Women’s Health

Women’s Health– It’s time to stop living with it

19.9

Women spend 19.9 yrs in worse health than men

3X

Women are 3 x more likely than men to suffer from autoimmune diseases  

2%

2% of all research funding goes into reproductive health

There is significant gender inequality in healthcare and it is time for this to change.

The UK currently has the widest gender health gap of all the G20 nations.

Half the world’s population are women, yet women are not represented equally in clinical trials even in diseases which affect men and women equally – even less so in areas which disproportionately impact on women such as dementia which women are twice as likely as men to develop.

Women in Data, Women’s Health is a collective of data experts and women focused on changing outcomes for women’s health through data.

Indeed, McKinsey tell us this is a $1 trillion dollar issue.

How we work – the 4 Cs

Connect

Connected Health – matching data, skills and need

  • WiD Connected Health is a platform to connect research studies to a large pool of female participants. We connect the community to charities and academic institutes that require data analysis to enable access to skills which can unlock insights for women’s health organisations.
  • We provide a platform to match resources and skill sets needed to drive positive change in the women’s health space. In so doing we enable this underfunded industry to have the power of analytical insights to support their campaign for policy change and create the case for increased focus and investment with key stakeholders, including the NHS

If you are a data organisation who wants to provide pro bono/volunteer resource, or you are a charity or academic institution in the women’s health space that wants to get involved in Connected Health, please complete the form here or reach out to our team WomensHealth@womenindata.co.uk

Communicate & Campaign

  • We make talking about women’s health issues less taboo by raising awareness, advocating for better support in the workplace and in society.
  • We communicate with and support our community providing guidance and a network of mutual support and empowerment.
  • We have developed a women’s health workshop pack which can be run in workplaces, community settings, with friends to bring to life and inform around some of the topics we have shied away from for so long.
  • We are building a movement to campaign for change, increasing awareness and using our data insight to influence policy makers, healthcare professionals and businesses.

Download our workshop pack to raise awareness in your workplace about Women’s Health and feed into our mission.

Join Women in Data to become part of our Women’s Health Community and attend exclusive in person and online Women’s Health events. Change

  • We are changing the health data landscape by connecting the data dots to create a DNA of women’s health.
  • We are using our extensive network to integrate traditionally siloed data from sectors such as retail, lifestyle, social and health to drive impactful improvements in health research and outcomes.

Together we will reduce the avoidable gap between men’s and women’s health and improve our lived experience.

Campaign

We are building a movement to campaign for change, increasing awareness and using our data insight to influence policy makers, healthcare professionals and businesses.

Share your story

To represent you, we need stories from our community, from women to bring to life our experiences to help champion for better treatment and care.

This can be in the form of a short video or a written story. If you are interested in sharing your story to help us advocate for better policies and treatments, you can do so by competing this form or reaching out to our team at

WomensHealth@womenindata.co.uk

Why Us?

We believe Women in Data can redress the balance as much of the challenge is data, we have the skills, the access and the relationships.

We are not for profit, by women, for women, and we therefore believe that women will trust us with their data and policy makers and health providers want to work with us.

We are an 80,000 + network, we have a core focus on diversity to ensure we take an inclusive and intersectional approach to what we do. Most importantly, we have the passion and determination to make a difference in this space.

Intersectionality

It is critical that we consider the intersectionality of what we do and are conscious of the different ways that women’s health issues affect different communities. Whilst this does not mean we will be able to tackle everything at once, we want to ensure we are considering intersectionality in all we do, understanding the biases and limitations of the data with which we are working, and engaging as many communities as possible.

