Female Athlete Alliance

Our program vision

The Wu Tsai Female Athlete Program is a global collaboration of clinicians, researchers, coaches, and scientists striving to enhance female athlete health and performance. Our primary focus is to deliver exceptional multidisciplinary clinical care and optimize the health and performance of female athletes. With a skilled team of medical providers, dietitians, and mental health clinicians, we aim to advance the health and well-being of female athletes. In addition to clinical care, we are actively involved in cutting-edge research to address fundamental physiological and sports performance questions. Our goal is to provide practical, everyday applications and valuable insights tailored specifically to the needs of female athletes. By continuously pushing the boundaries of sports medicine and sports science, the Wu Tsai Female Athlete Program and our collaborative partners endeavor to improve the health and performance of girl and women athletes across their lifespan.

More about our vision

Our research

Since the enactment of Title IX in 1972, girls’ high school sports participation has seen an increase of over 1,000%, according to the NCAA’s 2022 Title IX 50th Anniversary Report. Nearly half of the global population is female. Despite this surge in athletic participation, there remains a paucity of research on female sports performance. Female physiology has often been cited as too complex, challenging to comprehend, and financially burdensome to properly study. An analysis conducted by Cowley et al. (2021) examined 5,261 studies from six sports science and sports medicine journals, revealing that females accounted for only 34% of overall participants, while a mere 6% of studies exclusively focused on female athletes.

To address this research gap, the Wu Tsai Female Athlete Program has emerged as a leading clinical and research center. We strive to bridge the void in female athlete research and meet the unique clinical needs of girls and women in sport across various stages of life, including adolescence, adulthood, pregnancy, and postpartum, as well as the transition into and beyond menopause.

Furthermore, the Wu Tsai Female Athlete Program aims to close the knowledge gap at a population level by translating our female sports medicine insights to athletes, coaches, families, and others in the athletes’ entourage via community outreach, conferences, educational seminars, and various media outlets. This concerted effort seeks to improve our outreach to various communities and elevate the overall health, performance, and quality of life for girl and women athletes on a global scale.

Our outreach and education

The Wu Tsai Female Athlete Program is dedicated to sharing its research and best practices through advocacy, outreach, and education. We aim to reach medical practitioners, athletes, families, coaches, teams, support staff, and the wider community of professionals who support female athletes. By translating and disseminating ongoing scientific advancements, we empower individuals at all levels of the sports ecosystem with the knowledge needed to enhance participation, health, and performance for girl and women athletes.

One of the primary outreach initiatives of the Wu Tsai Female Athlete Program is the Biennial International Female Athlete Conference (FAC). First held in 2013, our conference brings together medical practitioners, coaches, athletes, families, scientists, researchers, and others to share clinical findings and the latest sports science developments. The 2023 FAC was a remarkable success, attracting more than 1,400 attendees from 38 countries with both in-person and virtual offerings.

Furthermore, the Wu Tsai Female Athlete Program offers a unique fellowship program that provides physicians with a comprehensive year of education and specialized training in diagnosing, treating, and managing the health of female athletes. Fellows gain proficiency in evaluating conditions such as Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S), eating disorders, bone health, sports-related endocrine issues, and other sports medicine injuries specific to female athletes. Additionally, we collaborate with Stanford and Harvard to co-host a lecture series on the treatment of female athletes for sports medicine fellows.

Almost all of what we know about health is from the study of diseases. The Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance strives to transform human health from a different approach: the discovery and translation of the biological principles underpinning athletic performance.

The Alliance is leveraging a growing reservoir of knowledge about the biological principles that govern optimal performance. Across its institutions, the Alliance comprehensively studies athletes of various ages, genders, ethnicities, abilities, and disciplines in order to investigate athletic performance, injury prevention, and rehabilitation throughout the lifespan.

Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance — Innovation Hub @ Boston Children’s

Our program vision

Clinical care

Our research

Our outreach and education

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