FemTech Focus (Brittany Barreto PhD)

Evi Heilbrunn is the CEO of Privy, the first, women-led, feminine care company developing innovative and clinically proven solutions for women’s health issues ranging from bladder leaks to UTIs and yeast infections. The company was founded to bring to market the Finess softpatch, the first FDA-cleared, over-the-counter product that prevents light to moderate bladder leaks before they happen. Evi is a digital health leader and investor in FemTech. She has a proven track record of scaling early-stage products and audiences whether for health consumers or providers. She has worked for some of the largest digital health companies & brands in the world. She earned her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Pennsylvania. We discussed causes of bladder leaks, preventing bladder leakage & women having options for incontinence products. Check out the Privy at www.privywoman.com Rate, Review & Subscribe!

Breast wellness starts here. Complex Creatures is a first-of-its-kind breast wellness brand that makes topical and ingestible products to support breasts. Through products, education and community, we're building the final frontier of personal care. Founded by industry marketing veterans, whose lives were impacted by breast cancer, we are bringing solutions to a much-neglected space. Women mostly pay attention to their breasts when there's a problem. We want to make breast care a regular practice, in the same way you take care of every other body part. We believe taking care of this part of our bodies should be easy, positive and accessible. Join us on this exciting journey to raise awareness and improve breast health for all women.

In today’s episode, I interview Erin Parks, PhD the co-founder and chief operating officer of Equip Health. Equip helps families recover from eating disorders at home. Equip’s virtual, evidence-based care is provided by a dedicated five-person team that empowers families to help their loved ones achieve lasting recovery. In the US alone 5 million people will develop an eating disorder which has the 2nd highest mortality rate of all mental illnesses. In fact, there’s been a 70% increase in eating disorders since the start of the pandemic indiscriminate of gender, race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Did you know that 40% of people struggling with anorexia are males? When a disease is considered a female disease it is wildly underserved. If you’re a male suffering from a culturally-perceived female condition, you may even have it worse than the females suffering from that illness because of the bias. If you or someone you know is wondering if their disordered eating is actually an eating disorder then please take a free assessment at www.equip.health

Kristy Goodman is the Co-founder and CEO of PreConception Inc, an online service that provides consumer-driven preconception testing for women planning a pregnancy. Kristy earned a Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science with a minor in Health and Wellness from the University at Buffalo and completed a dual-degree program at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey where she earned a Master of Science in PA Studies and a Master of Public Health in Health Education and Behavioral Science. Kristy completed a postgraduate fellowship in Ob/Gyn and has worked in a variety of women's health settings providing preconception and prenatal care, emergency obstetric triage, labor and delivery services, and infertility evaluation and treatment. We discussed postpartum hemorrhage, what is pre-conception care, the importance of pre-conception testing, and the most common medicines women take before pregnancy. Check out PreConception at preconceptiontest.com Rate, Review & Subscribe!

In this episode, we talk to Smita Asrani, VP of Partnerships at UE LifeSciences. In this interview, we discuss the devices created to improve early detection of breast cancer, how to make breast care something that women are excited about, and the One Balloon One Life Campaign to provide Breast and Cervical cancer exams for women.

Remember to like, rate and subscribe and enjoy the episode!

Guest bio

Smita lost her sister at the age of 44 to late stage triple negative breast cancer. Since then, she has made it her life's mission to ensure women understand the importance of early detection and how it relates to increased chances of survival. 

Organization bio

UE LifeSciences, is a femtech company that creates screening devices for the early detection of women's cancers. We have the iBreastExam and the Selfi, both portable, radiation-free devices that use sensors to detect small lumps through changes in skin elasticity.

Globally, with the assistance of Pfizer, Siemen’s Healthineers in the United States, and in the near future, Roche, we currently provide proactive breast screenings in 13 countries through hospitals/clinics in rural, underserved and underprivileged areas.

FemTech Focus Podcast bio

The FemTech Focus Podcast is brought to you by FemHealth Insights, the leader in Women’s Health market research and consulting. In this show, Dr. Brittany Barreto hosts meaningfully provocative conversations that bring FemTech experts - including doctors, scientists, inventors, and founders - on air to talk about the innovative technology, services, and products (collectively known as FemTech) that are improving women's health and wellness. Though many leaders in FemTech are women, this podcast is not specifically about female founders, nor is it geared toward a specifically female audience. The podcast gives our host, Dr. Brittany Barreto, and guests an engaging, friendly environment to learn about the past, present, and future of women’s health and wellness.

FemHealth Insights bio

Led by a team of analysts and advisors who specialize in female health, FemHealth Insights is a female health-specific market research and analysis firm, offering businesses in diverse industries unparalleled access to the comprehensive data and insights needed to illuminate areas of untapped potential in the nuanced women’s health market.

Time Stamps

[03:38] Smita’s background

[04:59] UE Life Sciences

[06:53] Stages of cancer

[10:31] The ‘iBreastExam’ device

[12:35] The ‘Selfi’ device

[17:47] Device Availability

[20:11] Doctor attitudes to the devices

[21:55] Working with underserved areas

[23:33] Dense breasts

[24:55] Could the devices help women advocate for themselves?

[26:28] #OneBalloonOneLifeCampaign

[28:02] CervAIcal device

[30:48] What’s next for UE Life Sciences?

[37:12] What does women’s health need the most right now?

 

Call to Action!

Join in with the #OneBalloonOneLife campaign! Share a picture of yourself holding a pink balloon on social media with the hashtag #OneBalloonOneLife, and UE LifeSciences will provide a breast and cervical exam to one woman for every photo.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the FemTech Focus podcast, and leave us a review!

 

Episode Contributors

Smita Asrani

LinkedIn: @Smita Asrani

Instagram: @smitaasrani  

 

UE Life Sciences

Website: https://www.uelifesciences.com/

LinkedIn: @UE LifeSciences

Twitter: @UELifeSciences

Instagram: @ibreastexam

 

Dr. Brittany Barreto

LinkedIn:  @Brittany Barreto, Ph.D.

Twitter: @DrBrittB

Instagram: @drbrittanybarreto

 

FemTech Focus Podcast

Website: https://femtechfocus.org/

LinkedIn: @FemTech Focus

Twitter: @FemTech_Focus

Instagram: @femtechfocus

 

FemHealth Insights

Website: https://www.femhealthinsights.com/

LinkedIn: @FemHealth Insights

Lu Zhang is the Founder and Managing Partner of Fusion Fund, a renowned Silicon Valley based investor, a serial entrepreneur, and a Stanford Engineering alumna. Lu was recently selected as one of the Best 25 Female Early-stage Investors by Business Insider (2021). As one of the top female investors in America, Lu's story was a case study of the UN Women Leaders in Action series, she was a World Economic Forum – Young Global Leader (Class of 2018), as well as the Featured Honoree in VC of Forbes 30 Under 30 (2017). Prior to starting Fusion Fund, she was the Founder and CEO of a medical device company focused on non-invasive technology for the early diagnosis of Type II diabetes. Lu is a frequent speaker at tech events and conferences and also serves as a mentor and advisor to several tech innovation programs in Silicon Valley. Lu is the board member and chairman of the Youth Council of Future Forum and Future Science Award.

Fusion Fund supports early-stage entrepreneurs who are looking to build globally disruptive companies using innovative technologies to drive systemic change. We are entering the next wave of technological advancement and foundational innovation is required to enable massive growth. With Fusion Fund’s technical and entrepreneurial backgrounds, we seek to support entrepreneurs who are building companies with strong technical barriers and advantages in their business models. Fusion Fund explores both established industries and nascent markets as we search for the next teams of entrepreneurs. Areas we have strong conviction include: network technology, connected industry, AI, Health + medical, deep tech.

@FusionFundVC @luzhangvc

Podcast Link: 

https://link.chtbl.com/FemTechFocus

Social Handles

Linkedin: @FemTech Focus @Brittany Barreto

Twitter: @Femtech_Focus @DrBrittB

Instagram: @FemTechFocus @DrBrittanyBarreto

Facebook: @FemTech Focus @Dr. Brittany Barreto

FemTech Focus Bio:

FemTech Focus is a 501c3 non-profit organization founded to bring awareness externally and internally for the FemTech industry and to empower the key stakeholders including entrepreneurs, investors, physicians, governments, and biopharma with resources and research to elevate women’s health and wellness globally. Subscribe and Donate: www.femtechfocus.org

FemTech Focus Podcast Description:

The FemTech Focus Podcast with Dr. Brittany Barreto is a meaningfully provocative conversational series that brings women's health experts - including doctors, scientists, inventors, and founders - on air to talk about the innovative technology, services, and products that are improving women, female, and girl's health and wellness, collectively known as FemTech. The podcast gives the host, Dr. Brittany Barreto, and guests an engaging, friendly environment to learn about the past, present, and future of women’s health and wellness.

Keira Kotler is the CEO & Founder of Everviolet, an adaptive lingerie company that designs with the changes in a woman’s body following treatment for breast cancer and other meaningful life events in mind. Their lingerie are not only comfortable and functional but are also beautiful pieces of intimate apparel. Keira is a creative at heart, with a MFA in painting from the San Francisco Art Institute and has previously worked as a marketing professional. On this episode, Keira shares her journey after being diagnosed with breast cancer at age 40, Everviolet's mission with sustainability and developing products that adapt to women's ever-changing needs. Keira & Everviolet have been featured on top media platforms such as, Business Insider, Forbes and Create & Cultivate. Check out Everviolet at www.everviolet.com Rate, Review, and Subscribe!

In today’s episode, I interview Dr. Fazila Seker co-founder and CEO of MOLLI Surgical. MOLLI Surgical has developed a device that creates a better treatment journey for breast cancer patients. The device is a cutting-edge magnetic technology that shows surgeons where to remove tissue inside the breast, either a lumpectomy to test for cancer or to remove a cancerous mass. The current procedure is called a wire-guided excision biopsy which includes putting a thin wire into the breast tissue to show a surgeon the exact area to remove. The other end of the wire hangs outside the body and is taped to the woman’s side for up to 1 day before surgery. MOLLI on the other hand is a small magnetic bullet that is inserted into the breast into the target surgical site. No wires are hanging outside the body and there's no rush into surgery within the next 24 hours. The radioactive seed also helps surgeons remove lesions more efficiently and accurately. MOLLI is approved for use in Canada and the US. Fazila hosts a weekly Facebook Live show called “Breast Practices” where experts and patients discuss topics in patient-centered care. Learn more about MOLLI and check out the show breast practices at mollisurgical.com. Enjoy the interview!