The Women’s Health Team

ncramp

Natalie Cramp
Chair – Women’s Health at Women In Data®

MCMJONES Photo Biog

Monica Jones
Chief Data Officer, UoL
Associate Director, Health Data Research (HDRUK)

Doug Brown

Doug Brown
Chief Data Scientist

Robert Bownes

Robert Bownes
CEO, Old Street Communications

Krupar Suthar

Krupa Suthar
Research Leader

Roisin McCarthy

Roisin McCarthy
Founder, Women in Data®

Juliette Scott

Juliette Scott
Co-Chair – Women’s Health at Women In Data ®

Katherine Church portraits162073 HR

Katherine Church
Women’s Health and Femtech Specialist

Jane Crowe

Jane Crowe
Data Institutions Programme Lead, Open Data Institute (ODI)

CathyArnoldWiDpic(1)

Cathy Arnold
Head of Data Services at the University of Leeds

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Michelle Conway
Lead Data Scientist – Lloyds Bank

PriyaRadia

Priya Radia
Diversity & Inclusion Consultant

abigail

Abigail Storan
Health and Care Consultant – Capgemini

drpowers

Jennifer Powers
Strategic Healthcare Executive

How can you help?  

As a business:

  1. We need your data team – can you give some pro bono time to support charities or Universities to progress their work in this area?
  2. We need resource – can you support this work by offering a part-time secondment to our Women’s Health team e.g. of a Project Manager to drive the work forwards?
  3. We need funding – run entirely by volunteers, small amounts of funding can support us to accelerate this work, bring the community together and truly create change in partnership with leading gynaecologists, Universities and researchers. If you feel you could provide some sponsorship to this initiative, please reach out. There are many opportunities for brand exposure, employee engagement and helping change the world for the better.
  4. We need data – if you have a route to reach endometriosis sufferers, or have retail data that can support our basket analysis work, please reach out.

As an Individual

  1. Join the community
  2. Run a women’s health workshop
  3. Donate your time to help with data analysis

We couldn’t do any of this work without the support of our sponsors.

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      Natalie is a Partner having joined JMAN in 2024. Natalie is responsible for helping to shape and drive JMAN’s global delivery model and develop innovative solutions for clients to enable them to maximize the potential of data and AI in this rapidly evolving field. With more than 15 years’ experience in leading private, public and third sector organizations through significant periods of innovation and change, she joins JMAN after five years of leading a data and AI consultancy. She is particularly passionate about the people elements of transformation, and how to help business leaders navigate the data and AI landscape and maximize its potential, as such she’s also a regular speaker for Vistage, delivering training to C-suite leaders in understanding how to create value from data and AI for their business, and has co-founded an AI Accelerator Programme for data leaders.

      A recognized leader in the data field, Natalie’s been named in the Tech Women Celebration 50, the Twenty in Data and Tech 2023, and the Data IQ 100 multiple times. She takes an active role in the data community, chairing a cross-industry Data Ethics Advisory Board, chairing Women in Data®‘s Women’s Health work and as a member of the Mayor’s Data for London Advisory Board. Natalie’s career as a problem solver has seen her on both client and consultancy side and as part of the team rapidly scaling organizations including the London 2012 Olympics. She is also a non-executive of recruitment business, Generative.

      Harriet Waite is an Executive Assistant to the CEO at Profusion and the secretariat to the Women’s Health Board. Whether orchestrating complex schedules, spearheading critical projects, or representing the CEO’s office with poise and professionalism, Harriet is making the impossible possible. She combines a strong organisational acumen with exceptional interpersonal skills, ensuring seamless operations and effective communication at the highest level. Possessing an innate talent for multitasking and prioritising, Harriet excels in coordinating extensive travel arrangements, and orchestrating intricate meetings and events with precision and finesse. Her infectious enthusiasm and positive attitude have created a harmonious work environment, fostering collaboration and driving team synergy in Women’s Health workshops and steering meetings. Harriet liaises with stakeholders at all levels, ensuring seamless collaboration across departments.

      Harriet hosts Women’s Health workshops and briefing sessions allowing third parties to deliver workshops and collate data for our mission. With her insatiable curiosity and a boundless well of creativity, she is always exploring innovative solutions and pushing boundaries. She ensures we stay at the forefront of industry trends, enabling the team to bring fresh perspectives and ideas to the table. Harriet thrives on finding imaginative ways to tackle challenges, often thinking outside the box and introducing creative approaches to women’s health challenges.

