Endometriosis is a painful condition involving the growth of tissue similar to the endometrium — the inner lining of the uterus — in other places inside the body. People with endometriosis can experience fertility issues, pain during menstrual periods, fatigue, and other symptoms. This disease affects about one in ten women from the ages of 15 to 49 worldwide, but is rarely discussed on the same level as other illnesses. Currently, the National Institutes of Health dedicates about $7 million annually to endometriosis research, but for comparison, breast cancer research receives $755 million annually in funding.
In 2016, Noémie Elhadad and her lab at Columbia University’s Irving Medical Center created the Phendo, or “phenotyping endometriosis,” app, to better understand and identify symptoms of endometriosis. The research team's goal is to fill in gaps of medical knowledge about how individuals experience the disease on a day-to-day basis. The app invites anyone over the age of 13 who has had at least one menstrual period to record their experience with endometriosis by logging daily symptoms and observations, which the Phendo team analyze to draw conclusions about the endometriosis experience.
