There are few people who are both simultaneously and deeply involved in basic clinical, anatomical, and technological research; Dr. Krystel Nyagoh-Timoh is one of them. Krystel is a gynecological and obstetric surgeon at the University Hospital Centre in Rennes, France where she maintains an active practice. As both a scientist and a clinician in an academic hospital centre, Krystel is heavily involved in anatomical research, with a focus on basic research around female reproductive anatomy that has traditionally been under-studied but nevertheless influences gynecological surgery. Her research into microanatomy such as patterns of innervation of pelvic anatomy directly affect how surgery can be planned to minimise post-operative pain and complications. Her research into the physiopathology of endometriosis is actively changing how she manages patients. As for the technological lens, Krystel has designed the University of Rennes' curriculum for robot-assisted surgical interventions, and thus is involved not only into research about how robotic surgery should be performed but also how to measure and monitor surgical skills, taking a more holistic view of surgery that combines both patient and surgeon.
To be honest, it was a bit by chance. It was not something that I planned to do. It was Pierre Jannin, one of my collaborators, who suggested it. But it is a topic and a research area that is very important to me and that I am passionate about. It is very important that women's health remains not only a passing fad but stays central to all our fields: imaging, engineering, medicine, because there is a lot to do.
When you started this question, I thought that you would ask me why I am interested specifically in women's health. And it is because I think we need a lot more people working on it. I think it was in 2024 when the World Economic Forum said that if we invested more into women's health, we could improve the world GDP by billions. So, even if you don't have any heart, it is still worth it! Women's health as a research area is very important because there are a lot of gaps.
I mean a gap between what we know and what we are doing in men's health compared to women's Health. We know that there is less investment and much less funding in women's health research and that women have been held back in research. So we don't have enough knowledge about how women's bodies function. We don't have enough data about women's diseases. We don't have as much information and experiments, for example, about how drugs affect women differently. So, it is quite difficult to really improve women's health.
I think it is also very important to have in mind that health is not only what we do in the clinic. To better improve care, we have to take into account all the environment around the patient, around women. Women are more exposed to sexual violence, to financial difficulties, to social isolation. And so, I think it is very important as a scientific field that when we look at a patient, we take into account the whole patient.
So, when we are looking at diseases that affect women, we have to separate them into three categories.
The first category is diseases that affect only the reproductive tract. These are diseases like endometriosis or fibromyomas which affect only the genital tract of women.
The second one is diseases that affect more women than men, like asthma or celiac disease. Women are affected by autoimmune diseases six- to seven-fold more often than men. And we don't know why, based on the particularities of women's immune systems.
The third are diseases that affect women differently than men, like cardiac disease. We know that women present symptoms that are called atypical because they are different from men, but again we don't know why. There are women whose care in the emergency room is delayed and they die more because of that. There are now many studies that show that women going to the emergency room are more likely to be prescribed anti-psychotics than analgesics compared to men. So, the quality of care is very different.
We know that women have a hormonal cycle and some symptoms may appear differently because of the time of the month. So, we need to better understand the interaction between hormones and these diseases. Now, men have hormonal cycles too, but the biological and physiological challenges they present are quite different. Discarding the hormonal state of women is ignoring a key part of the ecosystem surrounding the patient.
When talking about women's health, many people pivot to minorities, but women are not the minority! Hahaha!
Yes, men suffer too from violence and from trauma. The patriarchy can also make them victims. But if we take the data, women are always more exposed to trauma and violence and poverty. But when you fight for women and women's health, you fight for the rights of all. It is like intersectionality. When you bring the light to women, you bring the light to all groups that are under-seen that have specific difficulties. We should talk about geography; that is clear. We know there are differences between care in the North and South, and even within a single area. We have to take these into account. We have to include them. We have to see the patients holistically as people that have specific difficulties.
That is an interesting question. I think what I want to bring here is to ask people to take into account the whole journey of women and not only the images, not only the videos, not only what I will say is "momentary” data. We should take into account more about the patient as well as consider the impact and outcomes of patient care as a whole. I think that means we need to involve more patients in research. We should be getting their feedback, their opinions. Our research should be more participatory and more patient-centric.
For methodologies and ideas, a more empathetic approach would be beneficial.
In terms of artificial intelligence, I would like to help doctors to have more accurate diagnosis and screening to let them have more time with the patient and be empathetic, to improve doctor-patient relationships. I don't think technology can replace doctors but I do think it can help to reduce the burden, the hardship, of the daily life of the physician so they can have more energy and more empathy for the patient once they can rely on the technology with more confidence.
Can I say I am really excited to go to Korea? Hahaha!
I am excited to see people who have different abilities than me and who have different perspectives. There is going to be a lot of great discussion, a lot of great ideas. I hope maybe some international projects and good collaborations too! For me, it is very new so it will be a surprise, but, yeah, I have a lot of expectations.