      Prior to joining Profusion, Harriet spent two years working and travelling Australia and her passion includes visiting new countries, experiencing different cultures and trying new foods.

      Monica Jones BSc (Hons) PGCE PGDip MBCS CITP MInstLM

      Monica Jones is the Chief Data Officer for the University of Leeds and Associate Director for Health Data Research (HDRUK), based in Leeds in the UK.

      A technical expert and leader with extensive education, science and technology, healthcare knowledge and experience. Highly skilled CDO / CIO and Enterprise Architect with a proven track record of designing and delivering complex, high value solutions to exceptional standards. Many years’ experience defining strategy and directing, current and future, Information and Data Systems.

      An effective communicator used to working on major public and private sector initiatives, who is able to integrate teams to achieve their maximum potential. International clinical terminology and data standards (SNOMED CT, ICD-10, HL7 FHIR, OpenEHR) expert promoting safe and effective information for better outcomes. She is the Chair of the Design Authority (DA) and Scientific Committee for HDRUK North.

      As Managing Director for Animo Consultancy Ltd she provides specialist technical and advisory consultancy services for HDRUK, CRUK, MRC, Genomics England, NHS, MOD, MOHW; as well as executive coaching and mentoring.

      Heather focuses on connecting people and data to value. She has spent the last 15 years advising FTSE-100 companies, start ups and private businesses within data, AI, analytics, research, technology and digital transformation. She has worked across 3 continents and multiple industry sectors and particularly enjoys building high performing teams. Her drive for inclusive and diverse workplaces has led her to MenopauseX, where she is focused on getting the right solutions to employers and employees to create measurable value for both. She acts as the connection point between MenopauseX and the broader Women’s Health Pillar.

      Emma Duckworth built the global team of data scientists and machine learning engineers at Haleon, the world’s largest consumer health company, in the run up to the de-merger from GSK. She now leads the team who are focused on delivering everyday health with humanity and trusted data science through AI/ML products and innovation in marketing, R&D and supply chain.

      Emma is a mathematician by background, she has a masters in Applied Mathematics from LSE. The love of maths was translated into a drive for understanding consumers and delivering value with data science through her 10 years of experience building innovative products in both large corporates and start-ups. Her work has spanned retail, financial services, insurance, utilities, charities and hospitality, with using data to drive competitive advantage a common theme. At Haleon she now takes start-up culture of pace, research and innovation and applies it at scale to a global organisation. This year she has been recognised as one of the Women in Data 20 in Data and Tech and as a Rising Star in the DataIQ 100.

      She is passionate about Ethical AI and the importance of using technology responsibly. A key component of developing AI systems responsibly is embedding principles and standards for transparency, model explainability and for evaluating potential bias of training data. This is particularly important for industries including healthcare, where there has long been systemic bias in healthcare systems, with women underrepresented in almost every aspect and as a result underdiagnosed and underserved. With recent advances in data, technology and AI, we have an opportunity to start improving underrepresentation of women and the subsequent health outcomes. There is also a risk that without active effort, historic biases will be reinforced in systems, so now is a critical time to be focusing on women’s health and the role of data in healthcare.

      One way to help mitigate for bias is to build diverse and inclusive teams. At Haleon Emma introduced the Data & Analytics apprenticeship program, and championed partnerships such as Teens in AI to encourage more people from a wide range of backgrounds to join the field of Data Science, Machine Learning and AI.

      Emma believes data science is a critical tool in solving some of the world’s biggest challenges, from health inclusivity to sustainability. It is so exciting to be part of a global wave of innovation and critical that teams who are reflect all of us are working on new solutions.

