RESEARCH & RESOURCES

Research Priorities

The next WES-WERF endometriosis research priorities session will occur at the World Congress of Endometriosis 2025.

2017 Research Priorities

The WES/WERF 2017 Research Priorities Workshop, which was chaired by Professor Krina Zondervan, took place in Vancouver, Canada, on 21 May 2017.

2014 Research Priorities

Sixty investigators in endometriosis, from 19 countries, came together in May 2014 to collaborate on prioritising research in endometriosis.

The resulting publication in Reproductive Sciences [1] is open access in order that it may aid in focusing collaborative research an assist with grant applications.

The WES/WERF Consortium for Research Priorities in Endometriosis, chaired by Professor Peter Rogers, focused on five main areas:

  • pathogenesis/pathophysiology
  • symptoms
  • diagnosis/classification/prognosis
  • disease/symptom management
  • research policy

This research priorities consensus statement builds on earlier efforts to develop research directions for endometriosis [2,3]. Of the 56 research recommendations from the 2011 meeting in Montpellier [3], a total of 41 remained unchanged, 13 were updated, and two were deemed to be completed.

Fifty-three new research recommendations were made at the 2014 meeting in Sao Paulo, which in addition to the 13 updated recommendations resulted in a total of 66 new recommendations for research.

Read the full set of recommendations

2011 Research Priorities

The 2nd consensus workshop, intended to evaluate status quo and update future research directions was held on 4 September 2011 in connection with the 11th World Congress on Endometriosis.

2008 Research Priorities

A major challenge in endometriosis continues to be the lack of funding for endometriosis research, the isolation of programmes within countries, inadequate communications among centres, and ineffeciencies of research when information and data are not shared.

To address these issues a World Endometriosis Society (WES) and World Endometriosis Research Foundation (WERF) held its first consensus workshop on 15 March 2008 immediately following the 10th World Congress on Endometriosis in Melbourne, Australia.

The workshop was chaired by Peter Rogers, Australia, and was tasked with establishing recommendations for priorities in endometriosis research.

Nine moderators explored an extensive list of topics grouped under five sub-headings:

  • Diagnosis
  • Classification and prognosis
  • Treatment and outcome
  • Epidemiology
  • Pathophysiology

The main conclusion was that there is a need for a multi-disciplinary approach to research in all aspects of endometriosis, to include reproductive medicine physicians, reproductive surgeons, biologists, pathologists, oncologists, epidemiologists, geneticists, immunologists, toxicologists, pain specialists, infectious disease specialists, biostatisticians, bioinformaticians, and others to enable effective, accurate, and timely diagnosis, determination of those at risk, and prevention and treatment of endometriosis, and associated disorders.

Twenty four recommendations for research were developed, and have been published in Reproductive Sciences, which have made the paper freely available to all WES members (Rogers PAW et al. Priorities for Endometriosis Research: Recommendations From an International Consensus Workshop. Reprod Sci 2009;16:335-346).

References

  1. Rogers PAW, et al. Research priorities for endometriosis: recommendations from a global consortium of investigators in endometriosis. Reprod Sci 2016 [epub ahead of print].
  2. Rogers PAW, et al. Priorities for endometriosis: recommendations from an international consensus workshop. Reprod Sci 2009;16(4):335-346.
  3. Rogers PAW, et al. Defining future directions for endometriosis research: workshop report from the 2011 World Congress of Endometriosis in Montpellier, France. Reprod Sci 2013;20(5):483–499.