Megan Capriccio is a Femtech consultant and Femtech Collective Chapter Director in Sydney, Australia. In this episode, we discuss how women's health and wellness are addressed in the land down under. We had several project ideas during our conversation and Megan initiated one when we finished recording! Follow @FemtechFocus to access the open google sheet that's collecting a list of femtech technologies, products, and drugs that need updating or new clinical trials. This list is for all you aspiring femtech founders to be inspired!

FemTech Focus is a 501c3 non-profit organization founded to empower, equip, and bring together healthcare professionals, life-science entrepreneurs, and forward thinking investors to revolutionize women’s health and wellness. FemTech Focus elevates the FemTech industry through increased awareness, providing resources to FemTech founders, & creating opportunities to support FemTech startups through exposure, networking, and access to capital.The FemTech Focus Podcast with Dr. Brittany Barreto is a meaningfully provocative conversational series that brings femtech experts – including doctors, scientists, inventors, and founders – on air to talk about the innovative technology, services, and products (collectively known as femtech) that are improving women’s health and wellness. The podcast gives our host, Dr. Brittany Barreto, and guests an engaging, friendly environment to learn about the past, present, and future of women’s health and wellness.Dr. Brittany Barreto is a scientist, serial entrepreneur, and venture capitalist. While finishing her PhD in Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine, Brittany founded Pheramor, the first nationwide DNA-based dating app. She then embarked into venture capital as the Senior Venture Associate at Capital Factory and was tasked with launching the fund’s Houston branch. Brittany now has her sights on advancing women’s health. She is host of the FemTech Focus podcast which has 150+ episodes and 30 thousand downloads in 105 countries. Brittany is the co-founding partner of Coyote Ventures, a US-based venture fund investing in early-stage women’s health startups.

FemTech Focus is a 501c3 non-profit organization founded to empower, equip, and bring together healthcare professionals, life-science entrepreneurs, and forward thinking investors to revolutionize women’s health and wellness. FemTech Focus elevates the FemTech industry through increased awareness, providing resources to FemTech founders, & creating opportunities to support FemTech startups through exposure, networking, and access to capital.The FemTech Focus Podcast with Dr. Brittany Barreto is a meaningfully provocative conversational series that brings femtech experts – including doctors, scientists, inventors, and founders – on air to talk about the innovative technology, services, and products (collectively known as femtech) that are improving women’s health and wellness. The podcast gives our host, Dr. Brittany Barreto, and guests an engaging, friendly environment to learn about the past, present, and future of women’s health and wellness.Dr. Brittany Barreto is a scientist, serial entrepreneur, and venture capitalist. While finishing her PhD in Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine, Brittany founded Pheramor, the first nationwide DNA-based dating app. She then embarked into venture capital as the Senior Venture Associate at Capital Factory and was tasked with launching the fund’s Houston branch. Brittany now has her sights on advancing women’s health. She is host of the FemTech Focus podcast which has 150+ episodes and 30 thousand downloads in 105 countries. Brittany is the co-founding partner of Coyote Ventures, a US-based venture fund investing in early-stage women’s health startups

Milena Bacalja is the Co-Founder & Chief Innovation and Research Officer at Menstrual Health Hub, a female health nonprofit and social impact business. They have particular efforts around menstrual health, gender equality, and women-centered design. We speak about period equity around the world, what really is women-centered design, and the difference between women's health and female health. Support their efforts and learn more at www.mhhub.org Rate, review, and subscribe!

In this episode, we talk to Jiwon Park, Founder of the SAIB & Co. We discuss the past, present and future of women’s health in South Korea, how Korean culture has impacted the birth rate there, and unique challenges for femtech founders in Korea.

Remember to like, rate and subscribe and enjoy the episode!

Guest bio

Jiwon Park is an award-winning designer, serial entrepreneur, and educator. She graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design(RISD), was a Fulbright Scholar, and has over 15 years of experience in design.

In 2018, Jiwon founded the sexual wellness company SAIB & Co. in Korea, after witnessing persistent misrepresentation and patriarchal stances towards women's sexual activities. Since then, she has dedicated herself fully to challenging these stereotypes and empowering women to embrace a positive attitude toward their own sexual health.

Before embarking on her entrepreneurial journey of founding SAIB, she served as an Assistant Professor at UT Austin in Texas.

Organization bio

SAIB & Co. is a Korea-born FemTech company providing women with safe-to-use contraceptives and intimate hygiene products helping them to maintain their sexual wellness. The brand name SAIB flips the word BIAS, signaling the company's mission to overturn negative and patriarchal biases toward women exercising sexual agency.

Our female-friendly brand provides a safe space for women and delivers high-quality sexual wellness products using only healthy and natural ingredients.

With our discreet yet stylish design and shame-free experience, SAIB aims to normalize the perception of sexual wellness, redefining them as a natural and healthy part of life.

Episode Sponsor

Good Clean Love

What’s in my nightstand? Well, one thing I can tell you is Good Clean Love’s Almost Naked personal lubricant. It’s a water-based lube made of organic aloe vera and designed to mimic my body’s natural lubrication, all thanks to their Bio-Match Technology.

Good Clean Love’s patented Bio-Match Technology taps into three factors that can maintain a healthy vaginal microbiome; which are osmolality, a healthy vaginal pH range and lactobacilli. Good Clean Love’s products are iso-osmolar to help you retain moisture and not strip any away. They have a pH range of 3.5 to 4.5 so their products match your vaginal pH range. And they contain lactic acid to help maintain a healthy vaginal biome.

The holidays are coming up, and it’s not too late to get your stocking stuffers, like their travel-size Balance wash! 10% off your first order with promo code FemTech.

Shop products that are made to match a vaginal biome at goodcleanlove.com

FemTech Focus Podcast bio

The FemTech Focus Podcast is brought to you by FemHealth Insights, the leader in Women’s Health market research and consulting. In this show, Dr. Brittany Barreto hosts meaningfully provocative conversations that bring FemTech experts - including doctors, scientists, inventors, and founders - on air to talk about the innovative technology, services, and products (collectively known as FemTech) that are improving women's health and wellness. Though many leaders in FemTech are women, this podcast is not specifically about female founders, nor is it geared toward a specifically female audience. The podcast gives our host, Dr. Brittany Barreto, and guests an engaging, friendly environment to learn about the past, present, and future of women’s health and wellness.

FemHealth Insights bio

Led by a team of analysts and advisors who specialize in female health, FemHealth Insights is a female health-specific market research and analysis firm, offering businesses in diverse industries unparalleled access to the comprehensive data and insights needed to illuminate areas of untapped potential in the nuanced women’s health market.

Time Stamps

[05:52] Jiwon’s background

[08:20] Differences between US and Korean culture towards sex

[11:22] SAIB & Co. 

[16:00] Response to the product in Korea

[19:56] Unique challenges as a femtech founder in South Korea

[25:30] History of women’s health in South Korea

[32:40] Women’s attitudes

[33:26] Changing attitudes in society

[34:38] What would you change if you had a magic wand?

[36:36] Fertility rates in South Korea

[43:23] The future of SAIB

Episode Contributors

Jiwon Park

LinkedIn: @Jiwon Park  

 

SAIB & Co.

Website: https://www.saib.co/

LinkedIn: @SAIB & Co.

Instagram: @saib.global, @saib.official

Twitter: @SAIBnCo

 

Dr. Brittany Barreto

LinkedIn:  @Brittany Barreto, Ph.D.

Twitter: @DrBrittB

Instagram: @drbrittanybarreto

 

FemTech Focus Podcast

Website: https://femtechfocus.org/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/femtechfocus

Twitter: @FemTech_Focus

Instagram: @femtechfocus

 

FemHealth Insights

Website: https://www.femhealthinsights.com/

LinkedIn: @FemHealth Insights

It’s the fourth and final summer throwback! This week, we’re replaying our episode with Dr. Roopan Gill, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Vitala Global. We discuss reproductive health for adolescent girls, self-managed medication abortions and did some abortion myth-busting.

This episode was first released in 2020, so there may be one or two references that are slightly out of date. There’s some golden content here though, so let’s get into it.

Remember to like, rate and subscribe and enjoy the episode!

Guest bio

Dr. Roopan Gill is an obstetrician gynecologist with expertise in family planning and abortion care and also the Co-Founder & Executive Director of Vitala Global. Dr. Gill is a Women’s Health Advisor for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Paris section and has worked as an emergency obstetrician gynecologist in Nigeria and Yemen and has supported projects in countries such as Malawi, Chad and Pakistan. Her research interests include human-centered design, innovative approaches to improving abortion access, sexual and reproductive health in humanitarian contexts and knowledge translation to improve health policy. She completed her training in Canada and holds a Masters in Public Health in Global Health from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Organization bio

Vitala Global Foundation is a Canadian non-profit seeking to understand the challenges women and adolescent girls identify when accessing SRH tools and services. Through user-centered and in-depth contextual and cultural research, Vitala co-creates and implements digital solutions that allow women and girls to make healthy, informed choices and to engage in appropriate self-care. 25 million unsafe abortions occur every year worldwide, leading to over 22,000 avoidable maternal deaths and millions of serious complications.  Accessible and reliable safe comprehensive abortion care and family planning reduces maternal mortality and morbidity from unsafe abortions. Vitala’s projects provide people with evidence-based digital platforms to support their safe abortion and family planning journeys.

FemTech Focus Podcast bio

The FemTech Focus Podcast is brought to you by FemHealth Insights, the leader in Women’s Health market research and consulting. In this show, Dr. Brittany Barreto hosts meaningfully provocative conversations that bring FemTech experts - including doctors, scientists, inventors, and founders - on air to talk about the innovative technology, services, and products (collectively known as FemTech) that are improving women's health and wellness. Though many leaders in FemTech are women, this podcast is not specifically about female founders, nor is it geared toward a specifically female audience. The podcast gives our host, Dr. Brittany Barreto, and guests an engaging, friendly environment to learn about the past, present, and future of women’s health and wellness.