      Chief Data Scientist and Vice President of Data and AI specialising in Data Analytics and AI with extensive experience as a Digital transformation consultant at big four IT advisory firms and start-ups using data as a force for good. Practical experience in leading and delivering complex business change and big data projects/teams, successfully implementing award winning Data AI and cloud technology digital projects and in establishing multi-million-pound consulting practices delivering to global corporate clients. Formerly held a variety of senior management and executive consultancy/programme roles at Capita, E&Y LLP, PwC LLP, IBM Global Services, Wipro Technologies, NCR and Zurich Financial Services and has achieved ACII, MSc and MBA qualifications as well as lecturing at Cranfield University. An active member of market disruption Boards and advisory bodies such as being a participant on the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Artificial Intelligence. Author of several social media articles e.g., Wired and white papers on Data and AI as well as being a co-author of the pioneering book, Data Alchemy: The Genesis of Business Value.

      Robert Bownes in the CEO of Old Street Communications, a PR agency for fast-growing tech startups. He is one of the UK’s most experienced tech PR professionals with his views on PR and the tech industry published in outlets including PR Week, TechCrunch, The Daily Telegraph and Tech.EU. In a fifteen-year career, Robert has led a number of award-winning PR campaigns for a range of global companies and many of Europe’s most innovative companies. He has worked with tech companies including Eventbrite, Samsung, eBay, WhatsApp, Zendesk, SumUp and Waze. In 2022, Old Street Communications was named by leading European tech publication Silicon Canals as one of the UK’s best PR agencies for B2B tech startups.

      Robert graduated from Durham University with a degree in law.

      Krupa is a Research Leader, Coach for Women of Colour, Podcast Panellist and Women’s Health Advocate.

      Krupa has lead research across EMEA for World leading companies including: Mattel, Heathrow, Disney, Intercontinental Hotels Group & most recently has been working with UKHSA (formally Public Health England and Department of Health & Social Care) as a Deputy Director of CX Strategy & Head of User Research, scaling and leading a team of 40 User Researchers for NHS Test & Trace. Krupa particularly enjoys breaking down silos and connecting insights teams together to work holistically in order to have a 360 view of the Customer.

      In addition to daily work responsibilities, Krupa is a Psychological Behavioural Coach & mentor for Women of Colour, working with them to surpass their own expectations and reach their full potential. Through her extensive experience in Health Research and her own health challenges, Krupa volunteers her spare time as a Research advisor & is a steering committee member for a leading UK Women’s Health Strategy, spear-headed by the Royal College of GPs.

      She’s also a panellist for a leading Health Tech podcast where she brings her experience of Research, CX and Women’s Health together. Krupa uses her social media channels for good, educating on Research methods and techniques, Coaching and Women’s Health.

      Hi, my name is Lydia and I am – amongst other things – a diversity and inclusion consultant and disabled activist.

      I joined Included in 2022 and support the delivery of client work across the 5 key Service areas, and co-lead our leadership work, which focusses on behaviours and culture. Previously, at Pearson, I was involved with D&I initiatives and Pearson Able (for employees devoted to the inclusion of Disabled people).  Outside of this, I co-created a community of learners and activists as part of community group EDIT (Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Thread), running workshops on various topics including; microaggression, loneliness, and accessible activism.  ​

      I led the Global Changemaker Award winning Imagine a Day Team as UK Manager, and delivered applied performance and social good projects in Kosovo, Brazil, New Zealand, and the UK. In Kosovo, this was the first inter-ethnic post conflict resolution workshop of its kind, and I later presented my research on this project at the International Drama in Education Research Institute conference in Auckland.​

      I have 5 years of experience as an Associate Lecturer across 3 courses at UK universities. I was awarded an Associate Fellowship of the Higher Education Institute for my work, with special acknowledgement for my work in improving and embedding diversity, accessibility, and inclusion across these courses.

      As a disabled person, experiencing complex chronic illnesses, mental health conditions, and neurodivergence, I can see and experience the day-to-day effects of health inequality around me. We have to understand the intersectionality of health inequality, and understand that people’s quality and length of life is utterly intertwined with bias. We have so much work ahead of us to unravel this. Everyone should have access to safe, fair, affirming, accessible, and compassionate healthcare that addresses their needs without bias.

      The incredible talent and spirit within our community, keeps us focused to deliver bigger, bolder and brighter opportunities for female data practitioners everywhere!

