Women’s health: tackle the research funding deficit

The views expressed are the authors’ own and do not necessarily reflect those of their employers.

Competing Interests

K.T.Z. reports funding to Oxford University from Bayer, Roche, Volition UK, MDNA Life Sciences and Exeltis, and royalty payments from Bayer. Funding has also been received from the NIH, MRC UK, Wellcome, Wellbeing of Women and the European Union. K.T.Z. is a trustee and board member (honorary secretary) of the World Endometriosis Research Foundation, and advanced grants panel member, European Research Council. K.T.Z. has previously served as board member of the World Endometriosis Society and basic science member of the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology’s (ESHRE) Special Interest Group for Endometriosis and Endometrial Disorders (SIG-EED). P.S. received royalties from UpToDate for a section about acute pelvic pain, from Frontiers in Reproductive Health as specialty chief editor, gynaecology, and an AbbVie advisory board. Funds for monitoring a clinical trial were provided by Allergan through a clinical trials agreement with the NIH. P.S. receives salary support from Scientific Consulting Group to serve as the obstetric and gynaecological physician lead at the Office of Research on Women’s Health, NIH. A.H.’s institution (University of Edinburgh) received consultancy and grant funding from Roche Diagnostics to assist in endometriosis diagnostic biomarker research, and consultancy fees from Gesynta and Joii. A.H.’s institution has received grant funding from the MRC, NIHR, CSO and Wellbeing of Women for endometriosis research. A.H. received payment for a presentation from Theramex. A.H. is listed as a co-inventor on a UK patent application (no. 2217921·2). A.H. is president-elect of the World Endometriosis Society and co-editor-in-chief of Reproduction and Fertility. A.H. has been a member of the NICE and ESHRE Endometriosis Guideline Groups. A.H. is a trustee and medical adviser to Endometriosis UK (charity). L.G.G. has a patent on a synthetic extracellular matrix for organoid culture and has received funding from Cryotech for development of automated IVF protocols. L.H. is programme manager of the World Endometriosis Research Foundation. S.A.M. receives research support from the NIH, US Department of Defense, AbbVie and Marriott Family Foundations. She is field chief editor for Frontiers in Reproductive Health and has served on advisory boards for AbbVie, Roche and Abbott. S.A.M. is president of the World Endometriosis Society (WES), a trustee for the World Endometriosis Research Foundation (WERF/WERF America), a member of the Society for Women’s Health Research’s (SWHR) Interdisciplinary Network on Female Pelvic Health, and a member of the Statistical Advisory Board for Human Reproduction. In the past, she was chair of the Endometriosis (EndoSIG) and of the Nutrition (NutrSIG) Special Interest Groups for the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM). She also previously served as the international adviser to the ESHRE’s SIG-EED.