FemHealth Insights bio

Led by a team of analysts and advisors who specialize in female health, FemHealth Insights is a female health-specific market research and analysis firm, offering businesses in diverse industries unparalleled access to the comprehensive data and insights needed to illuminate areas of untapped potential in the nuanced women’s health market.

Call to Action!

Don’t forget to subscribe to the FemTech Focus podcast, and leave us a review!

Episode Contributors

Dr. Roopan Gill

LinkedIn: @Roopan Gill MD MPH FRCSC (ObGyn)

Twitter: @Roops22

Vitala

Website: https://www.vitalaglobal.org/

LinkedIn: @Vitala Global Foundation

Twitter: @VitalaGlobal

Instagram: @vitalaglobal

Dr. Brittany Barreto

LinkedIn:  @Brittany Barreto, Ph.D.

Twitter: @DrBrittB

Instagram: @drbrittanybarreto

FemTech Focus Podcast

Website: https://femtechfocus.org/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/femtechfocus

Twitter: @FemTech_Focus

Instagram: @femtechfocus

FemHealth Insights

Website: https://www.femhealthinsights.com/

LinkedIn: @FemHealth Insights

Resources

https://www.vitalaglobal.org/

In today’s episode, I interview Lina Chan CEO and founder Parla. Parla is a digital health company revolutionizing reproductive health by providing greater access to diagnostic tests and proactive support. Parla was inspired by Lina’s own experience with fertility. She always felt on the back foot. Like many women, she found it difficult to understand what was going on with her body, get trusted support, and take care of her emotional health. Parla means to speak, and Lina believes it’s time to make women’s health an ongoing informed conversation. She is breaking taboos and making misinformation a thing of the past by creating a space that empowers women as they become the authority of their health, body, and choices. Parla supports women in 3 main ways: It empowers women with knowledge about their bodies through at-home tests, predictive data reports, and health quizzes. Second - It makes women feel supported by connecting them with a community of engaged experts and other women in similar reproductive life journeys. And third It nurtures women’s minds and emotional well-being through audio health guides and mindfulness content. The Parla app includes Free fertility health checks, Free meditation programs, Fertility experts for support, and a Community to share and learn with. The thing I was most inspired by in this interview was Lina’s attention to miscarriages and stillbirths. Both miscarriage and stillbirth describe pregnancy loss, but they differ according to when the loss occurs. In the United States, a miscarriage is usually defined as the loss of a baby before the 20th week of pregnancy, and stillbirth is the loss of a baby at 20 weeks of pregnancy and later. 8 out of 10 miscarriages happen in the first 3 months. 10-20% of pregnancies end in miscarriage. Learn more at www.myparla.com

In today’s episode, I interview Claire Schmidt the founder & CEO of AllVoices. AllVoices is an employee feedback management platform that is taking a modern approach to driving change within organizations by giving all employees a way to speak up, provide feedback, ask questions, share positive input, and report harassment, bias, or culture issues directly to their company’s leadership. Before founding AllVoices, Claire served as Vice President of Technology and Innovation at 20th Century Fox and she came across Susan Fowler's blog, exposing the toxic harassment she experienced as a software engineer at Uber. The story occupied part of Claire’s mind for months. She began speaking with CEOs, lawyers, HR professionals and other employees (including Susan Fowler) and discovered that the tools available to employees to share feedback or report issues were ineffective, ominous and rarely used. The whistleblower hotlines in the market were outdated and clunky. This lack of an effective and comprehensive employee feedback management platform, was encouraging toxic workplace cultures of silence and unresolved, systemic issues. So Claire began building AllVoices. Now, AllVoices is the leading Employee Feedback Management Platform, trusted by leading companies and preferred by employees. Learn more at www.allvoice.co Enjoy the episode!

Dr. Kate Rhodes and Dr. Melissa Herbst-Kralovetz are researchers at the University of Arizona Health Sciences, looking at how the vaginal microbiome relates to gonorrhea and bacterial vaginosis. In this episode, Dr. Kate and Dr. Melissa talk to Brittany all about STI rates in the US, the impacts for women, the link between the vaginal microbiome and cancer, plus what it’s like to be a researcher of women’s health. Enjoy the episode!

Guest bios

Dr. Kate Rhodes is a Research Scientist at the Tucson Arizona Campus in the Department of Immunobiology., where her work is focussed on the complex interactions between infection-causing pathogens and the bacteria that live in the body. Dr. Kate is working to understand bacterial adaptation in the female reproductive tract. 

Dr. Melissa Herbst-Kralovetz is an Associate Professor at College of Medicine Phoenix at the University of Arizona, in both the  Department of Basic Medical Sciences and Obstetrics & Gynecology. Dr. Melissa has her own laboratory, currently studying the relationship between vaginal dysbiosis and HPV persistence, progression and carcinogenesis, endometrial cancer and other gynecologic sequelae.

Company bio

The University of Arizona Health Sciences is one of the top-ranked academic medical centers in the southwestern United States. The University of Arizona Health Sciences includes the College of Medicine (Phoenix), College of Medicine (Tucson), College of Nursing, Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, and the R. Ken Coit College of Pharmacy.

The Herbst-Kralovetz research lab is broadly interested in understanding innate mucosal immune responses to resident bacteria, STI pathogens (e.g HPV, HSV), and microbial products at mucosal sites, including the female reproductive tract.

FemTech Focus Podcast bio

The FemTech Focus Podcast with Dr. Brittany Barreto is a meaningfully provocative conversational series that brings FemTech experts - including doctors, scientists, inventors, and founders - on air to talk about the innovative technology, services, and products (collectively known as FemTech) that are improving women's health and wellness. Though many leaders in FemTech are women, this podcast is not specifically about female founders, nor is it geared toward a specifically female audience. The podcast gives our host, Dr. Brittany Barreto, and guests an engaging, friendly environment to learn about the past, present, and future of women’s health and wellness.

Time Stamps

[03:00] Dr. Melissa Herbst-Kralovetz’s background

[05:18] Dr. Kate Rhodes’ background

[07:42] What is it like being a researcher of Women’s Health?

[11:33] An institute for Women’s Health?

[15:18] STI Statistics - globally and in women

[17:22] Consequences of STI infection in women

[23:33] Understanding the link between gonorrhea and the vaginal microbiome

[28:54] Lubricant and the vaginal microbiome

[32:38] The link between the vaginal microbiome and cancer

[38:21] The gut microbiome and the vaginal microbiome

[42:25] Is there “leaky vagina” like there is “_leaky gut_”?

[44.27] Dr. Melissa’s work with Native American communities

Research Papers

Personal and clinical vaginal lubricants: Impact on local vaginal microenvironment and implications for epithelial cell host response and barrier function.

Clinical and personal lubricants impact growth of vaginal Lactobacillus species and colonization of vaginal epithelial cells: an in vitro study.

Resources

Native American Initiatives for training the next generation of students at University of Arizona

The Summer Internship for Indigenous Peoples in Genomics

American Indian Youth Wellness Camp

Call to Action!

Make sure you subscribe to the podcast, and if you like the show please leave us a review!

Episode Contributors

Dr. Kate Rhodes

Dr. Melissa Herbst-Kralovetz

Herbst-Kralovetz Lab

Twitter: @HerbstKralovetz

LinkedIn: Melissa Herbst-Kralovetz

University of Arizona Health Sciences

LinkedIn: University of Arizona Health Sciences

Facebook: @UAZHealthSciences

Twitter: @UAZHealth

Instagram: @uazhealthsciences

Youtube: @UAHSC

Website: https://healthsciences.arizona.edu/

Dr Brittany Barreto

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittanybarreto/

Twitter: @DrBrittB

Instagram: @drbrittanybarreto

FemTech Focus

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/femtechfocus

Twitter: @FemTech_Focus

Instagram: @femtechfocus

Laura is a Legal Officer at Privacy International, where leads the work on privacy and reproductive rights. Laura contributed to Privacy International’s 2020 report on data exploitation and reproductive rights, and currently supports research, advocacy and litigation efforts to hold Big Tech and governments accountable for unlawful interferences with privacy.

Prior to joining PI, Laura was a Litigation Fellow at the Open Society Justice Initiative, where she supported claimant-side human rights litigation globally. Previously, Laura was a Visiting Professional at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

@lauralazc @privacyint

AOA is a team of entrepreneurs and experts that bring innovative, impactful and cost-effective medical technologies from research and development into the hands of providers and patients. AOA's mission is to bring to market the first accurate early stage ovarian cancer diagnostic test that will improve clinical practice, help reduce patient mortality and deliver cost savings to payers.Their first product, is the first liquid biopsy test that accurately enables early diagnosis of ovarian cancer through the analysis of tumor marker gangliosides. This episode features an interview with Oriana Papin-Zoghbi, the CEO and Co-Founder of AOA Dx. She has global experience creating and leading teams and organizations resulting in successful strategic exits. ​Oriana brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise from women's health startups and large life science companies, and a passion for entrepreneurship and solving problems that disproportionately affect women.

In this episode, Dr Brittany Barreto talks to Dr. Sarita Maturu, Clinical Assistant Professor of Neurology at Ohio State Wexner Medical Center and Board Member at My Epilepsy Story, a non-profit for women with epilepsy. They talk all about exactly what a seizure is, when women may be more susceptible to seizures, and what the female-specific impacts of an epilepsy diagnosis are. Enjoy the episode!

Remember to like, rate and subscribe to the FemTech Focus podcast!

Guest bio

Sarita Maturu is an Epileptologist at The Ohio State Wexner Medical Center. She is currently an Assistant Professor in the Epilepsy Division and is the Director of Specialty Clinics within the Neurology department. She has a special interest in women with epilepsy along with young adults and adolescents with epilepsy. Pursuant to this passion, she has developed the Epilepsy Pregnancy Clinic at OSU and has helped start the Epilepsy Transition Clinic that is done in conjunction with Nationwide Children’s Hospital.  She currently is a board member of My Epilepsy Story which is the only nonprofit organization for women with epilepsy. 

Company bio

My Epilepsy Story (MES) is an international, non-profit organization that serves to bridge the gap for women and girls diagnosed with epilepsy, as well as the children impacted by their mother’s epilepsy, by Collaborating, Advocating, Researching, and Educating (C.A.R.E.) people everywhere about women’s health and epilepsy. 