      Roisin founded Women in Data® in 2015. The impetus for Women in Data and its first 100-strong event at UCL originated in Roisin’s shock and disappointment at diminishing numbers of female applicants for jobs in Data.

      Her career started in 2000 when she embarked on a profession dedicated to talent and innovation with the leading recruitment firm, Datatech Analytics. With over two decades of unrivalled experience in the data industry, Roisin is recognised as a leading expert in talent acquisition and retention. Her endeavours with Women in Data have cemented her as an authority on gender representation in the world of data.

      Wind forward to 2022: the Women in Data community has grown to 25,000 members and the organisation’s influence is both broad and deep. Women in Data has become famous for its landmark annual events, which have grown in size and prestige year-on-year, as well as its year–round partner and member support, and its Twenty in Data and Technology annual spotlight on female trail-blazers and rising stars.

      Today, more insight is available into the barriers to entry that affect both young girls and women in leadership. Together with its partners, Women in Data is involved in practical working parties designed to have a measurable, positive impact on pressing issues such as sector entry, advancement, certification, pay and inclusion. Roisin has been recognised in DataIQ’s Top 100. She still leads Datatech’s operations, where she has happily witnessed a significant increase in applications from women for Data roles, and continues to build some of the UK’s most cutting-edge data teams.

      After more than 3 decades in the data and analytics industry, including supporting many Life Sciences and Pharma businesses, Fiona joined ‘the great resignation’ to find a role with purpose at its core.

      Joining Women in Data® gives her the opportunity to drive change and give back to the industry that has given so much to her. As partnerships director, she is developing our new propositions to ensure that they meet the needs of our partner organisations, and at the same time supporting our growing membership of 27,000 data, tech and analytics professionals. At the moment, her focus is firmly on partner engagement in the lead up to our Women in Data® flagship event in March 2024!

      When not at work you will find Fiona walking and travelling in the UK and beyond, as well as developing some of the new skills she picked up in the last few years.

      Juliette spent the first half of her career in sales & marketing roles in media, fashion and financial services.  She then moved into the world of customer data, digital, and strategy with Executive roles at Dunnhumby (part of Tesco) and ebay inc.  Creating financially impactful insight capability and customer culture change in these digital pure play and omni-channel environments. More recently She has been a Non- Executive director of HM Revenue & Customs and a Trustee of Versus Arthritis.  Currently she is an adviser on data, digital & Customer Strategy.  Her passion for the issues around Women’s health were stirred at Versus Arthritis where she became keenly aware that many diseases e.g. autoimmune diseases and osteoporosis disproportionately affect women.  She is the Deputy Chair of the Women In Data® Health and delighted to work with this group to enable better outcomes for women’s health.

      Katherine Church, Chief Digital Officer with 20 yrs experience designing and implementing scale digital transformation programmes across multiple sectors including the NHS where she led digital for an Integrated Care System during Covid.  She has a specific focus on women’s health and works with the NHS implementing digital pathways for women’s health as part of the Women’s Health Strategy.  She also works with femtech start and scale ups to help navigate the UK healthcare landscape and connect with growth opportunities.

      Katherine mentors women in tech and is on the board of Tech London Advocates Women in tech, advocating for equality for girls and women in data and tech careers.

      She has a fierce sense of injustice and passionately believes that the advantages she has been given as a white, straight, english speaking middle class woman obliges her to reach out, to connect and to do everything in my power to make change happen for all women.

      Jane leads the Data Institutions Programme at the Open Data Institute (ODI). The programme works with organisations to bring about new and improved ways of collecting, maintaining and sharing data responsibly. It does this through research, advisory services and projects, and works to encourage policy makers and funders to enable the creation of better data infrastructure to help realise the ODI’s vision of a world where data works for everyone. 

