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09.-11.06.2026: GenDiMedNet at the World Design Capital Frankfurt 2026
As part of the World Design Capital 2026, the International Gender Design Network (iGDN) hosted the series “Falling in Love with All Genders” from June 9 to 11 at the Museum of Applied Art in Frankfurt—featuring an exhibition, workshops, and a dialogue workshop. GenDiMedNet was represented with two contributions: a workshop led by Claudia Herling and a presentation by Prof. Dr. Sabine Oertelt-Prigione. Prof. Dr. Sabine Oertelt-Prigione spoke about gender-sensitive medicine and the use of design methods in medical contexts. This approach has so far been little established in medical education and care. She explained how design methods can be used to develop care concepts in a participatory, inclusive, and diversity-sensitive manner.
Claudia Herling’s workshop, “Designing Care Futures: How Do We Design Gender-Sensitive Health Products?” used the topics of pain perception, cardiology, and endometriosis as examples to explore a gender-sensitive approach. Building on this, participants discussed two overarching questions: How do gender biases arise in digital health products? And what might future scenarios for gender-sensitive health products look like?
The centerpiece of the event was the dialogue workshop on June 10, during which numerous speakers presented and discussed various perspectives on the relationship between gender and design. Medicine served as a central practical example to illustrate how design, gender, and medical research, education, and care are interconnected. The discussion highlighted the necessity of interdisciplinary approaches that combine gender studies, design, and medicine. For GenDiMedNet, participating in such events is a central component of its networking efforts, enabling it to engage with external communities beyond the boundaries of its own projects. The fact that the organization and workshop facilitation were handled by a single person—Claudia Herling is both the iGDN chair and a GenDiMedNet staff member—illustrates the synergies that can arise when networks overlap in terms of personnel.
May 21, 2026: Event at the North Rhine-Westphalia State Parliament: “Digital Health Startups in Dialogue with Clinical Practice, Healthcare, and Policy”
On May 21, 2026, “Digital Health Startups in Dialogue with Clinical Practice, Healthcare, and Policy” took place at the North Rhine-Westphalia State Parliament. Stakeholders from research, healthcare, self-governance, and politics discussed the future of digital health innovations and their integration into clinical practice.
The Research Group on Sex- and Gender-Sensitive Medicine at the OWL Medical Faculty contributed perspectives on responsible AI, sex- and gender-sensitive medicine, patient-centered care, and context-sensitive product development. The focus was on the question of how digital health solutions can be designed to be fair, practical, and sustainable.
In addition, the event underscored the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration for socially responsible digital healthcare. Ute Wenning served as moderator.
May 18, 2026: Prof. Dr. Sabine Oertelt-Prigione appears on NDR Info to discuss allegations of sexual harassment at the German Medical Association Conference in Hanover
Professor Sabine Oertelt-Prigione speaks on NDR about the structural background of the allegations of sexual harassment at the German Medical Association Conference held May 12–15, 2026, in Hanover. Link to the video (german).
In 2015, Charité conducted its first comprehensive survey on the topic of boundary violations (sexual harassment), sexualized discrimination, and violence in the workplace. Further information on the Watch - Protect - Prevent study can be found here.
Publications on the topic:
Jenner S, Djermester P, Prügl J, Kurmeyer C, Oertelt-Prigione S. Prevalence of Sexual Harassment in Academic Medicine. JAMA Intern Med. 2019;179(1):108–111. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2018.4859
Jenner, S. C., Djermester, P., & Oertelt-Prigione, S. (2022). Prevention Strategies for Sexual Harassment in Academic Medicine: A Qualitative Study. Journal of interpersonal violence, 37(5-6), NP2490–NP2515. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260520903130
Oertelt-Prigione, Sabine; Jenner, Sabine C. (2017): Prävention sexueller Belästigung
Study der Hans-Böckler-Stiftung Nr. 369, Düsseldorf, ISBN: 978-3-86593-279-2
April 21–23, 2026: GenDiMedNet at DMEA – Focus on Interactive Technologies for Gender-Sensitive Medicine
Berlin/Bielefeld, April 2026 – With a dialogue-oriented event format, the GenDiMedNet research network, led by Prof. Dr. med. Sabine Oertelt-Prigione, was represented at the DMEA in Berlin from April 21 to 23, 2026. The focus was on the exchange between stakeholders from research, development, and healthcare regarding gender-sensitive digital health applications.
GenDiMedNet is a collaborative network project involving Bielefeld University, the University of Greifswald, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, and the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine in Hamburg, initiated by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology, and Space. As an overarching network, it serves as the organizational and content framework for the collaborative projects under the funding guideline “Interactive Technologies for Gender-Specific Health” (GeGe). In its accompanying research, GenDiMedNet combines approaches from gender-differentiated health research with expertise in implementation processes, data collection, data management, and interoperability, gender-sensitive product development, and science communication.
Participation in the DMEA highlights the growing importance of gender-sensitive approaches in the context of digital health innovations. The on-site discussions provided impetus for further research and underscored the need to embed gender aspects and context-sensitive perspectives into technological development processes for the long term.
