Sex, gender, and precision medicine

We enthusiastically agree with the conclusion of Bartz et al1 that sex and gender should play a central role in everyday personalized medical care. However, in our experiences as early-career physicians and scientists,we observe critical barriers to actualizing this ideal. Sex- and gender informed approaches to care are founded on community standards appropriately representing biological sex and the complex sociocultural construct of gender. Although more research is available to provide sex-specific evidence, significant shortcomings remain in effectively implementing sex-informed care. Regarding gender, a community standard could help drive basic and clinical science education for learners, clinical and translational or health services research, and, ultimately, the delivery of evidence-based gender-sensitive medical care.