Physician-scientist Basmah Safdar, MD, has long viewed—and practiced—women’s health as precision medicine. Every cell has a sex. Accordingly, a precision health perspective demonstrates that there are fundamental differences between men and women in almost every health and disease that dictate clinical care. Inadequate sex-specific data drives healthcare inefficiencies and higher costs due to missed or delayed diagnosis and less effective treatments. As director of Women’s Health Research at Yale, Safdar argues that women’s health is precision medicine’s unfinished business in a new Comment for The Lancet.
“The time for women’s health is here. Reframing women’s health through a rigorous, biology-based framework corrects a healthcare system built on incomplete science and missed opportunities,” writes Safdar.
We spoke with Safdar about what precision health requires and what it will take to create meaningful change and improve the lives of women and men alike.