WoW Women in Tech | Maria Teresa Ferretti, Annemarie Schumacher Dimech and Antonella Santuccione Chadha, co-founders of The Women’s Brain Project
Interview by MarijaButkovic
The Women’s Brain Project (WBP) is a Swiss-based international non-profit organization focused on sex and gender determinants of brain and mental health as a gateway to precision medicine.
Maria Teresa Ferretti, PhD is co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer at the Women’s Brain Project where she oversees the scientific strategy, activity, and output of the WBP. This includes the establishment and management of scientific collaborations with various stakeholders, the writing and/or editing of WBP-authored articles and books, the preparation and delivery of seminars, talks, roundtables, and lectures on WBP topics, and the scientific direction of the WBP’s flagship annual event, the International Forum on Women’s Brain and Mental Health. After a master in Pharmaceutical Technology in Italy and a stage at the pharma GSK at Harlow (UK), Maria Teresa completed a PhD on the topic of inflammation in Alzheimer’s disease at McGill University (Canada). She then worked for 7 years as a postdoc and then group leader at University of Zurich/Zurich Neuroscience Center (Switzerland), studying the role of adaptive immunity in Alzheimer’s. She is currently an external teacher at the Medical University of Vienna. In 2016 she co-founded WBP as she realized that sex and gender determinants are not sufficiently factored in in basic as well as clinical research. Her ambition is to push gender medicine as the gateway of Precision Medicine, for the benefit of the entire society.
Annemarie Schumacher Dimech, Dr. phil. is co-founder and President at the WBP. Annemarie graduated in psychology from the University of Malta, and holds an MSc in Health Psychology from the University of Surrey (UK). In 2010, she obtained her PhD at the University of Bern (Switzerland). Today, she is employed at the University of Lucerne where she developed and is heading its programme of further education in Palliative Care. Her fascination with the interaction between body and mind motivates her to study physical and environmental factors affecting mental health. Annemarie believes that our behaviour and environment can have a long-lasting impact on our mental health. This approach forms the basis of her work with WBP, where she contributes to educational events as well as myriad projects including publications, research, and other scientific events. The sex and gender differences in various factors, including socioeconomic and psychological factors, affecting brain and mental health was Annemarie’s motivation to join forces with the other Co-founders to create WBP. Through her work with the Women’s Brain Project, increasing awareness and sharing knowledge about these differences can lead to changes that will significantly improve women’s health and society’s well-being.
Dr. Antonella Santuccione Chadha is co-founder and CEO at the WBP. Antonella is a medical doctor with profound expertise in clinical pathology, neuroscience, and psychiatric disorders. As a medical doctor, Antonella has decades of experience in preclinical research, patient treatment, clinical development, and setting up the international regulatory framework for Alzheimer’s disease. Always focused on solving the puzzles related to Alzheimer’s and other psychiatric diseases, she has worked with Swissmedic, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, several European universities, the EU commission for Health and Food Safety, the World Health Organization, and several Alzheimer’s’ disease organizations. In 2018, Antonella was nominated in the TOP 100 Women in Business in Switzerland, and in 2019 she was nominated as one of the most prominent people in the city of Basel. Antonella is keenly interested in removing bias so that precision medicine and novel technologies can be delivered to patients in a more precise and timely manner. She is advocating and acting for the creation of an Institute for sex and gender precision medicine in Switzerland.
Ladies, what is the idea behind the Women's Brain Project and how did you come up with it?
The idea behind the Women’s Brain Project (WBP) is to understand, advocate for, and research sex and gender differences in brain and mental health as a gateway to precision medicine. Men and women’s brains react with wide variations in terms of symptoms of disease, progression, and response to treatment. Unfortunately, this is often not reflected in research or clinical trials.
These differences also include looking into the specific vulnerability of the female brain to mental illness and neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s, migraine, depression, and to advocate for change on a research and policy level to improve sex and gender precision medicine.
Many people do not know that as patients, women are at higher risk of many brain diseases including Alzheimer’s, depression, anxiety, stroke, and multiple sclerosis (as examples, see http://www.womensbrainproject.com/facts/). We think it is important to begin a dialogue with society to bring these differences to light and ensure that the research and clinical solutions for these disorders are supporting the reality of the situation.
The idea was conceived by the co-founders of the Women’s Brain Project, Dr. Antonella Santuccione Chadha, Dr. Annemarie Schumacher Dimech, Gautam Maitra, and Dr. Maria Teresa Ferretti, and furthered in discussions between the co-founders and the community of researchers, clinicians, and professionals interested in promoting sex and gender precision medicine for the benefit of humanity.
When did all start and do you have other members in your team?
Discussions began about five years ago between the co-founders, and since then, almost 40 individuals have joined the organization. We also have almost thirty advisory board members who focus on academic, strategy, and advocacy advice in support of our mission.
Another unique group we have had join the team are our Ambassadors who include Sofia Petersson, who has been impacted by early onset Alzheimer’s disease for more than half of her life being herself diagnosed with the disease as well as other family members. Sofia shares her story through blog posts to help bring context to what we do.
Our other Ambassadors include three extremely talented women in the entertainment industry: Cheri Ballinger, Sylvia Day, and Fagun Thakrar. We also have many more people sharing their point of view and stories with mental and brain diseases in our blog.
We have additionally formed a number of partnerships with organizations who similarly believe in the mission of advancing sex and gender precision medicine for the benefit of society.
What are your biggest achievements to date?
We count many wins in our mission to publish, promote, advocate and engage with the community, ranging from high level publications in journals such as Nature and PNAS, to interviews (with the BBC, Financial Times, The Independent, ELLE Italy, and more), TEDx talks, lectures, and presentations.