FemTech Focus Podcast bio

The FemTech Focus Podcast with Dr. Brittany Barreto is a meaningfully provocative conversational series that brings FemTech experts - including doctors, scientists, inventors, and founders - on air to talk about the innovative technology, services, and products (collectively known as FemTech) that are improving women's health and wellness. Though many leaders in FemTech are women, this podcast is not specifically about female founders, nor is it geared toward a specifically female audience. The podcast gives our host, Dr. Brittany Barreto, and guests an engaging, friendly environment to learn about the past, present, and future of women’s health and wellness.

FemHealth Insights bio

Led by a team of analysts and advisors who specialize in female health, FemHealth Insights is a female health-specific market research and analysis firm, offering businesses in diverse industries unparalleled access to the comprehensive data and insights needed to illuminate areas of untapped potential in the nuanced women’s health market.

Time Stamps

[02:26] Dr. Sarita Maturu’s background

[05:41] What is a seizure?

[07:15] What is epilepsy?

[11:10] Consequences of seizures

[12:40] Causes of epilepsy

[13:44] Prevalence of epilepsy

[15:09] Epilepsy in females

[17:27] Epilepsy medication

[20:59] Interactions with hormones

[24:46] Research

[27:13] My Epilepsy Story

[29:27] Female-specific impacts of living with epilepsy

[31:55] What is an area of women’s health and wellness that still needs innovating?

[34:29] What does the femtech industry need the most in order to be successful?

Resources

My Epilepsy Story

Call To Action!

Make sure you subscribe to the podcast, and if you like the show please leave us a review!

Episode Contributors

Dr. Sarita Maturu

My Epilepsy Story

Website: https://myepilepsystory.org/

LinkedIn: @My Epilepsy Story

Twitter: @myepilepsystory

Instagram: @myepilepsystory

Facebook: @My Epilepsy Story

Youtube: @myepilepsystory9968

Dr Brittany Barreto

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittanybarreto/

Twitter: @DrBrittB

Instagram: @drbrittanybarreto

FemTech Focus Podcast

Website: https://femtechfocus.org/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/femtechfocus

Twitter: @FemTech_Focus

Instagram: @femtechfocus

FemHealth Insights

Website: https://www.femhealthinsights.com/

LinkedIn: @FemHealth Insights

Catherine Hendy is Co-founder of ELANZA Wellness, a behavioral health coaching platform that helps fertility clinics easily provide lifestyle and emotional support to patients, for better experiences and outcomes. ELANZA was recently selected for Techstars New York, an accelerator program for the world’s most promising startups. Catherine and her cofounder, Brittany Hawkins, started the company after their own experiences of gaps in fertility care and have just launched the ELANZA Wellness Whole Patient Care Initiative - asking clinicians who care about diversity, equity and inclusion, emotional support and patient-centric operations to sign the pledge, as well as past and current patients to share their experiences of care. We discussed types of fertility-related issues, fertility clinics and egg freezing. Check out ELANZA Wellness at www.elanzawellness.com Rate, Review & Subscribe!

Meet the newest women's health and wellness venture fund, Coyote Ventures. Coyote Ventures is a Seed-stage venture fund in the United States investing in companies innovating in women’s health and wellness. Jessica Karr is the General Partner and Dr. Brittany Barreto is the co-founding FemTech Partner of Coyote Ventures. As scientists (MS in Biochemistry and PhD in Genetics) with entrepreneurial (Impossible Foods) and venture experience (Capital Factory), Jessica and Brittany are uniquely positioned to empower our portfolio companies in the women’s health and wellness space. https://www.coyote.ventures

Maureen Brown is CEO and Co-Founder of Mosie Baby, an at-home insemination kit. Mosie Baby has helped thousands of women get pregnant at home with their patent-pending, nature-inspired syringe. Designed by women specifically for conception, Mosie is a safe, simple, affordable option worth trying before intrauterine insemination at a fertility clinic. And it’s as familiar to use as a tampon. Mosie is MD-endorsed with a patent-pending design that's simply perfect for making a baby at home. We speak about the role of the cervix is fertility and the different types of aspiring parents that use Mosie Baby. Rate, review, and subscribe to the podcast!

Liz Powell founded G2G Consulting in 2007 to help entrepreneurs and nonprofits access government funding, navigate policy, regulation, administration and congress. In this episode, Liz talks to Brittany all about the relationship between policy and women’s health, the impact of Roe V Wade, and how listeners can get involved in women’s health policy.

Guest bio

Originally from Boston, MA, Liz has 25 years of experience from working on health, Defense, high-tech and economic development issues in Congress and as an attorney and lobbyist. Starting as a student activist, she worked on health, Defense, high-tech and economic development issues in Congress, as an attorney and lobbyist. After meeting lots of entrepreneurs and nonprofits who didn’t know how to navigate government, Liz started G2G (Government2Growth) in 2007. 

Company bio

G2G is a bipartisan team of non-dilutive funding experts and government affairs professionals who work for and with government on the federal, state and local levels – successfully representing bioscience, healthcare, and high-tech innovators, entrepreneurs, research institutions, companies and nonprofits in securing $423 million in non-dilutive government funding to date. 

FemTech Focus Podcast bio

The FemTech Focus Podcast with Dr. Brittany Barreto is a meaningfully provocative conversational series that brings FemTech experts - including doctors, scientists, inventors, and founders - on air to talk about the innovative technology, services, and products (collectively known as FemTech) that are improving women's health and wellness. Though many leaders in FemTech are women, this podcast is not specifically about female founders, nor is it geared toward a specifically female audience. The podcast gives our host, Dr. Brittany Barreto, and guests an engaging, friendly environment to learn about the past, present, and future of women’s health and wellness.

Time Stamps

[03:09] Liz Powell’s background 

[05:29] G2G and Women’s Health

[06:31] Women’s Health Innovation Coalition by Springboard Enterprises

[09:39] The relationship between Women’s Health and Policy 

[14:06] Current temperature of Women’s Health of Women’s Health within the US Government

[16:45] How do we educate policy makers about women’s health?

[19:39] What was the impact of the Dobbs decision on the US Midterm Elections? 

[25:22] How to get involved in crafting a policy proposal 

[27:20] Collaborating with the Office of Research on Women’s Health 

[28:34] If I had a magic wand… 

[29:31] Letter Writing Campaigns

[32:43] Reimbursement as a policy that affects women’s health

[36:03] How to get involved with policy and G2G Consulting

[37:19] What is an area in women’s health and wellness that still needs innovating?

[38:28] What does the femtech industry need the most right now to be successful?

Resources

G2G Consulting

Women’s Health Innovation Coalition

Call To Action!

Make sure you subscribe to the podcast, and if you like the show please leave us a review!

Subscribe to G2G’s mailings

Episode Contributors

Liz Powell

LinkedIn

Email: lpowell@g2gconsulting.com

G2G Consulting

LinkedIn

Twitter: @G2GConsulting

Dr Brittany Barreto

LinkedIn

Twitter: @DrBrittB

Instagram: @drbrittanybarreto

FemTech Focus

LinkedIn

Twitter: @FemTech_Focus

Instagram: @femtechfocus

Deborah Copaken is the New York Times bestselling author of several books, including Shutterbabe, The Red Book, and Between Here and April, among others. A contributing writer at The Atlantic, she was also a TV writer on Emily in Paris, a performer (The Moth, etc.), and an Emmy Award–winning news producer and photojournalist. Her photographs have appeared in Time, Newsweek, and The New York Times. Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Guardian, The Financial Times, Observer, The Wall Street Journal, The Nation, Slate, O, the Oprah Magazine, and Paris Match, among others. Her column “When Cupid Is a Prying Journalist” was adapted for the Modern Love streaming series. Her seventh book, Ladyparts, a memoir of bodily destruction and resurrection during marital rupture, was just published by Random House.

 

From the New York Times bestselling author of Shutterbabe comes a frank, witty, and dazzlingly written memoir of one woman trying to keep it together while her body falls apart.

I’m crawling around on the bathroom floor, picking up pieces of myself. These pieces are not a metaphor. They are actual pieces.

Twenty years after the publication of her iconic Shutterbabe, we remeet Deborah Copaken at her darkly comedic nadir: battered, broke, divorcing, dissected, and dying––literally––on sexism’s battlefield as she deliriously scoops up what she believes to be her internal organs, which have fallen out of her body, into a glass Tupperware container before heading off to the hospital for emergency surgery . . . in an UberPool.

Part cri de coeur cautionary tale, part dystopian tragicomedy, Ladyparts is Copaken’s irreverent inventory of both the female body and the body politic of womanhood in America. With her journalist’s eye, her novelist’s heart, and her performer’s sense of timing, she provides a frontline account of one woman brought to her knees by the one-two-twelve punch of divorce, solo motherhood, lack of healthcare, unaffordable childcare, shady landlords, her father’s death, college tuitions, sexual harassment, corporate indifference, ageism, sexism, and just plain old bad luck. Plus seven serious illnesses, one on top of the other, which provide the book’s narrative skeleton: vagina, uterus, breast, heart, cervix, brain, and lungs. She keeps bouncing back from each bum body part and finding the black humor in every setback, but in her slippery struggle to survive a steep plunge off the middle-class ladder, she is suddenly awoken to what it means to have no safety net.

Turning her Harlem home into a commune to pay rent and have childcare, she trades her life as a bestselling novelist to apply for full-time corporate gigs that come with health insurance but often not scruples. She gets fired from an online health magazine for being unhealthy; laid off from a PR firm soon after rushing home to deal with a child’s medical emergency; and sexually harassed out of her newspaper column, only to be grilled by the FBI when her harasser is offered a plum job in the White House.

Side-splittingly funny one minute, a freak horror show the next, and quintessentially American, Ladyparts is an era-defining memoir for our time.

FemTech Focus is a 501c3 non-profit organization founded to empower, equip, and bring together healthcare professionals, life-science entrepreneurs, and forward thinking investors to revolutionize women’s health and wellness. FemTech Focus elevates the FemTech industry through increased awareness, providing resources to FemTech founders, & creating opportunities to support FemTech startups through exposure, networking, and access to capital.

