From the AIDM President, Dr Concetta Laurentaci
The 43rd National Congress of the Italian Association of Women Doctors was held on 27-29 November 2025 in Naples at the Hotel Eurostars Excelsior, with the theme “GENDER-SPECIFIC MEDICINE IN ONCOLOGICAL DISEASES: from appropriate care to long-term survival”. In the marvellous congress location, the knowledge of 350 participants was expanded on oncological issues and the latest scientific research in prevention and therapies, both pharmacological and non-pharmacological, for numerous oncological diseases, the management of which is the task of healthcare professionals belonging to different branches of medicine.
The scientific works were enriched by presentations from numerous prestigious experts in diverse fields, ranging from the main gender-specific aspects of oncology (Prof. Rossana Berardi) to updates on melanoma therapies (Prof. Paolo Ascierto), the impact of obesity as a particularly significant oncological risk factor (Prof. AnnaMaria Colao) and the importance of prevention through vaccinations to combat oncogenic viruses (Prof. Anna Ruggieri). The event also offered comprehensive training on gender-specific medicine in oncology, ranging from the most innovative therapies to secondary pathologies, whose impacts affect long-term survivors such as osteoporosis, sarcopenia, diabetes, rheumatological problems, etc., highlighting their significant impact on the health of the population.
At the beginning of the proceedings, a round table discussion was held with eleven scientific societies that have set up working groups dedicated to gender medicine, with the aim of broadening the knowledge of their members and promoting the integration and circulation of information in order to implement gender-specific aspects in new guidelines and further training events. Ample space was given not only to topics such as the search for appropriate treatments through AI and treatment pathways dedicated to diseases in long-term survivors, but also to fundamental aspects of psychological support and adequate communication with patients and their families in order to make the treatment journey less painful.
On the third day, an in-depth session was held on the VIPROM (Victims Protection in Medicine) Project, attended by Dr Emilia Solinas, newly elected Vice-President for MWIA Southern Europe region for the three-year period 2025-2028, Dr Concetta Laurentaci, who held the same role for the three-year period 2022-2025, and Dr Antonella Vezzani, former Vice-President from 2016 to 2022.
At the end of the conference, the AIDM Members’ Meeting was held, during which the National President of AIDM, Dr Concetta Laurentaci, thanked the Conference Scientific Committee for their excellent organisation (Concetta Laurentaci – Conference President, Rosalia Sorce – Vice-President for the SOUTH area, Antonella Di Stefano – AIDM Scientific Committee Coordinator, Paola Russo – President of the Naples Rosalind Franklin section, Marina Taurisano – Regional Delegate for Campania, Maria Di Lanno, Manuela Langella, Ileana Parascandolo and Raffaella Ruocco) and invited all AIDM members to future events in the geographical area, the first of which is scheduled for 4-5 June 2026 in Syracuse for the SOUTH area … we will expect you there!
Fig 1. AIDM National Congress – AIDM National President dr. Concetta Laurentaci (fourth from left) and AIDM Naples section President dr. Paola Russo (fifth from left) with some colleagues
Fig 2. Gala dinner of AIDM Naples National Congress – From left: AIDM Former President dr. Caterina Ermio, AIDM National President dr. Concetta Laurentaci and AIDM Past President dr. Antonella Vezzani
From AIDM National Co-ordinator to MWIA, Dr Enrica Ciccarelli
AIDM (Associazione Italiana Donne Medico) has recently increased collaboration with other national scientific associations and the Italian National Health Service (Instituto superiore di sanità). AIDM is now involved in endocrine and metabolic diseases, particularly in adult obesity guidelines.
Obesity is a major problem in global health, inducing severe comorbidities such as diabetes mellitus type 2, cardiovascular diseases and cancers. As obesity and being overweight are chronic diseases which affect women and men differently, AIDM has been involved recently in the production of new national guidelines on this topic in collaboration with other scientific societies and the ISS (Istituto Superiore di Sanità); Concetta Laurentaci, Enrica Ciccarelli, Palma Dicorato and Carmela Bagnato from AIDM have been involved with different roles. Moreover, following a meeting held in Bergamo on 8/2/2025, a multidisciplinary group of members of different Italian AIDM sections has recently published a paper “Sex and gender differences in nutrition” (Paola Sbisà et al, Progress in Nutrition, 2025: 27 (4), 18056). In this paper, nutrition, body composition, energy consumption, hormonal factors, eating behaviours, exposure to environmental factors, socioeconomic status are deeply evaluated as determinants of sex and gender differences in nutrition.
AIDM (represented by Antonella Carbone) has also been involved in other guidelines such as those regarding thyroid tumors.
AIDM is now a widespread Italian multidisciplinary scientific society. The topic of gender medicine has been declined in several medical specialities. All the Italian sections have organized interesting meetings. We cannot report them all and therefore only a selection with special topics is provided here.
On 22/11/2025 the section of Turin, with the cooperation of the sections of Asti, Alessandria and Biella, organized a meeting related to rare diseases (“A travel in the cosmo of rare diseases: gender characteristics and management “), most of which have shown sex differences in epidemiology, diagnosis and therapy. The speakers, including international scientific authorities such as Prof. Richard Ross from the University of Sheffield) in particular discussed new drugs recently available for some rare neurological, endocrine and cardiological diseases.
On 15/11/2025 the section of Reggio Calabria organised a meeting on “Gender incongruence: diagnostic and therapeutic framework, psychosocial and legal aspects”. This meeting, with speakers from different Italian centers such as Cristina Tarabbia (Ferrara) and with multidisciplinary expertise has focused on the knowledge of precision medicine to be applied in order to realise physical and mental wellbeing in people with gender incongruences.
Many other sections have organised meetings, going into details concerning gender medicine in several topics such as pediatrics (Bologna), neurology (Lecce and Lamezia Terme), osteoporosis (Palermo), emergency medicine (Ferrara), geriatrics (Lecce), otolaryngology (Cosenza), infectious diseases (Puglia) and prevention (Potenza).
In October 2025 the section of Turin celebrated ten years from adopting its own constitution, and in November the section of Bergamo thirty years.
Fig 3. Prof. Richard Ross, University of Sheffield, UK. Invited speaker to the meeting “A travel in the cosmo of rare diseases: gender characteristics and management “, AIDM Turin, 22/11/2025