Nations's First-of-its-Kind Endometriosis Scientific Workshop Aims to Improve the Quality of Life for Malaysian Women
Thomson Fertility (also known as TMC Fertility) together with Thomson Hospital Kota Damansara and Monash University Australia collaborate to bring together endometriosis experts from United Kingdom and Australia.
PETALING JAYA, MALAYSIA - Media OutReach Newswire - 4 June 2025 - Thomson Fertility (also known as TMC Fertility) marked a significant milestone in women's healthcare by hosting the Holistic Endometriosis Care Scientific Workshop at Thomson Hospital Kota Damansara. The event brought together international experts from the University of Oxford's Endometriosis CaRe Centre, Monash University (Malaysia & Australia), and University of Warwick to address the complex management of endometriosis – a condition affecting 1 in 10 Malaysian women.
From left: Prof. Dr. Prasanna, Prof. Katy Vincent, Prof. J. Ravichandran, Dr. Hannah Nazri, Prof. Christian Becker, Ms Lakshmi Menon, CEO of Thomson Fertility Malaysia, Prof. Krina Zondervan, Ms. Evodie Paul, Prof. Beverley Vollenhoven and Dr. Thomas Tapmeier, speakers from Monash University Malaysia, MyEndosis, University of Warwick and University of Oxford.
Themed 'Holistic Endometriosis Care – From Bench to Bedside', the workshop was designed to elevate awareness, diagnostics, and multidisciplinary care beginning at the primary healthcare level, while reinforcing the link between endometriosis and infertility.
In her opening remarks, Ms Lakshmi Menon, CEO of Thomson Fertility (also known as TMC Fertility), shared the team's long-term commitment to raising the standard of care in women's health and fertility:
'We are proud to lead conversations that matter. This workshop underscores our role not just as a fertility centre, but as a regional leader in holistic women's healthcare. Empowering primary care providers is key to ensuring women get the right diagnosis early—especially when endometriosis is so closely linked with fertility struggles. Together with our international partners, we aim to transform the future of women's care in Malaysia.'
Driving Early Diagnosis, Multidisciplinary Management and Fertility Education
The workshop featured cutting-edge research and practical approaches to improve diagnosis, pain management, and long-term care for women with endometriosis. Among the key topics discussed:
Expert Perspectives on a Global Health Challenge
Prof. Dr. Prasanna Supramaniam, Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at Thomson Fertility (also known as TMC Fertility) and Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer, University of Oxford, stated:
'This is the first workshop of its kind in Malaysia, and it's time we addressed the reality that many women suffer in silence. Pain is not normal, and primary care doctors are our first line of defence. This initiative is part of our long-standing commitment to endometriosis education, awareness, and fertility support.'
Prof. Christian Becker, Lead of the Oxford BSGE Endometriosis Centre and Co-Director of the Oxford Endometriosis CaRe Centre, added:
'Endometriosis remains underdiagnosed globally. I'm honoured to share our research and see Thomson Fertility take a leadership role in improving care pathways in this region.'
Globally, endometriosis remains one of the most underdiagnosed chronic conditions, affecting millions of women—often without their knowledge. According to the Ministry of Health Malaysia, approximately 1 in 10 Malaysian women are believed to suffer from endometriosis, yet many remain unaware of their condition due to delayed diagnosis and lack of awareness.
The disease characterised by tissue similar to the uterine lining growing outside the uterus can cause debilitating pain, especially during menstruation, sexual intercourse, urination, or defecation. If left untreated, it can significantly affect fertility and quality of life.
Adding a local perspective, Prof. J. Ravichandran, Senior Consultant Obstetrician & Gynaecologist and Maternal Foetal Medicine Consultant at Hospital Sultanah Aminah, Johor Bahru, shared:
'Endometriosis is an enigmatic disease. Many women live through cycles of pain, ineffective medication, and repeat surgeries due to delayed or inadequate treatment. There is an urgent need for better data and early intervention strategies to optimise care.'
Monthly Endometriosis Day Initiative by Thomson Fertility
As part of its ongoing mission to reshape women's healthcare in Malaysia, Thomson Fertility (also known as TMC Fertility) has launched Endo Care @ Thomson—a monthly awareness initiative held on the first Saturday of every month.
Each session offers educational talks and workshops by fertility and gynaecology experts.
This monthly programme is open to the public and aims to break the silence around menstrual health and endometriosis, helping women seek the care they need without hesitation.
