. When I ask her about her menstruation, it turns out she has been having extremely heavy periods every month. But nobody has ever asked about that, so instead of treating her menstruation, she receives iron infusions.
“I think that is just not good care. This is a very concrete example where more attention to women’s health can lead to improvements in other fields beyond gynaecology – not only in the quality of life for these women but also in terms of healthcare costs.”
What role will the centre play in this?
“The key is breaking down the silos. We want the centre to promote interaction between researchers and doctors at Erasmus MC. Everyone, whether a surgeon or an internist, should ask about menstruation, menopause and all other women-specific issues, as they are interconnected with other organ systems. In this way, we aim to contribute to reducing (too) late diagnoses and underdiagnosis. The latter occurs, for example, with bladder cancer diagnoses. If a man has blood in his urine, all red flags go up. But when a woman has blood in her urine, it is often thought, ‘that’s probably just menstruation or bleeding after intercourse, or a urinary tract infection’. Only in a very late stage, bladder cancer is considered.”
Can women visit the centre as patients?
“We have deliberately chosen to establish a research and innovation centre rather than a physical healthcare facility. This fits our profile as a university hospital, and moreover, we are already providing a lot of care. The centre functions more as a hub that develops, shares knowledge and builds a ‘coalition of the willing’: we map out who is doing what so we can connect doctors and researchers with each other, and also with companies and innovators.
“We want to bridge the gap between research and care, so we can use our knowledge to help women. We interpret innovations very broadly; they can be technical, but also social. An innovator, Georgina Lara Booth, is currently developing a prototype for a female-friendly urinal. I hope it eventually comes to fruition.”
Erasmus MC is the first hospital with a women’s health centre focused on research and innovation. Why do you think that is?
“I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the first Women’s Health Research & Innovation Center has been established at Erasmus MC; we’re simply good at it here. The great thing about Erasmus MC is that you’re given the space to take initiative. We were able to set up this centre very quickly.
“In 2011, I founded a clinic with gynaecologist Hans Duvekot for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases in women who experienced severe pregnancy complications. If you encounter the right people here, you can move quickly. Plus, there is a lot of expertise already, such as with the Gender in Research Fellowship from Maryam Kavousi and in the field of education.”
The research centre includes ‘Netherlands’ in its name. Are there national ambitions?
“It is called the Netherlands Women’s Health Research & Innovation Center at Erasmus MC. So hopefully, other university medical centres will establish similar centres. It would be fantastic to have a network. The centre should not become something hierarchical, and we absolutely do not want to descend into a competitive mode. Especially in women’s health, you need all the help you can get. That is our philosophy: collaboration. Like with Greet and Hanneke, we each have our distinct focus areas. That’s why the three of us are in the photo: it’s really exciting to show that women together have established this.”
