Author: Brittany Vining

Brittany Vining is a postdoctoral research assistant of reproductive and women's health at the University of Oxford. She has a Ph.D. in reproductive genetics from Monash University and Hudson Institute of Medical Research in Australia.

Decades of Male-Focused Medical Research Could Bias Healthcare AI

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Many people will learn CPR using a flat-chested manikin. A 2024 study of 20 models of CPR manikins sold worldwide found that three-quarters were described as male or had no sex specified. Of the 20, only one offered a breast overlay.

The manikins reflect a wider tendency in medical teaching and research to treat the male body as standard. The terms “male and female” and “men and women” in this article reflect the sources, which often fail to distinguish sex from gender or say whether gender-diverse people were included.

The lack of female representation can have consequences. In a U.S. study of 19,331 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, 39 percent of women who collapsed in public received bystander CPR, compared with 45% of men.