In this live podcast episode (german) from the DMEA, Matthias Schwarz speaks with Ute Wenning about gender-sensitive medicine, diversity medicine, and the question of why many people are still not adequately addressed in healthcare. In the podcast "Bauen wir uns eine Zweiklassenmedizin" (german) by Kathrin Rindfleisch, Ute Wenning and other stakeholders from the fields of gender-sensitive and digital medicine share their perspectives.
April 15, 2026: Visit from the Evangelische Gymnasium Werther
On April 15, a class of 13 ninth-grade students from the Evangelische Gymnasium Werther, accompanied by their teacher Ms. Sarina Heermann and an intern, visited Bielefeld University to learn about sex- and gender-sensitive medicine. They were warmly welcomed at the university by Prof. Dr. med. Sabine Oertelt-Prigione, head of the “Sex- and Gender-Sensitive Medicine” research group, as well as two of her team members, Dr. Eva Becher and Sophie Stüve.
The school is a project school in the “School of Diversity” network and a member of the “School Without Racism – School with Courage” network. The class had already explored the topics of diversity and gender beforehand and prepared questions.
The students competed against each other in teams through a game-based activity, thereby learning more about gender-sensitive medicine. Professor Sabine Oertelt-Prigione provided an informative and engaging overview of the fundamentals of the topic and took the time to answer the students’ questions throughout the session. She also discussed the curriculum of medical school. In the third part, the students used a card game to discuss medical cases and collaboratively explore why sex and gender might play a role in the disease and its treatment.
January 20, 2026: Prof. Dr. med. Sabine Oertelt-Prigione to appear as an expert at the opening of Science Year 2026
June 2025: Preparation of a technical paper for the Federal Foundation for Gender Equality
Prof. Dr. med. Sabine Oertelt-Prigione supported the Federal Foundation for Gender Equality by preparing the publication “Gender-Sensitive Medicine” for the general public. It is available here (german).
December 2024: Interactive book on gender, intersectionality, and health in the climate crisis
Led by Dr. Petra Verdonk (Ed.) and with a contribution from Prof. Dr. med. Sabine Oertelt-Prigione, the interactive open-access book “Coloring Connections. Researching Gender, Intersectionality, and Health in the Climate Crisis.” was published. The book is available here.
December 2024: Podcast by the German Medical Association
Prof. Dr. med. Sabine Oertelt-Prigione was a guest on the German Medical Association’s podcast “Sprechende Medizin” discussing the topic: “Gender-Sensitive Medicine – Current Challenges and Opportunities.” Click here to listen (german).
September 2024: Participation in the panel “Sex and Gender in Clinical Trials and Health Research” at the Nature Conference
Prof. Dr. med. Sabine Oertelt-Prigione was a guest speaker on the panel on “Sex and Gender in Clinical Trials and Health Research” at the Nature Conference “Breaking Barriers for Gender and Health Equity Through Research.”
April 2024: Appointment to the Medical Committee of the German Research Council
Prof. Dr. med. Sabine Oertelt-Prigione has been appointed to the Medical Committee of the German Research Council. The Medical Committee issues separate and regular recommendations and statements on all matters related to teaching, research, and patient care. List of Members
December 3, 2023: WDR / ARD alpha: Planet Wissen program “Medicine and Gender”
Women and men can experience different symptoms for the same disease—for example, women with heart attacks end up in the intensive care unit much later than men. What consequences do these differences have for patients and healthcare professionals? The program is available here (german) until December 3, 2026.
November 2023: Appointment to the Scientific Advisory Board of the Pettenkofer School of Public Health Munich
Prof. Dr. med. Sabine Oertelt-Prigione was appointed to the Scientific Advisory Board of the Pettenkofer School of Public Health Munich.
June 2023: Appointment to the Scientific Advisory Board of the Collaborative Research Center NRP 86
Prof. Dr. med. Sabine Oertelt-Prigione was appointed to the Scientific Advisory Board of the Collaborative Research Center “NRP83 – Gender Medicine and Health” of the Swiss National Science Foundation.
March 2023: Publication of the final report by the European Commission’s expert group on COVID-19
Chaired by Prof. Dr. med. Sabine Oertelt-Prigione and Dr. Jens-Peter Andersen of Aarhus University (DK), the final report of the EU Commission’s expert group on “COVID-19’s impact on gender equality in research and innovation” was prepared and published.
Earlier News (in German)
09.11.2021: blog interdisziplinäre Geschlechterforschung
Hochschulmedizin geschlechtersensibel gestalten – Interview mit zwei Pionierinnen
2021: GEO Wissen Gesundheit 18/2021 "Der weibliche Körper"
mit einem Beitrag zu: Gendermedizin - Warum Frauen oft andere Therapien brauchen
07.07.2021: Deutschlandfunk
Geschlecht in Covid-19-Studien selten berücksichtigt
News European Parliament, 07.07.2021
Evelyn Regner: "Gender should be taken into account in clinical trials for anti-COVID-19 treatments"
SWR 2, 13.7.2021
Geschlecht endlich mitdenken – Sabine Oertelt-Prigione kämpft für eine geschlechtersensible Medizin
Spiegel Online, 21.4.2021
Gendermedizin - Warum Ärztinnen und Ärzte dieses Fach brauchen