Sequoia at WMSM 2026: study, partnerships, and an empathetic approach to men’s health

In February 2026, the Sequoia Health team took part in the 27th World Meeting on Sexual Medicine (WMSM 2026) in Porto – one of the key global events in the field of sexual medicine. The congress brought together experts, companies, and organizations shaping the future of sexual health, and Sequoia presented a practical study case.

This year, the conference lasted a full four days. One of its features was the huge number of urologists and commercial promotional talks about various devices for sexual medicine. An unusual detail was lunch: lunch boxes were handed out in a fenced-off corridor, where you could choose between vegetarian and regular options, and from there you were directed straight into the conference hall to listen to sponsored lectures, which you were not allowed to leave until they ended. On the other hand, you could eat and listen at the same time.

In Porto, Sequoia Health was represented by Olga Neudakh and Ekaterina Can: Olga gave a talk on how tone of voice influences user engagement in the Sequoia Health app, while Ekaterina focused on developing international partnerships and integrating the digital product into clinical practice.

Olga Neudakh and Ekaterina Can

What Sequoia presented at WMSM 2026

In 2025, internal analytics revealed that more than half of men with symptoms of erectile dysfunction never seek help because of shame and fear of being judged. Even among those who downloaded the Sequoia Health app, many dropped out already at the onboarding stage. The Sequoia Health team saw that while the medical content was accurate and evidence-based, the tone of the texts was “too medical”: neutral, formal, and impersonal. For a man who has only just dared to acknowledge a problem, this type of language feels cold and reinforces the sense of being “evaluated” rather than helped.

Olga Neudakh is presenting Sequoia abstract

The Sequoia Health team decided to update the way the content was delivered: personalized addressing by name, real faces of doctors, transparent explanations about privacy, human language instead of medical jargon, and empathetic messages after tests. This made it possible to significantly increase the share of users who complete onboarding and receive their first personalized sexual health recommendation.

Key results:

• Overall conversion to completed onboarding grew from 14.2% to 32.7% – more than doubling; now roughly every third Sequoia Health user makes it all the way through.
  
  
• The proportion of users who do not drop off at the orientation screen grew from 25.8% to 53.1% – instead of one in four staying, now two out of three remain.
  
  
• Completion of the IIEF questionnaire increased 2.4 times, which is critically important for an accurate assessment of the condition and further care planning.

We also added a fun slogan, "More erection, less depression" – and it attracted a lot of attention! 

T-shirts with a slogan designed specifically for the WMSM 2026 conference

New people and projects: who we met at WMSM 2026

A separate value of WMSM 2026 for Sequoia Health was networking with teams that have been developing various aspects of sexual health for many years.

At the exhibition area of the conference we:

• Spoke with representatives of ESSM (European Society for Sexual Medicine) and discussed opportunities for joint educational initiatives, including online courses and events for physicians.

With the current ESSM president, Mikkel Fode 

• Met the Portuguese laboratory Test It Lab, which develops diagnostic solutions in the field of sexual and preventive health. 

With representatives of the Test It Lab laboratory

• Discussed technologies with Fotona, a company offering laser solutions for urogynecology and sexual health; 

• Talked with colleagues from Instituto Homem, which specializes in men’s sexual medicine. This was the first and only clinic at the conference focused exclusively on men. They currently have 20 clinics in Brazil; 

Olga Neudakh and Flavio Machado, founder of the network of men’s clinics

• Met the team from überlube, a manufacturer of premium intimate lubricants promoting the idea that “sexual health is general health.” 

With überlube founder, Stephen Magnussen

• Got to know clinicians working in sexual health from different countries; 

Olga Neudakh with Renata Moukhtieva Drees, a psychiatrist from Switzerland

• Saw Boston Scientific’s cutting-edge technologies for penile prostheses, both surgical and non-surgica; 

• Attended talks and heard the latest advances in medical sexology – in the future, articles for the app will be based on these presentations, so stay tuned!

And of course, we could not leave without buying some books

With each of these teams, we see potential for collaboration: from cross-educational projects and joint research to integration of services and links within the Sequoia Health user journey. At WMSM, we took the first step – we met in person, discussed shared challenges, and agreed to continue the dialogue after the conference.

Why this matters for our users and partners 

Sequoia Health’s participation in WMSM 2026 is not only recognition of our approach from the professional community, but also a practical contribution to product development:

• We continue to build Sequoia Health as a platform that brings together evidence-based medicine, empathetic communication, and partnerships with strong players in sexual health.
  
  
• Our acquaintance with companies and specialists opens up opportunities for joint projects that will strengthen the support we provide to our users.
  
  
• Men who use Sequoia Health will be able to receive an even more seamless experience, from digital support to offline services built on shared values and quality standards.

In conclusion, it is worth emphasizing that participation in such conferences provides invaluable insight into the directions in which medical sexology is evolving and inspires the further development of our project – a project that gently yet confidently helps shape a new culture of men taking care of themselves and breaks down outdated stereotypes of masculinity.