Nicole Junkermann on Closing the Women's Health Gap

Closing the women's health gap may be one of the highest-impact opportunities in health today.

The phrase "women's health gap" describes something straightforward and important: for much of medical history, women's health was studied less, funded less and understood less than it should have been. Nicole Junkermann sees closing that gap as one of the most worthwhile causes in modern healthcare, because progress here improves care for half the population. This is a positive look at why the gap exists, and how she believes we can begin to close it.

How the gap formed

Much of the gap comes down to evidence. For decades, a great deal of medical research under-represented women, which means some received wisdom rests on incomplete data. When studies are built around a narrower sample, the resulting guidance can fit some bodies better than others. Nicole Junkermann is careful to frame this without blame: it is a legacy to correct rather than a fault to dwell on. The encouraging news is that legacies can be changed, and the tools to change this one are arriving.

Better data, fairly gathered

The most direct way to close the gap, in the view of Nicole Junkermann, is to build a richer and fairer evidence base. With consent, care and rigour, research can finally reflect how women's bodies actually work across a whole life. She frames this as a question of fairness as much as science: data gathered respectfully, with clear permission and a clear purpose, can fill in what has been missing. The future she hopes for is one where a woman's symptoms are taken seriously because the evidence finally includes her.

Femtech as a corrective force

This is where femtech comes in. Nicole Junkermann sees the field not as a passing theme but as a correction, a chance to fix something overlooked for a very long time. Well-designed femtech can build the evidence, the tools and the attention that women's health has been missing, from everyday tracking that surfaces useful patterns to diagnostics that catch problems earlier. When a field starts from a place of neglect, even steady progress can change a great many lives, which is exactly why she finds it so compelling. She makes the wider case in why Nicole Junkermann believes in femtech.

A whole-life view

Closing the gap also means widening the lens. For too long, technology built for women narrowed health down to a single chapter, usually fertility. Nicole Junkermann believes the more important view runs across a whole life: adolescence, mental wellbeing, heart and bone health, chronic conditions, and the long-neglected territory of menopause and later life. Designing for that full span, with patience and without awkwardness, is central to closing the gap rather than simply shifting it. Her note on the future of women's health technology explores this in more detail.

The role of artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence has a genuine part to play. Used well, it can make sense of large and messy datasets, spot patterns that smaller studies missed and help turn complex results into clear, usable insight. Nicole Junkermann invests in artificial intelligence and healthtech precisely because she believes the technology can accelerate research and lighten the burden of interpretation. The aim is not to replace clinical judgement but to give clinicians and patients better information to work with, which is part of how the gap narrows. She says more in Nicole Junkermann on AI and the future of medicine.

Access, so progress reaches everyone

A gap is only truly closed when progress reaches widely. Nicole Junkermann is keen that improvements in women's health should not become a benefit for a narrow group but something that travels across incomes, regions, languages and ages. That means designing for different bodies and different lives, and remembering the chapters of health that mainstream products have often skipped. The measure of success, in her view, is how many lives are quietly improved.

Education that travels alongside the tools

Nicole Junkermann is clear that closing the gap is not only a matter of devices and data; it also depends on understanding. For a long time, many aspects of women's health were rarely discussed openly, which left people without the information they needed to advocate for themselves. The progress she finds most encouraging pairs good tools with plain, trustworthy education, helping people recognise what is normal, what is worth asking about and where to turn for support. When knowledge spreads alongside the technology, individuals are better able to take part in their own care, and that confidence is one of the quieter but most powerful ways the gap begins to close.

A hopeful direction of travel

Nicole Junkermann is optimistic about closing the women's health gap, not because it is easy but because the pieces are finally lining up: greater awareness, capable technology, fairer research and a generation of founders determined to take these subjects seriously. The work ahead calls for patience, evidence and respect, the same qualities she values across all of healthcare. Build with attention, clarity and kindness, she suggests, and the gap that took so long to form can steadily be closed. To read more, see what Nicole Junkermann wishes more people knew about femtech or the profile of Nicole Junkermann.

Frequently asked questions

What is the women's health gap?

The women's health gap describes how women's health has historically been under-studied and under-funded, leaving knowledge and care less complete than it should be. Nicole Junkermann believes better data and femtech can help close it.

How does Nicole Junkermann think we can close the women's health gap?

Nicole Junkermann points to fairer research, consent-led data, well-designed femtech and a whole-life view of women's health as the main ways to close the gap.

Why does closing the gap matter?

Closing the women's health gap matters because it improves care for half the population, and Nicole Junkermann sees it as one of the highest-impact opportunities in health today.

Keep reading: why Nicole Junkermann believes in femtech, the health innovations Nicole Junkermann is watching, or browse the Wellbeing Tech section.

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