Overview
The Mayo Clinic Women's Health Research Center advances scientific discoveries to improve the health of women through all stages of life.
The center is at the forefront of a new era in women's health, based on the understanding that the female body isn't simply a smaller version of the male form. Women and men have different chromosomes and hormones. Thus, disease risk, diagnosis and response to treatments — including some medicines — are often different for women and men.
Yet current medical treatments are often based on research that was conducted mainly on men. Or, when women were included, the research didn't account for differences between women and men.
Mayo Clinic is transforming women's health by advancing research and studies specifically focused on the unique needs and abilities of the female body through all stages of life.
Investigators in the Women's Health Research Center are studying why certain illnesses occur more often — or sometimes only — in women or manifest differently in women than in men. Armed with this information, healthcare professionals can better prevent, diagnose and treat some of today's most debilitating diseases.
For more than 150 years, Mayo Clinic research has changed the face of medicine, enabling healthcare professionals around the world to provide lifesaving care to millions of people. Now, Mayo is advancing research focused on women's health so that medical care can be personalized for women and men.
Right now, there are more than 1,400 research studies related to women's health across Mayo Clinic campuses in Arizona, Florida and Minnesota. Mayo researchers are dedicated to addressing the health issues women face, with the goal of improving women's health and quality of life.