About GSM Foundation

The Foundation

Founded in 2006 as a continuation of the Partnership for Gender-Specific Medicine at Columbia University, The Foundation for Gender-Specific Medicine, Inc. (FGSM) is the first organization of its kind: it was established in response to the new interest in the direct investigation of women’s health that began in the early 1990s and which revealed that the differences between men and women were not only completely unexpected but more than had been even imagined they involved every organ in the body. As the first studies were published, it became apparent that men could not be considered normative for the entire human race, but that direct testing of both sexes was necessary for an accurate view of not only normal physiology but of sex-specific experience of the same diseases.

The new science of gender-specific medicine emerged and continues to expand. Gender-specific medicine is not the study of women’s health; it is the study of ways in which biological sex and gender impact normal human function and the differences in men’s and women’s normal function and the experience of the same diseases.

We support original scientific research in gender-specific medicine. The Foundation provides fellowships to untenured, young faculty members with the goal of fostering their interest in gender-specific medicine at the beginning of their investigative careers.

We educate the lay public and the scientific/medical community. The Foundation understands that science does not operate outside the rest of society, and we consider education a central part of our mission. The interests of the lay public drive medical research and practice.

Our Purpose

We now know that even identical genes are expressed differently in males and females, making it even more crucial than we originally thought to consider the impact of sex on genomic manipulation. For example, it is already clear that the sex of the recipient and that of the donor impact the outcome. Work on chimeras, in which tissues or cells from one species are implanted into another must consider sex as a variable in research protocols. The physiology of males and females is significantly different and researchers must assess the impact of gender on the data they harvest from such preparations. Similarly, work on artificial intelligence should take into account what we already know about the differences in the anatomy, chemistry, and function of male and female brains.

Gender-specific medicine allows us to develop comprehensive, evidence-based, and unique educational programs that communicate knowledge to both healthcare professionals and the public. The FGSM envisions a time when gender-specific medicine will no longer be considered a specialty but instead will become an integrated aspect within all specialties of science and medicine.

Our Purpose

We now know that even identical genes are expressed differently in males and females, making it even more crucial than we originally thought to consider the impact of sex on genomic manipulation. For example, it is already clear that the sex of the recipient and that of the donor impact the outcome. Work on chimeras, in which tissues or cells from one species are implanted into another must consider sex as a variable in research protocols. The physiology of males and females is significantly different and researchers must assess the impact of gender on the data they harvest from such preparations. Similarly, work on artificial intelligence should take into account what we already know about the differences in the anatomy, chemistry, and function of male and female brains.

Gender-specific medicine allows us to develop comprehensive, evidence-based, and unique educational programs that communicate knowledge to both healthcare professionals and the public. The FGSM envisions a time when gender-specific medicine will no longer be considered a specialty but instead will become an integrated aspect within all specialties of science and medicine.

Gender Specific Medicine Gala 2019

Gender Specific Medicine Gala 2021

Gender Specific Medicine Gala 2022

Our Grants

The Foundation has awarded a $750,000 grant over a five year period to support the work of young scholars working with the Johns Hopkins, Columbia university & M. Iréne Ferrer Scholar