The FemTech Focus Podcast with Dr. Brittany Barreto is a meaningfully provocative conversational series that brings femtech experts – including doctors, scientists, inventors, and founders – on air to talk about the innovative technology, services, and products (collectively known as femtech) that are improving women’s health and wellness. The podcast gives our host, Dr. Brittany Barreto, and guests an engaging, friendly environment to learn about the past, present, and future of women’s health and wellness.

Dr. Brittany Barreto is a scientist, serial entrepreneur, and venture capitalist. While finishing her PhD in Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine, Brittany founded Pheramor, the first nationwide DNA-based dating app. She then embarked into venture capital as the Senior Venture Associate at Capital Factory and was tasked with launching the fund’s Houston branch. Brittany now has her sights on advancing women’s health. She is host of the FemTech Focus podcast which has 150+ episodes and 30 thousand downloads in 105 countries. Brittany is the co-founding partner of Coyote Ventures, a US-based venture fund investing in early-stage women’s health startups.

 

 

Kristina Cahojova is the Founder and CEO of Kegg, the world's first 2-in-1 fertility tracking kegel ball. While strengthening the pelvic floor, Kegg also uses sensors to monitor cervical mucus and notifies the wearer when they are fertile. We speak about the biology of cervical mucus and why it's important for fertility and can be used as a measure of a woman's health. Pre-order kegg now at kegg.tech ! Rate, review, and subscribe to the podcast!

FemTech Focus is a 501c3 non-profit organization founded to empower, equip, and bring together healthcare professionals, life-science entrepreneurs, and forward thinking investors to revolutionize women’s health and wellness. FemTech Focus elevates the FemTech industry through increased awareness, providing resources to FemTech founders, & creating opportunities to support FemTech startups through exposure, networking, and access to capital.The FemTech Focus Podcast with Dr. Brittany Barreto is a meaningfully provocative conversational series that brings femtech experts – including doctors, scientists, inventors, and founders – on air to talk about the innovative technology, services, and products (collectively known as femtech) that are improving women’s health and wellness. The podcast gives our host, Dr. Brittany Barreto, and guests an engaging, friendly environment to learn about the past, present, and future of women’s health and wellness.Dr. Brittany Barreto is a scientist, serial entrepreneur, and venture capitalist. While finishing her PhD in Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine, Brittany founded Pheramor, the first nationwide DNA-based dating app. She then embarked into venture capital as the Senior Venture Associate at Capital Factory and was tasked with launching the fund’s Houston branch. Brittany now has her sights on advancing women’s health. She is host of the FemTech Focus podcast which has 150+ episodes and 30 thousand downloads in 105 countries. Brittany is the co-founding partner of Coyote Ventures, a US-based venture fund investing in early-stage women’s health startups.

It’s been another year of major growth in the women's health innovation industry. In this annual end of year review with our host, Dr. Brittany Barreto, we cover the major trends, wins, and challenges faced in 2023. We discuss societal shifts affecting our industry, review last year's predictions and see if they materialized, and make predictions for 2024. We look at the key industry influencers of 2023, investments, organizations, conferences, exits, startups that all shined this year and highlight ones to watch in 2024.

We loved doing this episode to wrap up an incredible year for the podcast! Thank you for sticking with us throughout 2023, we can’t wait to talk more about women’s health innovation in 2024!

Remember to like, rate and subscribe and enjoy the episode!

Host bio

Dr. Brittany Barreto is a passionate advocate for advancing female health and wellness innovation. With a focus on building awareness, catalyzing investment and innovation, and providing data-driven insights and strategic advice, Dr. Barreto works tirelessly to positively impact women's lives.

After earning her doctorate in Molecular and Human Genetics from Baylor College of Medicine, Dr. Barreto became a serial entrepreneur, most notably known for founding Pheramor, the world’s first DNA-based dating app. She also served as a senior venture associate at Capital Factor and co-founded Coyote Ventures, gaining valuable experience in the investment space.

Today, Dr. Barreto is a leading voice in the FemTech community. She hosts the FemTech Focus podcast, is a FemTech Forbes contributor, and founded FemHealth Insights, a boutique consulting firm with market research software specializing in women's health innovation.

Episode Sponsor

Good Clean Love

When my vagina is feeling a little off–like a little out of balance–I go for Good Clean Love’s Restore Moisturizing Vaginal Gel. It’s made to help with vaginal dryness, itching and unusual odor; so it’s my go-to before I feel like I should make a doctor’s appointment. And I feel comfortable using it, because of their Bio-Match Technology. Good Clean Love’s patented Bio-Match Technology taps into three factors that can maintain a healthy vaginal microbiome; which are osmolality, a healthy vaginal pH range and lactobacilli. Good Clean Love’s products are iso-osmolar to help you retain moisture and not strip any away. They have a pH range of 3.5 to 4.5 so their products match your vaginal pH range. And they contain lactic acid to help maintain a healthy vaginal biome. Holiday travel and stress always throws me a little out of whack, so if you’re like me, make sure to get yours before you travel! 10% off your first order using promo code FemTech. Shop products that are made to match your vaginal biome at goodcleanlove.com.

FemTech Focus Podcast bio

The FemTech Focus Podcast is brought to you by FemHealth Insights, the leader in Women’s Health market research and consulting. In this show, Dr. Brittany Barreto hosts meaningfully provocative conversations that bring FemTech experts - including doctors, scientists, inventors, and founders - on air to talk about the innovative technology, services, and products (collectively known as FemTech) that are improving women's health and wellness. Though many leaders in FemTech are women, this podcast is not specifically about female founders, nor is it geared toward a specifically female audience. The podcast gives our host, Dr. Brittany Barreto, and guests an engaging, friendly environment to learn about the past, present, and future of women’s health and wellness.

FemHealth Insights bio

Led by a team of analysts and advisors who specialize in female health, FemHealth Insights is a female health-specific market research and analysis firm, offering businesses in diverse industries unparalleled access to the comprehensive data and insights needed to illuminate areas of untapped potential in the nuanced women’s health market.

Organizations featured (in alphabetical order):

AIVF, Amboy Street Ventures, Aveta Medical, BD, Cranberry, Daye, Ema, Essence, Evvy, FathomX, FemTech Association Asia, FemTech Canada, FemTech France, FemTech India, Fermata, HERA Biotech, Hertility, HLTH, HyIvy Health, iSono Health, kegg, Magee Women’s Institute,MedFemTech Congress, Midi Health, Milkify, MiM Fertility, MobileODT, Mosie Baby, National Institutes of Health (NIH), Rosy, Unfabled, Vitala Globa, We Seek Care, Women of Wearables, Women’s Health Innovation Summit (WHIS)

Individuals featured (in order of feature):

Rachel Bartholomew, Susan Stover, Lindsay Davis, Navneet Kaur, Oriana Kraft, Valentina Milanova, Gila Tolub, Jamie White, Joanna Strober, Priyanka Jain, Dr. Helen O’Neill, Dr. Natalie Getreu, Deirdre O’Neill, Carli Sapir, Hannah Samano

Episode Contributors

Dr. Brittany Barreto

LinkedIn:  @Brittany Barreto, Ph.D.

Twitter: @DrBrittB

Instagram: @drbrittanybarreto

 

FemTech Focus Podcast

Website: https://femtechfocus.org/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/femtechfocus

Twitter: @FemTech_Focus

Instagram: @femtechfocus

 

FemHealth Insights

Website: https://www.femhealthinsights.com/

LinkedIn: @FemHealth Insights

 

Resources

FemHealth Insights Database

FemHealth Insights Mentor Network

FemHealth Insights Slack Community

FemHealth Insights Deals Newsletter - Investor Signup

FemHealth Insights Investor Newsletter - Founder/CEO Deal Submission Form

AI Breast Cancer Article

Silicon Valley Bank Report on Women’s Health

In this episode, we talk to Daniela Pacheco, Managing Partner and Portfolio Manager at New Ventures Capital, where she leverages her 12 years of experience working with high impact entrepreneurs to identify and scale promising founders and startups. Join us for a conversation where we discuss the current state of women’s health innovation in Latin America, cultural considerations unique to the region, and the areas that present the greatest opportunity for growth.

You can connect with Daniela on LinkedIn through Empodera Impact Capital.

Remember to like, rate and subscribe and enjoy the episode!

Guest bio

Daniela Pacheco is Managing Partner and Portfolio Manager at New Ventures Capital. She is actively deploying through her new fund Empodera Impact Capital, which is focused on women’s health. She started her career at Endeavor in recruitment and services, managing the pipeline and portfolios for education, agriculture and health. At Endeavor, she found her purpose to support companies’ scale.

Prior to her role at New Ventures, she worked within tech startups and at venture capital funds in portfolio management. These experiences have helped her develop her skills as an operator and investor. She holds a degree of Business Administration with concentration in Economics Babson College, and a Masters in Entrepreneurship and Innovation from USC.

Organization bio

Based in Bogota Colombia, New Ventures is an Impact Fund Manager that designs, operates, and oversees different impact-related assets. NVC supports both impact-driven entrepreneurs with disruptive business models and mission-oriented investors to connect in order to drive social and environmental wellbeing.

FemTech Focus Podcast bio

The FemTech Focus Podcast is brought to you by FemHealth Insights, the leader in Women’s Health market research and consulting. In this show, Dr. Brittany Barreto hosts meaningfully provocative conversations that bring FemTech experts - including doctors, scientists, inventors, and founders - on air to talk about the innovative technology, services, and products (collectively known as FemTech) that are improving women's health and wellness. Though many leaders in FemTech are women, this podcast is not specifically about female founders, nor is it geared toward a specifically female audience. The podcast gives our host, Dr. Brittany Barreto, and guests an engaging, friendly environment to learn about the past, present, and future of women’s health and wellness.

FemHealth Insights bio

Led by a team of analysts and advisors who specialize in female health, FemHealth Insights is a female health-specific market research and analysis firm, offering businesses in diverse industries unparalleled access to the comprehensive data and insights needed to illuminate areas of untapped potential in the nuanced women’s health market.

