In an event stressing the importance of collaboration and innovation – with the goal of bridging the gap in research between women’s and men’s athletic performance and health – medical professionals introduced the launch of the Women’s Health, Sports and Performance Institute (WHSP Institute) recently. The center claims to be the first of its kind in the nation, arriving at a time of booming interest in women’s athletics.

Among others, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey delivered remarks, recalling her days as a guard on the Harvard Women’s Basketball team and speaking about the significance of the institute being based in the state.

“Massachusetts actually was ranked the very best state to live in if you're a woman,” said Healey. “We put huge investment into women's equity across all fronts, and I think it was borne out in the rankings… There just hasn't been a real, steady and concerted effort and focus on women's health, and women's health, in particular, as it relates to athletics. So to know that that is going to happen from here is so awesome. As we see women off to the Olympics in just a few weeks, I think about how transformative this endeavor is going to be for so many.”

The non-profit research facility will work alongside its partner organization, Women’s Health, Sports and Performance Medical (WHSP Medical). According to its website, WHSP Medical provides holistic care to its patients; patients may be seen for endocrinology, sports medicine, nutrition, mental health or imaging and bloodwork, all under the same roof. The Brighton facility houses five physician associates, four sports dieticians, and a mental health psychologist, according to the organization.

According to a 2023 article in the Journal of Applied Physiology, recent reports suggest that women represent roughly 20 percent of research participants in exercise science, physiology, or related fields.

“Sort of pervasive throughout all of medicine is a lack of research and understanding of how the female body and hormones interact with our health in general,” said physician Catherine Mills. “I think having a free-standing practice where they are doing research [and] they're incorporating that research pretty quickly into practice – because they are the researchers and the people who would implement it – helps that process happen a little faster… underneath a hospital system umbrella, there's a lot of pressure from the system at large to do things in a certain way. So I think by being free-standing, they get to have more choice in what they're doing.”

Dr. Kathryn Ackerman is the director, co-founder and president of WHSP Institute and Medical. According to Governor Healey, Ackerman boasts the title of the world’s first physician triple-board certified in sports medicine, endocrinology and internal medicine. Ackerman was featured on the cover of Boston Magazine’s February 2026 edition of “Boston’s Top Doctors”.

According to the WHSP Medical website, Ackerman is a former Olympian, competing on Team USA as a rower and currently serving as the chair of the US Rowing medical committee; a faculty member at Harvard Medical School; a former researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital; the founder and former director of the Female Athlete Program at Boston Children’s Hospital; and the founder of the Female Athlete Conference.

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“To do this work really well, we have to collaborate,” said Ackerman. “We have to be bringing in the sports analytics people. We have to be bringing in the engineers and the primary care doctors, and the sports dietitians and the sports psychologists, so we can take better care of our athletes. We can't keep giving them siloed care. This isn't a competition. Let's leave the competition on the field, on the water.”

The center will be a part of the Wu Tsi Human Performance Alliance, an association featuring institutions like Stanford University, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and UC San Diego. WHSP is also partnered with USRowing, concept2, and Perform Better.

The event was held on the ground-floor of the WHSP Institute and Medical building. Attendees included Kathy Delaney-Smith -- the retired four-decade-long head coach of the Harvard Women’s Basketball team – and representatives from multiple organizations, including the NCAA, WNBA and the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee, according to Ackerman.

The event also featured a conversation between Ackerman, Olympic Gold Medalist and Hockey Hall of Famer Angela Ruggiero, and former Harvard Women’s Basketball player Jessica Gelman. Ruggiero and Gelman co-founded Sports Innovation Lab and Kraft Analytics Group, respectively, both working at the intersection of sports and data.

“It sort of seems to maybe be gentrifying the area a little bit,” Mills said, in regard to development in Allston-Brighton. “I think that there's a fine line between bringing in business and boosting [the] economy of a neighborhood, but I also think that there's [a] risk of that sort of smothering the character of the neighborhood and causing issues for the neighborhood… I'm hoping that by having the medical facilities here, it will increase [local] access to it, because I think they're doing great work.”

According to business giant Deloitte, women’s sports’ global revenue was projected to grow to $2.35 billion in 2025, up 41 percent from 2023. 2024 was the first year in which commercial revenue in women’s sports exceeded $1 billion globally.