 Both in the U.S. and around the world, there is a bias or even a discrimination against women in the healthcare system. Often the diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases or other diseases and the treatment patterns are based upon clinical trials, studies, and research that have been done largely in men. When those are superimposed on women, women may not be getting the specific diagnosis or treatment that they deserve for their diseases. For cardiovascular diseases, as an example, many of the studies on things like statins and high blood pressure have been done largely with male populations. And so how do we know the right treatment at the right time for the right person if we don't have more women included in studies and if we don't find a way to make sure that our treatments are specific to genders? In modern society today, you know, women have an equal right to be represented in the healthcare system. Women have an equal right to have treatments that are designed to work for them. And we must make sure that there are not biases in the system against women. Women, for example, who are pregnant and have gestational diabetes have a much higher risk of heart disease later in their life. And we need to get our healthcare systems to begin asking questions of women about what was their pregnancy like. How can we make sure that women have a continuous treatment of care from their physician who might treat them in their child-bearing years to their physician who might be treating them later in life? The wider economy has certainly impacted because of this bias. First of all, women may not be getting the right treatment. So that might mean multiple trips to the doctor, multiple medications that are tested before a woman gets to the right treatment. Secondly, some women aren't getting treated at all. And we know that the cost of delaying healthcare has a very significant disadvantage to the overall economy. Thirdly, we recognize that women who are in disadvantaged areas and may not have access to healthier food, safe places to exercise, may not be able to manage and control their risk of many diseases, will be disadvantaged and the healthcare system will pay a very steep price. The stakeholders must come together and be willing to have the discussion that there is a bias against women in the healthcare system. There must be a roadmap for how we assure that women are included in clinical trials, that when new drugs and new devices are developed, that there are those that are able to work specifically for women. One example we often like to give is that for patients that have very significant heart failure and they may be waiting for a heart transplant, they are given an artificial heart in this interim time period. And the only FDA approved artificial heart in the United States right now does not fit most women's bodies. And so if that isn't, disadvantaging women, I'm not sure what is. Coordination among all stakeholders is critical to remove this bias and to make sure that women have equal access to the best of our healthcare systems and to the best of prevention and treatment strategies.