Time Stamps

[04:30] Investment thesis for new fund focused on women’s health
[06:15] Startup opportunities in LATAM
[08:50] Where Daniela and New Ventures are seeing the most opportunity within FemTech
[09:35] 25% of women in Latin America have a child before the age of 18
[11:28] Market size of FemTech in LATAM
[13:10] Abortion legislation and access across LATAM
[19:50] Who pays for healthcare in LATAM?
[22:50] Key factors Daniela and New Ventures are looking for in deals
[24:10] What are predominant business models for FemTech companies in LATAM?
[25:50] What is the FemTech market size in LATAM?
[32:38] Cultural considerations for expanding FemTech companies internationally
[33:50] Groups, events, and organizations to connect with FemTech community in LATAM
[39:05] Women’s health is about more than women
[39:30] How to get in touch with Daniela and New Ventures

Episode Contributors

Daniela Pacheco
LinkedIn: @Daniela Pacheco

New Ventures + Empodera Impact Capital
Website: https://nvcapital.vc/
LinkedIn: @Empodera Impact Capital

Dr. Brittany Barreto
LinkedIn: @Brittany Barreto, Ph.D.
Twitter: @DrBrittB
Instagram: @drbrittanybarreto

FemTech Focus Podcast
Website: https://femtechfocus.org/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/femtechfocus
Twitter: @FemTech_Focus
Instagram: @femtechfocus

FemHealth Insights
Website: https://www.femhealthinsights.com/
LinkedIn: @FemHealth Insights

Stack the Deck for FemTech Annual Census - https://www.bit.ly/3eCE0LE

As the Co-President and Chief Product Officer Jenny leads the product management, design and user research functions for Understood. After a decade of building innovative consumer products, she brings a user-centric and entrepreneurial perspective to her role as Chief Product Officer. With her specialty in launching and scaling consumer brands, Jenny also advises startups on how to build next-gen product experiences by applying a deeply empathetic approach to understanding and influencing user behavior. Prior to joining Understood, she led the launch of a new live-streamed, wearable-enabled fitness video product for fitness technology startup, ClassPass. Jenny holds an MBA and MA in Entrepreneurial Management from The University of Pennsylvania, the Wharton School and Lauder Institute.

Understood.org is the resource for the more than 70 million people with learning and thinking differences like ADHD and dyslexia. We help them understand and anticipate life’s challenges, and build their confidence through personalized and expert-driven experiences, community and content.Understood.org is a 501(c)(3) private operating foundation based in New York. For more information, to donate, or to become a partner, visit u.org/media and follow us on Twitter @UnderstoodOrg.

Twitter @UnderstoodOrg
Instagram: @understoodorg
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/understood
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Understood

Sophie is the Co-founder and CEO of Nabta Health, a Hybrid Healthcare company for women headquartered in the United Arab Emirates. Prior to co-founding Nabta, Sophie worked for Accenture as a technology consultant and then founded several impact startups including myZindagi (a doctor-finding platform based in Pakistan) and Le Plastics (a plastic recycling company based in Sierra Leone). Sophie’s lifetime ambition is twofold: to empower women to manage their health with privacy, autonomy and convenience, and to make healthcare affordable and accessible for all women. Sophie read History at the University of Cambridge and completed an MBA with Quantic School of Business and Technology. We discussed the differences between healthcare systems between the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom, what the ecosystem for women's health is like in emerging markets and Sophie's journey with fundraising for Nabta Health thus far. Check out Nabta Health at www.nabtahealth.com Rate, Review & Subscribe!

FemTech Focus is a 501c3 non-profit organization founded to empower, equip, and bring together healthcare professionals, life-science entrepreneurs, and forward thinking investors to revolutionize women’s health and wellness. FemTech Focus elevates the FemTech industry through increased awareness, providing resources to FemTech founders, & creating opportunities to support FemTech startups through exposure, networking, and access to capital.

The FemTech Focus Podcast with Dr. Brittany Barreto is a meaningfully provocative conversational series that brings femtech experts – including doctors, scientists, inventors, and founders – on air to talk about the innovative technology, services, and products (collectively known as femtech) that are improving women’s health and wellness. The podcast gives our host, Dr. Brittany Barreto, and guests an engaging, friendly environment to learn about the past, present, and future of women’s health and wellness.

Dr. Brittany Barreto is a scientist, serial entrepreneur, and venture capitalist. While finishing her PhD in Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine, Brittany founded Pheramor, the first nationwide DNA-based dating app. She then embarked into venture capital as the Senior Venture Associate at Capital Factory and was tasked with launching the fund’s Houston branch. Brittany now has her sights on advancing women’s health. She is host of the FemTech Focus podcast which has 150+ episodes and 30 thousand downloads in 105 countries. Brittany is the co-founding partner of Coyote Ventures, a US-based venture fund investing in early-stage women’s health startups.

Dictionary.com announced the word of the year for 2022 is, "woman". That could not be more accurate as we have seen major growth in the women's health innovation industry. In this annual end of year review with our host, Dr. Brittany Barreto, we cover the major trends, wins, and challenges facing this budding industry. We will discuss societal shifts affecting our industry, review last year's predictions and see if they materialized while making predictions for 2023, key industry influencers of 2022, investments, organizations, conferences, exits, startups that shined in 2022 and which one to watch for 2023, areas of most innovation, and where we still need to do better.

Celeste Mergens is the founder and CEO of Days for Girls International, an award-winning NGO that works to shatter stigma and limitations associated with menstruation for improved health, education and livelihood outcomes. To date, Days for Girls has reached more than 2.1 million women and girls in 144 countries on 6 continents with quality, sustainable menstrual care solutions and health education. Celeste is a sought-after speaker who has been featured in Oprah’s O Magazine and Forbes, among other top-tier publications. She was recently named an AARP Purpose Prize Award winner, a Conscious Company Global Impact Entrepreneur of the year and Women Economic Forum’s Woman of the Decade. We discussed the lack of proper feminine menstrual products for many menstruators around the world, the menstrual shame, menstrual education and advocacy. Check out Days For Girls at daysforgirls.org Rate, Review & Subscribe!

Debra Bass is a growth-oriented business and team leader who has built iconic brands at some of the world’s most admired Fortune 50 companies. Debra is currently President of the United States and Global CMO at Nuvo Group, an emerging leader in maternal-fetal health with a bold ambition to reinvent pregnancy care for the 21st century with new technology, tools, and practices that give every life a better beginning. Before joining Nuvo, Debra spent 15 years at Johnson & Johnson (J&J) Companies in a variety of commercial leadership roles, including President, Global Marketing Services at J&J Consumer Companies. Before joining J&J, Debra gained general and brand management training at Procter & Gamble, working on iconic brands such as Tide detergent and Cover Girl Cosmetics. Throughout her career, Debra has been committed to advancing women’s leadership. Debra holds a B.A. in Public Policy from Duke University and an M.B.A. in General Management from the University of Michigan, Ross School of Business. Check out the Nuvo at www.nuvocares.com Rate, Review & Subscribe!

Amanda Ducach is the Founder and CEO of Social Mama, an app that matchmakes moms for friendship and support. Part of that support includes experts like OBGyns, business coaches, and therapists. With over 20,000 moms already on the platform, Social Mama is ending isolation for mothers everywhere. Community is a key to women's mental and emotional health when they become a mother. Rate, review, and subscribe to the podcast!

In this episode, we talk to Gaia Salizzoni, founder of Hale, a community for women suffering from genito-pelvic pain, including vulvodynia. Her community is an important part of the care journey for patients going through treatment or dealing with genito-pelvic pain. Additionally, as an entrepreneur building a women’s health company in the EU, Gaia has a unique view into the advantages and difficulties building in Europe. Join us for a conversation where we discuss the Hale community, genito-pelvic pain, and the current state of women’s health innovation in the EU.

Remember to like, rate and subscribe and enjoy the episode!

Guest bio

Gale Salizzoni is founder and CEO of Hale, a digital platform designed to help people living with genito-pelvic pain improve their quality of life. With a passion for women's health and a background in technology, Gaia founded Hale to provide support and resources for those navigating the challenges of pelvic and gynecologic pain. Through Hale, Gaia aims to empower individuals to better manage their condition and find relief from discomfort, fostering a community of understanding and support along the way.

Organization bio

Hale is a supportive community tailored for women experiencing genito-pelvic pain, offering a safe space for connection, understanding, and shared healing journeys. Through online forums, resources, and expert guidance, Hale provides women with the tools and solidarity to navigate their pain experiences with empowerment and resilience. With a focus on holistic well-being and destigmatization, Hale fosters a compassionate environment where women can find comfort, validation, and hope amidst their challenges.

FemTech Focus Podcast bio

The FemTech Focus Podcast is brought to you by FemHealth Insights, the leader in Women’s Health market research and consulting. In this show, Dr. Brittany Barreto hosts meaningfully provocative conversations that bring FemTech experts - including doctors, scientists, inventors, and founders - on air to talk about the innovative technology, services, and products (collectively known as FemTech) that are improving women's health and wellness. Though many leaders in FemTech are women, this podcast is not specifically about female founders, nor is it geared toward a specifically female audience. The podcast gives our host, Dr. Brittany Barreto, and guests an engaging, friendly environment to learn about the past, present, and future of women’s health and wellness.

FemHealth Insights bio

Led by a team of analysts and advisors who specialize in female health, FemHealth Insights is a female health-specific market research and analysis firm, offering businesses in diverse industries unparalleled access to the comprehensive data and insights needed to illuminate areas of untapped potential in the nuanced women’s health market.

Time Stamps

[02:00] Gaia’s background

[03:42] Founding story of Hale

[05:22] What is vulvodynia? What causes it? 

[08:57] How is vulvodynia treated? 

[10:02] How does physiotherapy help with vulvodynia? 

[13:13] The role of community in treating chronic pelvic pain

[15:18] What is Hale? 

[19:20] Who can access Hale? Where is it 

[22:08] FemTech in the EU

[28:10] Marketing censorship of women’s health companies in the EU

[28:36] Women’s Health trends and access to research funding in the EU vs US

[30:40] Advice for european entrepreneurs wanting to build in women’s health

Episode Contributors

Gaia Salizzoni

LinkedIn: @Gaia Salizzoni

Hale

Website: https://www.halecommunity.com/

LinkedIn: @Hale Community

Dr. Brittany Barreto

LinkedIn:  @Brittany Barreto, Ph.D.