REFERENCES
The workshop featured a distinguished panel of medical professionals, each contributing valuable expertise on endometriosis management:
Hashtag: #ThomsonFertility
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
ABOUT THOMSON FERTILITY
Established in 1994, Thomson Fertility (also known as TMC Fertility) is Malaysia's leading fertility centre known for its exceptional care and high success rates. With multiple branches across Peninsular Malaysia, it offers advanced fertility treatments supported by state-of-the-art laboratories and quality medications. With over 30 years of experience and state-of-the-art facilities, Thomson Fertility is committed to helping individuals and couples achieve their dream of parenthood.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Associated Press
an hour ago
- Associated Press
New online tool helps women on Medicaid find prenatal care and family planning
At the University of Mississippi Medical Center, one researcher's full-time job for the past nine months has been to find out which clinics around the state offer different kinds of women's health care, and whether they accept various forms of Medicaid. The final result is a recently launched database aimed at helping women locate the nearest clinic that can offer the care they need. The work that went into creating it highlights a pervasive problem: Even making an appointment can be a barrier that keeps women from improving their lives. 'We Need to Talk' is a compilation of all Mississippi clinics offering prenatal care – specifying which ones also offer family planning, and whether they take Medicaid insurance, Medicaid waivers and see women whose Medicaid applications are pending. There is also a hotline designed to give additional support to anyone having questions or feeling overwhelmed about the process. 'Having gone through the work, it was remarkable. It wasn't easy to figure out where you should go for care,' said Dr. Thomas Dobbs, former state health officer and dean of the John D. Bower School of Population Health at UMMC, who oversaw the project. 'And that should be one of the most basic bits of information we have.' The idea was born from the recent 900% increase in babies born with syphilis, Dobbs explained, which he called a 'canary in a coal mine' signaling more danger to come. An investigation into the epidemic showed that one of the driving factors was delayed prenatal care, caused in large part by inaccessible information and concerns about cost, Dobbs said. Finding reproductive and prenatal care can be difficult for several reasons. For one thing, there are many different kinds of clinics in Mississippi, making it hard for patients to know what to search for. The list includes federally qualified health centers, county health department clinics and private OB-GYNs. Another reason is that many clinics don't specify online whether they take Medicaid, much less what their policy is on specific or temporary Medicaid coverage. Calling doesn't always guarantee patients a comprehensive or accurate answer. The new database is an initiative of UMMC's Myrlie Evers-Williams Institute – housed in the Jackson Medical Mall – which is committed to eliminating health disparities by studying the intersection of health and social issues. The institute has a clinic on site that practices what's called 'social medicine,' a key element of eliminating those disparities, the institute's executive director Victoria Gholar explained. 'If you have a patient who has asthma and they're living in a situation where mold is in their environment, it will really be hard for them to get better,' Gholar said. 'Or, if we have a patient who has to use an electronic (medical) device, and their electricity is no longer available because they weren't able to take care of their utility bill, then we try to work with them and connect them to resources that might be able to help.' The institute employs a wide range of professionals who work on health from a non-clinical standpoint, such as researchers, community engagers, social workers and registered dietitians. It hosts events like food drives and offers free support from budgeting strategies to meal preparation for those with conditions like diabetes or high blood pressure. Aside from knowing what to search for, finding clinics that accept Medicaid can also be complicated because Mississippi Medicaid eligibility is constantly changing for a woman based on her age and circumstance – what kinds of services she's seeking, as well as whether she's pregnant. Medicaid eligibility in Mississippi is among the strictest in the nation, with one exception – pregnant women. That means many low-income women only become eligible for Medicaid once pregnant. And since an application can take up to eight weeks to be processed, the chances that a woman in this situation will be able to use her newly acquired Medicaid insurance in the first trimester are slim. A law that would cut out this interim period and allow low-income pregnant women to be immediately seen by a doctor passed the Legislature in 2024, but was never implemented because of legislative errors. The policy went back through the Legislature in 2025, passed overwhelmingly again, but is not yet in effect. Some doctors already see women whose Medicaid application is pending, and the UMMC tool specifies at which clinics that's the case. Women of reproductive age seeking reproductive health care are also eligible for leniency in the typical Medicaid stipulations. These women can apply for a Medicaid family planning waiver, which allows them to access Medicaid for family planning purposes, even if they don't qualify for general Medicaid coverage. The income requirement for pregnancy Medicaid and the family planning waiver is a household income of less than 194% of the federal poverty level, or about $2,500 a month for one person in 2025. Dobbs, who has been the main point person on the project, said he hopes the online database is one more resource improving health care accessibility and women's health metrics in Mississippi. 'This isn't about getting patients to UMMC at all,' Dobbs said. 'It's about empowering patients to be able to get the care they need where they live.' ___ This story was originally published by Mississippi Today and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.
