Women's High-Altitude Health Is Finally Getting the Attention It Deserves.
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
For years, how women's bodies respond to high altitude has been one of medicine's overlooked questions. This spring and summer, that started to change."
Dr. Monika Brodmann was interviewed by the editor of the journal of the Swiss Society for Mountain Medicine about ISHARE at the International Society for Mountain Medicine (ISMM) Congress in Hathersage, England, in May. She provided details on the research and organizational strategy of ISHARE’s project. The interview was published in the Forum Alpinum in German. The English translation can be found here.
In June, Dr. Keyes spoke on Women’s Health at High Altitude at the Extreme Sports Medicine International Conference in Deer Valley, Utah. She chatted with orthopedic surgeon Dr. Jocelyn Wittstein, author of The Complete Bone and Joint Health Plan, about ISHARE and received her unqualified support, particularly for our inclusion of menopausal women, citing the importance of bone and joint health in this population.
Dr Keyes was also interviewed by Orthopedics Today about menopausal women ascending to high altitudes. She emphasized that while there is little research on this topic, ISHARE intends to study how women of different ages adjust to the stresses of a high-altitude environment, and that no evidence suggests that menopause is a contraindication to travel to higher elevation locales.
Alexa Hasman of the Uphill Athlete interviewed Dr. Martha Tissot about the ISHARE project for the Uphill Athlete’s members-only podcast. Dr. Tissot explained gaps in understanding of women’s responses to high altitudes and encouraged members to volunteer as study participants.
Dr. Tissot was also interviewed by Selene Yeager, a former science journalist and the menopause and women’s health expert at Feisty Co., a women’s sports and health media platform. They discussed the ISHARE project, delving into specific gaps in our understanding of how menopausal women adjust to high altitudes. In the resulting article, Women’s High Altitude Physiology Finally Gets Its Own Moonshot, in 40+, the Feisty Menopause newsletter, Selene describes our all-women’s expedition, explains the science behind our endeavor and why it matters for women in midlife.
None of this recognition changes the core problem we're working to solve; we still know remarkably little about how women's bodies, especially through midlife and menopause, adjust to the stresses of altitude. Closing that gap takes real support to fund our Nepali research assistants in the field and the lab work and analysis that turn what we collect into answers. If you're able to contribute, every gift moves the science forward. And if you're not, sharing this work with someone who'd find it interesting helps just as much.
Glad to see this expedition is getting the attention it deserves. Congratulations to the team.