Twitter: @DrBrittB

Instagram: @drbrittanybarreto

FemTech Focus Podcast

Website: https://femtechfocus.org/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/femtechfocus

Twitter: @FemTech_Focus

Instagram: @femtechfocus

FemHealth Insights

Website: https://www.femhealthinsights.com/

LinkedIn: @FemHealth Insights

In today’s episode, I interview Rory Staton, the Founder and CEO of Aila Health. Aila Health is tackling autoimmunity. They are on a mission to improve the healthcare experience for autoimmune patients which are disproportionately female. Aila Health uses data to bring the "invisible" into view, to support shared decision-making with a care team that listens to the patient, and to develop a personalized care plan that works for the patient’s life. Aila empowers its users to understand & manage their symptoms with online education, supportive communities & expert care from their board-certified doctors. To learn more visit www.ailahealth.com Enjoy the episode!

In today’s episode, I interview Etta Watts-Russell the Founder and CEO of Lactamo. Lactamo is a specialized ball specifically designed and developed to facilitate and promote breastfeeding. Lactamo harnesses the power of breast massage, compression, heating, and cooling. Breast massage and temperature may be helpful in providing relief for the most common breastfeeding challenges. Lacatamo helps clear blocked ducts, relieve swelling and pain, fight off infection, stimulate milk production and flow and aid the let-down reflex. Check out the lactamo ball at www.lactamo.com

In this episode, Dr Brittany Barreto talks to Dr. Neel Shah, Chief Medical Officer at Maven Clinic. They discuss how Maven Clinic is reducing employer healthcare costs, the challenges in serving women in over 175 countries, and what the future is for this FemTech Unicorn.

Remember to like, rate and subscribe and enjoy the episode!

Guest bio

Dr. Neel Shah, MD, MPP, FACOG, is Chief Medical Officer of Maven Clinic, the largest virtual clinic for women's and family health, and Assistant Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology at Harvard Medical School. He is the co-founder of the March for Moms Association, a coalition of more than 20 leading organizations dedicated to increasing public and private investment in the wellbeing of mothers, and the founder of Costs of Care, an NGO that curates insights from clinicians and patients to help delivery systems provide better care. His work to build equitable, trustworthy systems of care is featured in the documentaries “Color of Care,” produced by Oprah Winfrey, and “Aftershock,” produced by Yance Ford. Dr. Shah serves on the advisory board of the National Institutes of Health, Office of Women's Health Research.

Company bio

Maven is the largest virtual clinic for women's and family health, offering continuous, holistic care for fertility and family building through maternity, parenting, pediatrics and menopause. Maven's award-winning digital programs are trusted by leading employers and health plans to reduce costs and drive better maternal health outcomes, as well as enhance DE&I in benefits programs. Founded in 2014 by CEO Kate Ryder, Maven has been recognized as Fast Company's #1 Most Innovative Health Company and has 15 million lives under management. Maven has raised $300 million in funding from leading investors including General Catalyst, Sequoia, Oak HC/FT, Dragoneer Investment Group and Lux Capital. 

FemTech Focus Podcast bio

The FemTech Focus Podcast is brought to you by FemHealth Insights, the leader in Women’s Health market research and consulting. In this show, Dr. Brittany Barreto hosts meaningfully provocative conversations that bring FemTech experts - including doctors, scientists, inventors, and founders - on air to talk about the innovative technology, services, and products (collectively known as FemTech) that are improving women's health and wellness. Though many leaders in FemTech are women, this podcast is not specifically about female founders, nor is it geared toward a specifically female audience. The podcast gives our host, Dr. Brittany Barreto, and guests an engaging, friendly environment to learn about the past, present, and future of women’s health and wellness.

FemHealth Insights bio

Led by a team of analysts and advisors who specialize in female health, FemHealth Insights is a female health-specific market research and analysis firm, offering businesses in diverse industries unparalleled access to the comprehensive data and insights needed to illuminate areas of untapped potential in the nuanced women’s health market.

Time Stamps

[02:52] Dr. Neels Shah’s background

[04:27] Academics and Startups

[08:04] All about Maven Clinic

[18:38] Advice for founders thinking about business models

[10:50] How medical insurance works in the US

[22:28] Maternal care costs

[26:43] Challenges of serving women in 175+ countries

[28:36] Male usage of Maven

[32:18] Maven and Menopause

[36:12] Building Maven

[38:25] Focus V Marketplace

[39:48] Maven’s Exit Strategy

Resources

Maven Clinic

March for Moms

Costs of Care

The Color of Care

Aftershock

Call To Action!

Make sure you subscribe to the podcast, and if you like the show please leave us a review!

Sponsor Information

Today’s episode is sponsored by Guidea, a women-owned, women-led UX design consultancy that specializes in bringing FemTech innovations to life. This incredible team has extensive product and design strategy expertise in HealthTech and MedTech and is a trusted partner to 20 of the Fortune 100 companies. They’ve launched more than  300 products to date including the flagship products for seven unicorn-status start-ups. 

Guidea is known for creating research-driven products and services that are engaging, useful, and easily integrated into patients' or customers’ lives and care providers’ workflows. Drawing on their deep knowledge of MedTech, IoT, wearables, population health insights, digital therapeutics, and healthcare software, they help founding teams prioritize opportunities and focus on key features for clinical studies or MVPs. The team also has extensive experience with regulated device approval and can help you both understand and plan for this rigorous testing and approval process. To learn more about Guidea and get to know their team, visit guidea.com. 

Episode Contributors

Dr. Neel Shah

LinkedIn: @Neel Shah

Twitter: @neel_shah

Maven Clinic

Website: https://www.mavenclinic.com/

LinkedIn: @Maven Clinic

Twitter: @mavenclinic

Instagram: @mavenclinic

Dr Brittany Barreto

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittanybarreto/

Twitter: @DrBrittB

Instagram: @drbrittanybarreto

FemTech Focus Podcast

Website: https://femtechfocus.org/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/femtechfocus

Twitter: @FemTech_Focus

Instagram: @femtechfocus

FemHealth Insights

Website: https://www.femhealthinsights.com/

LinkedIn: @FemHealth Insights

Gail Anderson is a Harvard-trained counselor with over 20 years of experience helping intended parents, and one of the fertility industry’s leading innovators and creative thinkers. After doing postgraduate research at Yale, she started two egg donor agencies, became the executive director of one of the top surrogacy programs in the United States, and founded Donor Concierge. Gail is a past Executive Director of the Society for Ethics in Egg Donation & Surrogacy. Tulip Fertility is a do-it-yourself online search platform helps intended parents navigate the challenging process of finding an egg donor through their proprietary database of almost 20,000 egg donors (nearly 90% of all U.S. donors). We discussed the ethics and process of egg donations & surrogacy. Check out the Tulip Fertility at www.tulipfertility.com and Donor Concierge at www.donorconcierge.com Rate, Review & Subscribe!

Lilly Sparks is the Co-Founder and COO of Afterglow, a porn company centered around female pleasure and the unabashed enjoyment of sex. Afterglow merges adult media and sexual wellness. Their mission is to create a comfortable home for pleasure on the internet and to cultivate the unabashed enjoyment of sex. Lilly is a serial entrepreneur who's grown 4 early-stage companies to millions of revenue. She saw a huge untapped opportunity in women's sexual wellness and decided to create afterglow and make porn that's good for you. We discussed how common it is for women to watch porn, women's spending power for adult content and helping women feel comfortable with their sexuality. Check out the Afterglow at www.xoafterglow.com Rate, Review & Subscribe!

Amy Fan is the Co-Founder, President & CPO of Twentyeight Health, a digital health platform on a mission to empower individuals with trusted information, affordable access and convenience for their reproductive and sexual health. They have partnered with Bedsider and the National Institute for Reproductive Health to donate 2% of their revenues to support their work to improve access to reproductive and sexual healthcare for underserved communities. Leading a DTC skincare & makeup startup, Amy was inspired by the focus on deeply understanding her customers by having a human-centric approach to healthcare and putting the patient first. Amy holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Queen’s University in Canada and a MBA & Master of Public Health from University of California, Berkeley. In this episode we discussed digital health platforms for underserved communities, the U.S. healthcare system and contraceptive deserts. Check out Twentyeight Health at twentyeighthealth.com Rate, Review & Subscribe!

In this episode, we talk to Janna Meyrowitz Turner, co-founder of VCs for Repro. Dedicated to championing reproductive rights within the venture capital landscape, VCs for Repro strives to dismantle barriers and biases surrounding reproductive health, justice, and equity.

Their coalition member firms are reshaping the conversation around reproductive rights, ensuring that entrepreneurs and innovators in the space have access to the resources and support they need to thrive. 

Remember to like, rate and subscribe and enjoy the episode!

Guest bio

Janna Meyrowitz Turner is a strategist focused on systems change, leadership development, and communication in all its forms. 

She started her first company, Style House, at the age of 23 in 2006 which became an award-winning strategic communications and business development consultancy known for taking a holistic, progressive, and multicultural lens to brand building, strategic partnerships, platform development, marketing, and communications. With clients ranging from Estee Lauder to the WNBA, Janna became a trusted advisor to senior leadership teams on a broad range of issues - from internal and external affairs, preparation for board meetings, company retreats, and other pivotal public moments. 

Today she runs Synastry Capital with three main areas of focus – investing in and building startups, conducting Personal Brand Alignment with executives and entrepreneurs, high impact leaders, and other people who do lots of things, and incubating projects designed to change the ways money and power flow in the world. Janna is the co-founder of VCs For Repro, honored as a Fast Company “World Changing Idea” for 2023, and she also sits on the board of A CALL TO MEN, a national violence prevention organization training and educating men and boys on healthy manhood.

Organization bio

VCs For Repro is a coalition of venture capital firms that frames abortion as an economic and innovation imperative.

The coalition began in early 2022 with a thesis that the venture capital community, with enormous power to shape society, and laser focused on innovation and the future, has an obligation to lead on reproductive rights.

FemTech Focus Podcast bio

The FemTech Focus Podcast is brought to you by FemHealth Insights, the leader in Women’s Health market research and consulting. In this show, Dr. Brittany Barreto hosts meaningfully provocative conversations that bring FemTech experts - including doctors, scientists, inventors, and founders - on air to talk about the innovative technology, services, and products (collectively known as FemTech) that are improving women's health and wellness. Though many leaders in FemTech are women, this podcast is not specifically about female founders, nor is it geared toward a specifically female audience. The podcast gives our host, Dr. Brittany Barreto, and guests an engaging, friendly environment to learn about the past, present, and future of women’s health and wellness.