Beyond that, we count amongst our biggest achievements, first, amassing such an impressive community of advisors and volunteers to work tirelessly toward our mission year after year.
Second, we have had two successful and inspirational editions of our flagship event, the “International Forum on Women’s Brain and Mental Health” where we bring together the academic, corporate, policy making and patient communities to discuss the pressing topics in the area of gender-based precision medicine from a transdisciplinary standpoint. These meetings have led to numerous collaborations across disciplines that would not have been enabled otherwise. From discussions of how women are affected by migraine, to how to engage more women in clinical trials, and how to ensure there is no bias built into any artificial intelligence (AI) methods brought to bear on healthcare applications (and beyond!), the Forum is a place to learn, be inspired and take action toward a better society.
The third edition of our Forum will take place virtually this year, on 19-20 September.
What are the challenges of being in the niche you are in? How about being a female founder?
The dialogue that has begun in society around sex and gender precision medicine has provided a useful foundation for us to advocate in this area, but there is still much work to be done. We know that women are more vulnerable to many mental health issues and neurological disorders, but we do not fully understand why. There is much research that needs to be done in order to translate these findings into clinical solutions that can be personalized, to the benefit of both women and men. This requires resources and dedicated programs focusing specifically on this area. As with many non-profits, we also rely heavily on donations, volunteers, and partnerships to advance our mission, which requires resources and time, two things we are always searching for more of.
Being female founders make us even more passionate about the topic of sex and gender differences in brain and mental diseases with the hope to ameliorate health and well-being of the next generations to be.
What are your projects you are currently working on?
We are currently planning the third International Forum on Women’s Brain and Mental Health that will be a virtual event on 19-20 September 2020. To that end, we are seeking partnerships and sponsors, in addition to other programs and initiatives in our pipeline that advance sex and gender precision medicine – including the establishment of an Institute. We can’t say more at this stage as details are still in the works, but stay tuned for an exciting announcement hopefully later this year!
A number of our team members are also working on publications and engagements with society to advance our mission daily. You can keep up to date on all of our exciting work by following us on Twitter https://twitter.com/womensbrainpro, Instagram https://instagram.com/womensbrainpro, or Facebook https://www.facebook.com/womensbrainpro – or signing up for our newsletter http://eepurl.com/gUXBIj.
Is the #WomenInTech movement important to you and if yes, why?
Although there is no local chapter in Switzerland, many of our individual members follow the Women in Tech movement as well as participate in women and girls in STEM events in Switzerland and around the world.
We believe that every human – including women and girls – around the world should have equal access to opportunities in STEM, and this will fuel the next generation leaders of the Women’s Brain Project – and other change-the-world initiatives.
We share the core values of the women in tech movement and encourage women and girls to go into fields that will advance our understanding of women’s brain and mental health toward more precise solutions.
Technology is a tool with huge potential for good in brain and mental health as well as precision medicine, but as with any tool, it is only as good as those designing and using it. That’s why we recently published a piece in Nature Digital Medicine on “Sex and gender differences and biases in artificial intelligence for biomedicine and healthcare”, a first of its kind. We also believe in the critical #WomenInTech movement, to ensure that women are part of creating a better tech-enabled future for all of humanity.
What is the most important piece of advice you can give to all female founders and female entrepreneurs in health tech space out there?
Be a champion for what you believe in, work tirelessly to create the change that is needed, and surround yourself by passionate people who will lift you up – because success is not available in limited quantities, so a mentality of abundance and shared achievements is key.
What will be the key trends in the health tech industry in the next 5 years and where do you see it heading?
There are many technology trends that are beginning to penetrate the health tech industry. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning applied to diagnosis of diseases, monitoring global health, and potentially creating efficiencies in healthcare systems are big ones, but as with any health technology it will be important for regulators and governments to keep pace with technology development and ensure safe and unbiased use of these technologies.
All these technologies are only as good as the data they are fed, so we have the opportunity – and responsibility – to develop and input better data that prevents discrimination or gender bias. That way, technology can become part of the solution rather than amplifying existing systemic issues.
Wearables is another big trend in health tech, as devices such as smartwatches are becoming ubiquitous for not only the quantified-self movement and fitness tracking, but also monitoring heart rate, sleep, and other factors that enable proactive healthcare seeking based on objective measures. A recent study from Stanford has shown that the Apple watch is able to detect Atrial fibrillation, and we will see more of these types of studies coming in the next 5 years.
Advances in genomics and precision medicine will also be big trends in the coming years, and we are starting to see this in oncology, where there are many ongoing clinical trials looking at targeted therapies including an individual’s own cells modified to fight the cancer. We are hopeful that these approaches will extend to brain and mental health disorders, and we continue to follow this research and development closely so we can be on the front lines of this research while advocating for the necessary policies that will support these precision medicine approaches.
Who are your 3 inspirational women / businesses in health tech?
We are inspired by all women who are pursuing and supporting cutting edge technologies toward a healthier society, such as Melinda Gates, Mylea Charvat and Andrea Pfeifer. Besides these women, there are myriad others who are too many to name, and we are also deeply inspired by the patients who are living every day with the burden of mental health and/or neurological disorders. Especially the patients like our Ambassador Sofia Petersson who has the courage to bring her own vulnerability to the public to educate and advocate for treatments for early onset Alzheimer’s patients. Patients like Sofia are why we do what we do, and we can only hope that through our efforts there will be a greater awareness and more clinical solutions for patients in the years to come.
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This interview was conducted by Marija Butkovic, Digital Marketing and PR strategist, founder and CEO of Women of Wearables. She regularly writes and speaks on topics of wearable tech, fashion tech, IoT, entrepreneurship and diversity. Follow Marija on Twitter @MarijaButkovic.