When you go to the doctor’s office, your doctor has to figure out which treatment is best for you. Physicians rely on medical research and clinical trials to make sure those treatments are safe and effective. But that research has not always been inclusive, which impacts patient care. Women and people of color were only required to be included in medical trials funded by the NIH starting in 1993. Now, studies are more inclusive – but how we study sex and gender in research is still controversial. In this episode, we unpack how medicine sorts the sexes – and why it’s not as simple as it seems.

If you liked this episode, check out our previous one unpacking biological sex.

Interested in more science behind medicine? Email us your questions at shortwave@npr.org.

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This episode was produced by Hannah Chinn. It was edited by our showrunner, Rebecca Ramirez. Tyler Jones checked the facts. Kwesi Lee was the audio engineer.

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Is there still a gender gap in medical research?

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