Potsdam/Neuruppin, 23 June 2025

How relevant are gender-specific aspects to good healthcare? This question is in the focus of the newly established partnership between the Brandenburg Medical School Theodor Fontane (MHB) and G3, a registered association for gender equality in healthcare. An inauguration ceremony at the Potsdam Alexianer St. Josef hospital marked the official start of the cooperation on 16 June 2025.

Strategic alliance aims at fairness in healthcare

MHB vice president Prof. Dr. Irene Hinterseher points to a shortage of adequate therapy approaches, particularly for women: “These gaps are not just statistics, but can have life-threatening consequences.” This is why the MHB joins forces with G3 for a better integration of gender-specific differences into research, teaching and patient care. The objective is safe, individual and evidence-based healthcare, independent of gender. The initiative starts exactly where new findings are needed but frequently not available: in everyday therapeutic practice.  

In their welcoming words, parliamentary vice president Dr. Jouleen Gruhn and Theresa Pauli from the regional Health Ministry appreciated the partnership as closing an important gap between scientific findings, political control and patient care in practice. Their message was that fair healthcare politics need to keep everybody in sight and mind and take gender differences into consideration.   

Among the key topics of the cooperation is the use of Artificial Intellgence (AI) in healthcare. The initiative #EqualHealthCare is intended to draw attention to the Gender Data Gap, i.e. the structural data gap as a result of which women and marginal groups are insufficiently or falsely represented in many areas of life such as medicine, city planning, technology or economy. Artificial intelligence is expected to have a decisive impact on healthcare but can only be as good as its data basis. According to IT developer and G3 board member Antonella Lorenz, AI can only work with what has been made available: “If data on women or marginalized groups are missing, the existing supply gap will increase.”

Annegret Hofmann was awarded the honorary membership of the association during the ceremony. The medical journalist recognized early-on what remained unnoticed for too long: that females and males differ in disease characteristics, symptoms and reactions to medication. She was a co-founder of the association in 2016, which started out with just a few members and succeeded in building a notable supra-regional network. Their dedication ensured visibility for the topic in expert communities as well as the general public.  

Important stimuli from research and practice

About 50 invited participants from the fields of medicine, research and politics attended top-level presentations:

• Dr. med. Elpiniki Katsari (Greifswald) illustrated how cardiac surgery needs to respond to differences in patient requirements.
• Dr. rer. nat. Dirk Keiner (Weimar) explained the need for gender-sensitive medication management.
• Prof. Dr. Bettina Pfleiderer (Münster) postulated an integration of gender aspects in medical teaching.
• Dr. Viyan Sido (Brandenburg) reported impressive details from the practice of the new gender-related outpatient ward at the Bernau cardiac center.

Network, exchange, transformation

In addition to presentations, the focus was on personal exchange. The demand for information turned out to be considerable, and much is expected from this cooperation between the civic organization G3 and the MHB as a medical institution. “We aim to steer knowhow to where it is needed – to the experts and structures within our health system”, so Georgia Fehler. She is the senior MHB equal opportunities representative and committed to promoting gender-sensitive healthcare as a research topic at the MHB. She succeeds Annegret Hofmann as chair of the association. Special thanks go to Alexander Mommert, regional  managing director of Alexianer St. Josef Potsdam GmbH, whose clinic hosted the event.

For more details on the initiative G3 and the objectives of the collaboration project see: www.g3gesund.de

Contact:
info@g3gesund.de