Throughout history, doctors have considered men’s bodies the standard, despite women accounting for nearly half the global population. Though policy and social changes over the past few decades have helped turn the tide, women remain underrepresented in research, and as a result, there is still a sizable gap in the understanding of what we know about the female body. In this issue of Kansas Medicine + Science, we take a closer look at why the gender gap in health care and research persists — and what health care providers and scientists at the University of Kansas Medical Center are doing to close that gap. Matthias A. Salathe, M.D. Interim Executive Vice Chancellor University of Kansas Medical Center Elsewhere in this issue, we investigate the new class of weight loss drugs that are changing the way we approach the obesity epidemic; explore how more people are interested in discovering what their biological age is as opposed to their chronological age; and we talk to students at the KU School of Medicine about how they make that all-important decision on what their medical specialty will be.

We hope you enjoy this issue of Kansas Medicine + Science. We always appreciate your feedback, so please drop us an email at kmands@kumc.edu. We look forward to hearing from you.

Matthias A. Salathe, M.D.
Interim Executive Vice Chancellor
University of Kansas Medical Center