New Taskforce established by WTA & Hologic to Promote Women's Health Globally

The WTA (Women's Tennis Association) and Hologic, its major worldwide sponsor and official health partner, have brought together some of the top female athletes and medical professionals in the world to form the Hologic WTA Women's Health Taskforce in order to further the aim of advocating women's health.

Six WTA athletes and 19 distinguished medical advisers make up the taskforce, which is headed by the WTA Performance Health team, which has decades of experience treating elite female tennis players in the fields of sports sciences and medicine. Its debut coincides with a critical period in the WTA's 50th anniversary celebrations, which have the theme "WTA 50: Just Starting."

To achieve this milestone, the world's best standards of information and resources for women's health have been sought after by using five decades of data and experience concerning professional athletes.

The Hologic WTA Women's Health Taskforce will pay particular attention to a number of subfields in gender and performance health as well as the teenage development of girls.

“As we provide new pathways to healthier lives through education, expanded care, further research, and policy standards, we will mutually benefit from the leadership and discovery from these exceptional women”, said Kathleen Ann Stroia, Senior Vice President of the WTA Performance Health department and taskforce co-chair.

Former WTA World No. 1, mother of three, and member of the taskforce Kim Clijsters said: "We are honoured to have these outstanding medical professionals join the Hologic WTA Women's Health Taskforce. By participating in this effort, we have a special chance to affect how women throughout the world see their health and well-being at every stage of life as well as how athletes are cared for in the future.”

According to Dr. Susan Harvey, MD, who serves as both the taskforce's co-chair and the vice president of global medical affairs at Hologic, the taskforce highlights the value of collaboration. Dr. Harvey has extensive knowledge in both breast health and women's general health.

“We're able to bring together top athletes, top medical professionals, and two organisations that are pioneers in supporting women, all of whom are working together to enhance the health of women, and that is absolutely unprecedented. This realisation of what Hologic and the WTA hope to accomplish through our cooperation is so potent.”

The taskforce has listed a number of topics it intends to cover, such as female life expectancy, technology and equipment, physical and physiological health, injury and sickness prevention, and sexual and reproductive health. The taskforce will work to advance education, resources, governance norms and procedures, preventative care, and longitudinal data for each of these issues.

The taskforce will concentrate on fresh approaches to enhance breast health, bone health, and reproductive health within their respective networks in the early months of its work while leveraging findings to support related research.