At Lena, we believe that the future of women's health needs will be built and shaped by women. Our bodies have been understudied, misunderstood and deprioritised for far too long and we've felt that cost firsthand. Thankfully, the tide is shifting. Across research labs, clinics, classrooms, and boardrooms, women in STEM are rewriting the story, and many of them are doing it because they lived it first.
These are women who have translated their pain and frustration into action and change, making a point of centring lived experience in what they do. This series is our way of honouring them.
Can you introduce yourself and what you're currently working on?
"My name is Dr Jodie Hughes, I'm the founder and research consultant of Endometriosis South Coast, an organisation dedicated to raising awareness of endometriosis and improving the support available to those living with it. My work sits at the intersection of research, advocacy, and public education, translating clinical evidence into accessible resources and pushing for better recognition of the condition in healthcare and workplace settings.
At the moment, I'm focused on developing awareness campaigns and information resources that address the everyday, lived reality of endometriosis, including how it intersects with other health conditions and how it affects people through different seasons of life, not just in clinical terms but in the practical challenges it creates."
What does the current women's health landscape look like in the UK?
"Women's health in the UK sits at a difficult crossroads. On one hand, there's more public conversation than ever before: menstrual health, endometriosis, and PMOS are discussed more openly, and there's growing recognition from government and the NHS that gynaecological care has been historically underfunded and under-prioritised. The Women's Health Strategy for England and initiatives like women's health hubs are a step in the right direction. On the other hand, the reality on the ground still lags well behind that ambition.
Diagnostic delays remain severe: the average time to diagnose endometriosis in the UK is still around eight to ten years. Gynaecology waiting lists are among the longest in the NHS, period poverty and access to menstrual products remain live issues, and many women still describe having their pain dismissed or minimised by clinicians.
Trans and gender non-conforming people who experience these conditions face an even steeper climb, often encountering clinicians who aren't equipped to recognise or discuss gynaecological symptoms outside a narrow, binary framing of who gets these conditions, which pushes diagnosis and support even further out of reach. The landscape is shifting, but slowly, and unevenly across regions and across who is doing the seeking."
How does your work contribute to women's health?
"Endometriosis South Coast contributes in a few concrete ways. We produce evidence-based information resources that help people recognise symptoms earlier and advocate for themselves in clinical appointments, which matters enormously given how long diagnosis typically takes.
We run public awareness campaigns designed to normalise conversations around menstrual and gynaecological health, including work aimed specifically at bringing men into that conversation, since so much of workplace policy and healthcare funding sits in the hands of people who will never experience these conditions directly. And as a research consultant, I try to keep our messaging grounded in the current clinical literature rather than anecdote, so that what we publish holds up to scrutiny and can genuinely support better decision making, both for individuals and for the wider policy conversation."
What do you think are the biggest challenges for women's health right now?
"Three stand out to me. First, diagnostic delay: conditions like endometriosis and PMOS are still routinely missed or dismissed for years, often because pain is normalised rather than investigated.
Second, the resourcing gap: gynaecological services are underfunded relative to demand, waiting lists are long, and research funding for conditions that predominantly affect women remains disproportionately low compared to the scale of the problem.
Third, and underpinning both of these, is a cultural one: a lingering discomfort around talking openly about periods, pain, and reproductive health, which keeps some people from seeking help early and keeps the issue lower on the public and political agenda than it should be.
A related and often overlooked challenge is that gender non-conforming and trans people are frequently left out of this conversation altogether, despite experiencing the same conditions. Services, research, and even the language used in awareness campaigns are still built around a narrow idea of who has a uterus or ovaries, and that exclusion causes real, measurable harm in delayed diagnosis and inadequate care."
What is one thing you wish women knew about their gynaecological health?
That severe period pain is not something to simply endure. So many people are told, implicitly or explicitly, that debilitating pain is just part of being a woman, and that framing causes real harm, because it delays people from seeking investigation for conditions like endometriosis that are very treatable once diagnosed. Pain that disrupts your daily life, that isn't managed by over-the-counter medication, or that's getting worse over time is always worth raising with a doctor, and it's worth pushing for a referral if you're not being heard the first time.
