The Well HQ’s co-founder and CEO Dr Emma Ross is delighted to have won the prestigious ‘Changemaker’ award at last night’s Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year Awards.
The SWOTY awards, which are supported by Sky Sports and date back to 1988,
recognise women who’ve excelled and made a difference in the prior 12 months.
Dr Emma, former Head of Physiology at the English Institute of Sport, who developed the SmartHER campaign to support female athlete health across the UK High Performance System, launched The Well HQ in January 2021 alongside former Team GB rower Baz Moffat, and women’s health GP Dr Bella Smith.
In just eleven months, The Well HQ have led dozens of education and change initiatives with institutions such as the Sport England, the Open University, England Netball and the Lawn Tennis Association, as well as with businesses including Vitality, News UK and Barclays.
Dr Emma is also Lead Physiologist for Jennis CycleMapping, the female-centric fitness app launched this year by Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill which aims to improve body literacy in women, and she has been a regular voice in media, dismantling the poor practice, science and dialogue in and around women’s health.
This year Dr Emma co-authored the research paper ‘Invisible Sportswomen’ exposing that as little as 6% of sports science and medicine research is conducted exclusively on women, leaving huge gaps in knowledge that impair women’s performance and confidence, and trickle down into a culture where silence and awkwardness pervade female health matters. The Well HQ are on a mission to change raise the bar and change the status quo.
Dr Emma said: “I’m delighted to win the Changemaker award at a time when sport is beginning to talk seriously about women’s health. There’s still work to do to banish the taboos around things like menstrual cycles and menopause but this award is validation we’re moving in the right direction.
“The award caps an amazing year for myself, Baz and Bella. We launched The Well HQ in January and the response – and growth – of our mission has been overwhelming. We’re having conversations with major influencers in government, media, business and sport, and have tapped into a community of thousands of women and men who want to steer the kind of change that’ll immeasurably improve life for girls and women in sport and beyond.”
To find out more about The Well HQ visit www.thewell-hq.com
