Tissue like the uterine lining grows outside the uterus, causing chronic pelvic pain, heavy bleeding, and infertility. About 10 % of girls and women, or 190 million worldwide, live with the disease.

Despite these numbers, NIH funding for endometriosis was only ~$16 million in 2022 (about $2 per patient), far lower than for less-prevalent diseases like Crohn’s.

To this day, diagnosis for endometriosis still requires surgery. This often delays diagnosis to 7-10 years, prolonging pain and fertility struggles.

Endometriosis

What We’re Doing

  • Fast-track painless tests

    We seed studies for blood, saliva, and image-based diagnostics so they can clear the FDA hurdle and replace surgical confirmation.

  • From gynecologic to systemic

    We organize large-scale immune-omics and polygenic-risk studies that track how endometriosis rewires the heart, gut and immune system.

  • Build the data engine

    We promote shared tissue atlases, biobanks, and opendatasets that give every researcher the raw material to discover new targets.

References

  1. World Health Organization. (2023, March 16). Endometriosis (Fact sheet). https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/endometriosis

  2. Giudice, L. C., Horne, A. W., & Missmer, S. A. (2023). Time for global health policy and research leaders to prioritize endometriosis. Nature Communications, 14(1), Article 8028. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-43913-9

  3. Johns Hopkins Medicine. (n.d.). Endometriosis. Johns Hopkins Medicine Health Library. Retrieved May 18, 2025, from https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/endometriosis

  4. De Corte, P., Klinghardt, M., von Stockum, S., & Heinemann, K. (2025). Time to diagnose endometriosis: Current status, challenges and regional characteristics—A systematic literature review. BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, 132(2), 118–130. https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-0528.17973