Ballering completed her PhD at UMCG in 2024. Her research focuses on common complaints such as fatigue, headaches, and back pain. She found that women are more likely than men to visit their GP with these complaints, yet are less frequently examined physically or referred to a specialist. As a result, women receive a diagnosis on average six percent less often than men.
‘Not every difference is an inequality,’ says Ballering. ‘But our healthcare system has traditionally been designed primarily for men. This is why women’s complaints are often considered ‘vague’ or ‘unexplained’, even though this does not have to be the case.’
In 2025, Ballering, together with colleague Sieta de Vries, receives a UMCG seed grant, a funding scheme for researchers to start a promising project supporting research into gender differences in healthcare. Together with de Vries, she investigates how men and women use alternative medicines.
Ballering works both in Groningen and at the Sociology Department of Ghent University. In Ghent, her research focuses on biases surrounding persistent physical complaints, such as chronic pain or fibromyalgia. These conditions are still often seen as ‘all in the mind’, even though they are very real and burdensome for patients. She investigates how such biases affect the way people seek medical care, and how they can be reduced.
In addition, Ballering actively shares knowledge on gender and health with the public and healthcare professionals. Earlier this year, she gave talks at UMCG in Forum and at Noorderzon 2025, where she informed visitors and encouraged discussion on how care for men and women can be made fairer.
The New Scientist Science Talent award is a biennial prize that highlights the most promising scientific talent in the Netherlands and Flanders. Universities and research institutions nominate candidates, after which the editorial team selects fifteen nominees. The public can vote for their favourites, and a professional jury then chooses the final winner from the top five. As the winner, Ballering will receive a monetary prize, a trophy, and the opportunity to present her work at the Gala of Science on 25 November.
