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Traditionally, medical education and research related to women's health have focused on reproductive health. Yet, today's women are living nearly half of their lives outside their reproductive years.

While living longer than men, women are not necessarily living better and are more vulnerable to certain chronic conditions like osteoporosis, thyroid disease and depression.

Women have unique medical needs because of their female physiology, reproductive ability and related hormonal influences. As a result, women demonstrate different symptoms for certain conditions and often respond to treatments differently than men.

Until recently, many studies on the detection, treatment and prevention of disease were conducted on men only. These results were generalized to women without proof that they applied to females in the same way.