Alyson J. McGregor - Sex matters : how male-centric medicine is jeopardizing womens health, and what women can do about it

McGregor is to be commended for showing how medicine has long skewed male and harmed women. Especially spot-on are the chapters on implicit bias, treatment of women of color, and issues affecting trans individuals. The author concludes with to-do lists, questions women can ask their providers, and suggestions for advocacy roles to raise awareness of the issues. Good ammunition for mandating sex- and gender-based differences in health professional education, research, and practice.

Kirkus Reviews

This book is addictive! You will not be able to put it down until you have read it from cover to cover and then want to start all over again. The sheer wealth of information is an eye-opener for the intelligent lay person and a great source of up-to-date information for healthcare workers.

Marek Glezerman, MD, Immediate Past-President, International Society for Gender Medicine

Alyson McGregor is a persuasive and intelligent advocate for the unique healthcare needs of women. The two sexes are significantly different in all the tissues of the bodyeven to the way the same genes are expressed. An expert in emergency medical care, her deep and informed knowledge of the way disease presents itself in women ensures their prompt and accurate diagnosis and treatment. She is a powerful force in gender-specific health care.

Marianne J. Legato, MD, PhD (hon. c.), FACP, Emerita Professor of Clinical Medicine, Columbia University

Dr. Alyson McGregor sounds the alarm for the state of womens health in this country. Her excellent, evidence-based book reveals that womens health is still in its infancy and needs significant research to ensure that women are receiving the best possible medical care. The fact that most drugs that were approved in this country did not even have enough women included in the studies that got them approved to know if the effects in women were the same as in men is just one of many concerning findings. Her book shows that there is much work to do in this area (much more even than we thought) and that we can count on this call to action to spur us onward! This book will be appreciated by medical and lay people alike, given its excellent readability. I am thrilled that this book is out there to provide benchmarks and goals so that we can ultimately transform womens health.

Judy Regensteiner, MD, Director of the Center for Womens Health Research at the University of Colorado

Dr. McGregor makes a clear and compelling case that women, particularly women of color, in the United States time after time receive inadequate or even harmful medical care. Dr. McGregor also explains how cultural stereotypes about women are frequently used by physicians to justify a dismissive approach to womens symptoms, even when these symptoms herald conditions with potentially dire outcomes. Taking it one step further, Dr. McGregor provides the reader with suggestions on how to cut through a physicians ability to dismiss her symptoms, encouraging her to find another provider if necessary.

Molly Carnes, MD, MS, Virginia Valian Professor, Departments of Medicine, Psychiatry, and Industrial and Systems Engineering, Director, Center for Womens Health Research, Codirector, Women in Science and Engineering Leadership Institute (WISELI), University of Wisconsin-Madison

I have worked with Dr. Alyson McGregor as a national leader in the area of sex and gender in medicine and health careI commend her on this book.

C. Noel Bairey Merz, MD, Director, Barbra Streisand Womens Heart Center, Cedars-Sinai

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO

All the women I have had the pleasure to care for, who taught me about their illnesses and insight.

All the women whose struggles I have witnessed through our medical system, through everything from lack of understanding, to questioning self-reflection, to endless testing that leaves them feeling dismissed, they have persevered.

AND ALSO TO

My mother and sister, with immense love and gratitude. As I studied medicine, I watched the two of you navigate our medical system from the outside; you helped me see the full circle.