      In her previous role at the Data Science Campus at the Office for National Statistics, Jane worked on a mission to help organisations harness the transformative power of data for public good through building data science capability. She led the implementation of initiatives such as the Government Data Science Accelerator Programme and the Data Masterclass for Senior Leaders, and she led a cross-government partnership to nurture the vibrant data science practitioner community in UK government and public sector. Jane loves to get to the heart of a problem and tackle it through collaboration. In her life before her data mission, Jane led diverse programmes across the public and private sectors, including science and horticulture programmes for the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, and branding and strategic communications for government, charity and cultural sectors. In her early career in the BBC, she devised production resource solutions across studios, post production and graphics.

      Jane believes that access to the right data has the power to create a better and more equitable world. She’s excited to be supporting the WiD Women’s Health initiative to find innovative avenues to do this in a trustworthy and responsible way. 

      My background is as an architect and construction lawyer, but over my career it has always been about project delivery and maximising opportunities. My particular areas of expertise are complex projects and change programmes; procurement; public policy; and customer service. I have moved into data over recent years to support organisations with harnessing the potential of their data. Data holds the key for all aspects of our lives in the 21st century. Well managed and accessible as appropriate, data supports both our work and our play, but poorly managed it holds us back and causes significant problems.

      Through senior roles in the Civil Service, I looked after operational delivery, portfolio and investment management and £multi-million transformation programmes, including global technology transformation programmes and modernising ways of working.

      I represent the UK as an estates expert at the Council of Europe and support them with data aspects of modernising their estate.

      Most recently, I have programme managed the delivery of the national cancer secure data environment for DATA-CAN and Health Data Research UK. This led to my current role in Leeds leading on delivery of the data strategy and data transformation programme.

      Meet Michelle, our go-to tech expert in women’s health! As the Lead Data Scientist at Lloyds Banking Group, she loves crunching data and turning them into strategic decisions. She has spent over 12 years deploying machine learning models into production. Michelle’s not just about algorithms; she’s also a community builder, having created a cool space for women in Python-based data science projects. Originally from Ireland, she’s now soaking in the London vibe, appreciating its culture and awesome artwork. Michelle brings a blend of expertise and a touch of Irish charm to the world of women’s health steerco.

      Priya is a Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) consultant with previous experience in technology consulting and financial services.

      She is currently the D&I Lead at Smart DCC, working as part of the Culture & Engagement team to build a long-term D&I roadmap. Alongside this, she is a consultant with Included where she has led projects on D&I strategies, data, leadership development, and organisational processes. She has worked with a wide range of clients, from global pharmaceuticals and national regulators to local non-profits. Priya is a contributing author to The Key to Inclusion (2022).

      Outside of work, she has a love of travelling, photography, and crime dramas. As an individual impacted by chronic gynae conditions, Priya is particularly passionate about supporting this agenda, and ensuring we are doing all that we can for the women of the future.

      Abigail is transformation consultant at Capgemini, specialising in the Health and Care sector. With a background in reproductive health, Abigail brings a wealth of expertise and a compassionate approach to driving innovative solutions and improvements in healthcare services. Passionate about making our healthcare systems a safe and supportive place for all women to get the treatment they need, while advocating for a more inclusive and open dialogue around women’s health issues.

      Dr. Powers is a Strategic Healthcare Executive with 20+ years of multidisciplinary international pharmacy experience. Dr. Powers established Walgreens’ Gwinnett Medical Center as an oncology specialty pharmacy in 2011. In 2015, she was responsible for developing the oncology strategy across the Walgreens enterprise including the development of Feel More Like You™, a holistic care program for patients living with cancer, across 3,500 Walgreens US retail pharmacy stores. In 2019, Dr. Powers moved to the United Kingdom and led healthcare strategy across Boots International Markets. In 2021, she became Chief Pharmacist for Boots International Retail leading strategic pharmacy development and supporting the implementation of healthcare professional services across Latin America, Europe, and Asia. In October 2022, she joined Boots UK as the Director for Community Pharmacy Future Strategy where she identified opportunity for Community Pharmacy to help improve health outcomes and address health inequalities through improving access to equitable clinical research. Today she is the Director of Clinical Trials and Health Outcomes. She is a member of the Women’s Health SteerCo for Women in Data and sits on the Centre for Research Equity Board at Oxford University.