BMJ Future Health
August 2025

We are shaping an efficient, equitable, and sustainable future for health. Our mission is to scale evidence-based digital health transformation, bridging the gap between research and clinical impact. We convene clinicians, leaders, and industry partners from across the world to share what works.

This month: Find out why patients are central to our events, explore women's health innovation beyond technology, and discover if self-tests are all they're cracked up to be.

Community spotlight:
Meet our patient/carer voice champion

Jools Symons, a patient and public involvement and engagement (PPIE) manager at the University of Leeds and a member of the advisory committee, embeds the voices of patients and carers into the BMJ Future Health programme.

The advisory committee is a diverse group of experts from across the healthcare sector, with members from organisations including Microsoft, UCL Partners, Imperial College Healthcare, the NHS and The Health Foundation. The committee ensures the London event on 6-7 November 2025 prioritises relevant digital health and artificial intelligence (AI) challenges and opportunities.

Symons said: "BMJ Future Health will only be fit for purpose if it is designed with patients and carers."

Symons will be at the BMJ Future Health event in November, including supporting patients and carers to be confident on stage.  

Thank you to Aurora Todisco, a finance, human resource, and governance development lead at Local Voice, for getting in touch (via last month’s newsletter) and highlighting the importance of PPIE representation. Local Voice works with Local Healthwatch, NHS trusts, and integrated care systems to improve public services, including healthcare and social care.

Ask our editor: Dr Jocalyn Clark on women's health innovation

Just days before the Gates Foundation announced a the Gates Foundation announced a $2.5bn investment in women’s health innovations, the largest in history, The BMJ published three commentaries exploring different dimensions of women’s health innovation that should help guide the field’s development.

According to the collection of articles from international and multidisciplinary groups of experts, we must look beyond technological innovation to advance women's health. Innovation can contribute to better health outcomes, but has not yet closed persistent gender and equity gaps, authors say. The authors also highlight the importance of women’s expertise and leadership driving the global innovation agenda.

Dr Jocalyn Clark, international editor at The BMJ and a member of the BMJ Future Health advisory committee, answers your questions.

  • Why did you publish the articles? 
    The field is growing so fast, we needed to shine a light on its many areas of promise but also our concerns. The women’s health innovation field - focused on improving investments in research and development, technological solutions, and sex and gender data - is aiming to close the women’s health gap. Globally, women spend 25% more time in poor health than men owing to conditions that affect them uniquely or disproportionately. The growing coalitions of private companies, community organisations, funders, and femtech founders bring energy, resources, and global scope. They may drive women’s health forward in ways that public institutions cannot alone. As Ru Cheng writes, building inclusive networks such as the Innovation Equity Forum is essential to maintain momentum, especially as public budgets shrink.
  • Why should readers pay attention?  
    At the heart of this innovation agenda is a shift in power in who leads decision-making in women’s health. Fara Ndiaye argues that women are not mere recipients or deliverers of health innovations but must be architects of the solutions. When women define health innovations, care becomes more effective, equitable, and transformative. Innovation can't be merely technological. As Karla Unger Saldaña and colleagues urge, efforts in this space also need to advance sociocultural, health system, and policy innovations. Tech fixes alone won't solve deeply rooted inequalities. The barrier to better women’s health often isn’t tech - it’s political will.
  • Next steps?
    As I argue in my editorial in The BMJ, women’s health is not only underfunded and under-researched, it lacks the political priority and urgency that only political solidarity and action can hasten. These new global coalitions and partnerships must recognise that success will depend on their ability to organise and advance political priority. Patriarchal systems must be challenged and women’s rights actively upheld, which alongside growing investments and development of innovations can advance women’s health globally.

Read the commentaries, editorial, and the announcement of The BMJ’s new partnership with the Gates Foundation here:

What we're reading from across the BMJ Group

Here's a look at some of the latest from the BMJ Group:

Features, analysis & editorials

Research

Webinar: How to use generative AI in clinical practice

Join us for our next webinar, where we'll explore the role of large language models (LLMs) in clinical settings. Two leading experts will discuss its real-world impact on healthcare.

  • Dr Simon Wallace, chief medical information officer (CMIO) and director of business strategy at Microsoft.
  • Niels Peek, professor of data science and healthcare improvement at The Healthcare Improvement Studies Institute.

Join us on 28 August from 12:00-13:00 BST.

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