Welcome to the Institute of Gender and Health (IGH). IGH supports research that addresses how sex and gender influence health. There remain significant disparities in healthcare access and health outcomes for men and women. Every cell in our bodies is "sexed" and we must improve our understanding of how sex-based biological factors influence the way we respond to medications and other treatments. Every health interaction and behaviour is influenced by gender, and we need to understand the unique healthcare needs of men and women, girls and boys. The gender gap is an important research issue. Men continue to die at a younger age, compared with women, while women experience a heavier burden of chronic illness. Why this occurs is not fully understood. There is emerging evidence that there may be many important ways in which sex and gender influence health that, if better understood, could inform interventions and programs designed to improve the health and well being of all people. IGH is dedicated to generating evidence that will help to close the apparent gaps by ensuring that research is conducted that examines the biological, clinical, health service, psychological and social factors that influence the health of men, women, girls, and boys. IGH is committed to fostering collaboration across disciplines and pillars developing new researchers, fostering knowledge exchange, and ensuring that research evidence is used to improve the health of Canadians.

In this section:

• Who We Are
• What We Do
• Financial Overview
• Scientific Director Biography and Message