Gizmodo
3 hours ago
- Gizmodo
Private Japanese Lander Crashes Into the Moon in Second Failed Attempt
A private Japanese spacecraft crashed into the Moon while attempting the country's first commercial lunar landing on Thursday, June 5, the company has confirmed. This is the second failed moon mission for Tokyo-based ispace, which launched the Resilience lander aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket in January. ispace lost communication with Resilience less than two minutes before its scheduled landing on the Moon, the Associated Press reports. In a statement released this morning, the company explained that the spacecraft's descent initially went smoothly. But once it reached an altitude of roughly 12 miles (20 kilometers) above the lunar surface, mission control lost telemetry with the lander. After trying and failing to regain contact, ispace concluded that Resilience had most likely crash landed on the lunar surface, ending the mission. 'Given that there is currently no prospect of a successful lunar landing, our top priority is to swiftly analyze the telemetry data we have obtained thus far and work diligently to identify the cause,' said Takeshi Hakamada, founder and CEO of ispace, in the statement. Based on currently available data, it appears that the source of the mishap was a malfunction of the laser device that measures the distance between Resilience and the lunar surface, ispace stated. As a result, the lander failed to sufficiently slow down to make its planned soft landing. Resilience launched aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket on January 15, and entered lunar orbit on May 6, according to NASA. The 2,200-pound (1,000-kilogram), prism-shaped lander carried five payloads, including a tiny rover called Tenacious, a water electrolyzer experiment, an algae-based food production module, and a deep space radiation monitor. But perhaps most interesting—or at least, most unusual—was the adorable miniature house Resilience aimed to establish on the lunar toy-sized white-trimmed red cottage, appropriately named 'the Moonhouse,' was designed by Swedish artist Mikael Genberg. On his website, Genberg states that he has been dreaming of putting a little house on the Moon for 25 years. Sadly, however, this whimsical work of art was unable to fulfill its destiny. The demise of Resilience is reminiscent of ispace's first attempt to land a spacecraft on the Moon in April 2023. That mission also ended in a crash landing after the lander ran out of propellant while approaching the surface. ispace is one of several companies aiming to provide commercial payload transportation services to the Moon. But so far, only Firefly Aerospace has achieved a fully successful private lunar landing. The company launched its Blue Ghost lander on the same Falcon 9 rocket that ferried Resilience to the Moon in January. Despite two consecutive failures, ispace aims to launch two more Moon missions in 2027. The company will debut the larger, upgraded Apex 1.0 lander for these missions, but whether it proves to be more capable than Resilience remains to be seen. 'We know it's not going to be easy,' ispace director and CFO Jumpei Nozaki told reporters during a press conference a few hours after the mission failure, according to 'But it's hard. It has some meaning and significance of trying.'
CNET
6 hours ago
- CNET
Ultrahuman's New Device Reveals How Your Home May Be Negatively Impacting Your Health
Ultrahuman, the company that created our favorite smart ring for fitness enthusiasts, is launching Ultrahuman Home -- a health-monitoring device that provides real-time insights into the environment around us. It measures air quality, temperature, humidity, noise and light and reports how these factors can impact our bodies. Through its UltraSync technology, Ultrahuman Home can pair with the brand's ring to tell you more about how your environment impacts your heart rate variability, sleep and recovery. As an example, if UltraSync observes increased light or noise levels at night along with your sleep awakenings, it can provide insights into how your surroundings are affecting your sleep. The Ultrahuman Home device can sit atop a table. Ultrahuman In terms of air quality, Ultrahuman Home tracks fine particulate matter (PM 1, 2.5 and 10), chemical pollutants like volatile organic compounds (gases emitted by chemicals in paint, cleaning supplies and more), carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, all of which can impact your day-to-day health. Ultrahuman Home measures blue, infrared, green and red light exposure, which can help you tailor your home's lighting to your body's sleep and mood. The device also monitors UVA, UVB and UVC levels to ensure you're getting all the benefits of light (like vitamin D) without potential harm from overexposure. For privacy, Ultrahuman Home has a microphone cut-off control. It also offers airplane mode. If you're interested in Ultrahuman Home, it can be purchased on for $549. This is a one-time cost, and the device doesn't come with recurring subscriptions.