FemHealth Insights bio

Led by a team of analysts and advisors who specialize in female health, FemHealth Insights is a female health-specific market research and analysis firm, offering businesses in diverse industries unparalleled access to the comprehensive data and insights needed to illuminate areas of untapped potential in the nuanced women’s health market.

Time Stamps

[5:02] Janna intro

[7:38] Defining personal brand alignment 

[15:25] Origin of VCs for Repro

[16:10] Personhood laws and their impact to women and women’s health companies

[19:25] Role of risk in women’s health investment 

[24:15] Who is part of VCs for Repro? Why do they join?

[27:00] People underestimate their power and influence

[29:18] Abortion as a tool of economic suppression

[33:00] How to get involved in VCs for Repro

[36:00] Financial impact of reproductive rights and misogyny 

[38:30] Call to action – fund abortion access, talk about abortion with others

[41:30] Conclusion

Episode Contributors

Janna Meyrowitz Turner

LinkedIn: @Janna Meyrowitz Turner

Blog Post about Similarities between Marijuana and Abortion

VCs for Repro

Website: https://www.vcsforrepro.com/  

LinkedIn: @VCs for Repro

Dr. Brittany Barreto

LinkedIn:  @Brittany Barreto, Ph.D.

Twitter: @DrBrittB

Instagram: @drbrittanybarreto

FemTech Focus Podcast

Website: https://femtechfocus.org/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/femtechfocus

Twitter: @FemTech_Focus

Instagram: @femtechfocus

FemHealth Insights

Website: https://www.femhealthinsights.com/

LinkedIn: @FemHealth Insights

Aneela Idnani is the Co-Founder of HabitAware. Through HabitAware, Keen was invented. It is a smart bracelet that uses gesture detection technology to bring awareness to hair pulling (trichotillomania), skin picking and nail biting disorders. These disorders are part of an umbrella term called Body Focused Repetitive Behaviors (BFRB). HabitAware aims to spread awareness of these behaviors and empowering people to “Retrain The Brain” with healthier coping mechanisms. She’s spoken at TEDxFargo and been named a Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal 40 under 40. Aneela graduated from Binghamton University School of Management in Accounting and also the Miami Ad School. On this episode we discussed Body Focused Repetitive Behaviors (BFRB), Aneela's personal journey with trichotillomania and the diverse spectrum of mental health. Check out HabitAware by visiting www.habitaware.com Rate, Review, and Subscribe!

Lisa Falco is the author of the popular science book: “Go Figure! The astonishing science of the female body”. She has been working in the interface between medicine and technology for almost 20 years, on how data can be used to better understand the human body. She was previously Director of Data Science at Ava, a Swiss FemTech startup, where she led a team developing algorithms and artificial intelligence in order to help women get pregnant faster by using their physiological data based on their menstrual cycle. She is now working as a Lead Consultant for Data & AI at Zühlke with focus on healthcare, FemTech and Ethical AI. 

This book unravels the mystery surrounding women’s biology and explains what is happening underneath the surface. We all know that the female body changes cyclically every month during the reproductive years, and that it completely transforms during puberty, pregnancy and menopause. However, most of us ignore the fascinating details. What triggers those changes and what are the sometimes unexpected consequences? The facts are as mind-blowing as entertaining. Based on the latest research, all information is presented in an easy to read manner with plenty of anecdotes; from historical prejudices to personal experiences, with some evolutionary ideas in between. But this book is about more than facts, it will teach you how to think whenever you get confronted with new information and how to judge whether new information you come across is valid or not.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lisafalco_dsw/ 

Twitter: @lisafalco 

Webpage: https://www.lisafalco.com/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-falco-jon/ 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lisafalco.dsw

 

Podcast Link: 

https://link.chtbl.com/FemTechFocus

Social Handles

Linkedin: @FemTech Focus @Brittany Barreto

Twitter: @Femtech_Focus @DrBrittB

Instagram: @FemTechFocus @DrBrittanyBarreto

Facebook: @FemTech Focus @Dr. Brittany Barreto

FemTech Focus Bio:

FemTech Focus is a 501c3 non-profit organization founded to bring awareness externally and internally for the FemTech industry and to empower the key stakeholders including entrepreneurs, investors, physicians, governments, and biopharma with resources and research to elevate women’s health and wellness globally. Subscribe and Donate: www.femtechfocus.org

FemTech Focus Podcast Description:

The FemTech Focus Podcast with Dr. Brittany Barreto is a meaningfully provocative conversational series that brings women's health experts - including doctors, scientists, inventors, and founders - on air to talk about the innovative technology, services, and products that are improving women, female, and girl's health and wellness, collectively known as FemTech. The podcast gives the host, Dr. Brittany Barreto, and guests an engaging, friendly environment to learn about the past, present, and future of women’s health and wellness.

In this episode we interviewed both Kerry Costello and Rebecca Babcock. Kerry is the Co-Founder, COO & Product Owner of HeadCheck Health. She was a former athlete, with a wealth of expertise to her role, including extensive operations and multi-unit management for an international Fortune 500 company. She is also a University of British Columbia MBA graduate. Rebecca is a research reviewer for HeadCheck Health and graduated from the University of Otago in New Zealand with a Master’s in Bioethics and Health Law. Her thesis examined the ethical and legal issues surrounding concussion management. HeadCheck Health aims to improve outcomes for athletes by preventing mismanaged head injuries. Their tools help all those involved in the identification, management, and care of a suspected concussion. In this episode, we discussed how concussions differently affect women, CTE, concussions in women's sports. Check out Jubel at www.headcheckhealth.com Rate, Review & Subscribe!

Rachel Bond is the Founder and CEO of Jubel Health, a personal, virtual fertility guide that provides people looking to form a family with 24/7 access to personalized, unbiased, medically vetted information while keeping users connected to supportive resources like dedicated fertility coaches, community of peers and a panel of professional experts. Starting her career at Deloitte, Rachel’s spent over a decade working to transform healthcare through digital innovation that reimagines patient education. You may sign-up for their waitlist and get early access and specials with their upcoming release in iOS this year. We discussed personalized fertility coaching, the need for support in every woman's fertility journey and fertility planning. Check out Jubel at www.jubelhealth.com Rate, Review & Subscribe!

In this episode, we talk to Rosanne Longmore, CEO of Coroflo. We discuss the latest research around breastfeeding, personal and cultural factors that may influence breastfeeding rates, and how Coroflo is giving parents data-driven confidence in their baby’s milk consumption.

Remember to like, rate and subscribe and enjoy the episode!

Guest bio

Rosanne Longmore is the CEO of Coroflo. Prior to Coroflo, Rosanne worked in financial services for 15 years, specializing in wealth management. She holds a degree from the University of Limerick, and further industry qualifications from the Institute of Project Management and the Institute of Bankers.

Organization bio

Coroflo is the company behind Coro - the world’s first accurate breastfeeding monitor, enabling parents to know exactly how much milk their baby is getting. Founded in 2017, Coroflo holds the worldwide patent for Coro, and has won numerous European and global innovation awards. To date, the company has raised $8m in funding.

FemTech Focus Podcast bio

The FemTech Focus Podcast is brought to you by FemHealth Insights, the leader in Women’s Health market research and consulting. In this show, Dr. Brittany Barreto hosts meaningfully provocative conversations that bring FemTech experts - including doctors, scientists, inventors, and founders - on air to talk about the innovative technology, services, and products (collectively known as FemTech) that are improving women's health and wellness. Though many leaders in FemTech are women, this podcast is not specifically about female founders, nor is it geared toward a specifically female audience. The podcast gives our host, Dr. Brittany Barreto, and guests an engaging, friendly environment to learn about the past, present, and future of women’s health and wellness.

FemHealth Insights bio

Led by a team of analysts and advisors who specialize in female health, FemHealth Insights is a female health-specific market research and analysis firm, offering businesses in diverse industries unparalleled access to the comprehensive data and insights needed to illuminate areas of untapped potential in the nuanced women’s health market.

Time Stamps

[2:17] Interview Start +1:12

[3:14] Rosanne’s background

[06:15] What is Coroflo?

[08:39] Demo - potentially good reel

[9:43] Why women don’t reach the 6 month mark of breastfeeding (UK - 1%)

[11:46] Is there medical gaslighting in breastfeeding?

[15:00] Blue whales… 

[20:32] Tongue-tie

[27:20] Product launch timeline

[28:18] Fundraising as a femtech business 

[33:24] Men as customer inbound 

[37:01] Navigating marketing censorship

[39:40] Where we need innovation in women’s health + wellness 

[40:45] What women’s health needs to be successful

Episode Contributors

Rosanne Longmore

LinkedIn: @Rosanne Lomgmore

 

Coroflo

Website: https://www.corobaby.com/

LinkedIn: @Coroflo

 

Dr. Brittany Barreto

LinkedIn:  @Brittany Barreto, Ph.D.

Twitter: @DrBrittB

Instagram: @drbrittanybarreto

 

FemTech Focus Podcast

Website: https://femtechfocus.org/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/femtechfocus

Twitter: @FemTech_Focus

Instagram: @femtechfocus

 

FemHealth Insights

Website: https://www.femhealthinsights.com/

LinkedIn: @FemHealth Insights

Dr. Caralynn Nowinski Collens is the CEO of Dimension Inx, a next-generation biomaterials and biofabrication company developing 3D-printed therapeutic products that direct cells to rebuild healthy tissues. She is passionate about building teams and organizations that harness technology to drive transformational change and improve the quality of people’s lives. Previously as the co-founder and CEO of UI LABS, a first-of-its-kind technology organization focused on the digital future of industries, Caralynn built the organization from concept in late 2011 through launch in 2014, raising $200M+ in investment and ultimately spinning out MxD (national digital manufacturing institute) and City Tech Collaborative as independent businesses in 2019. After starting her first company while a joint medical/business student at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Caralynn spent her early career in venture capital and corporate finance, primarily focused on technology-based university spin-outs. Caralynn is an Independent Director of Fathom Digital Manufacturing [NYSE:FATH] and serves on the Executive Council of Granite Creek Capital Partners. She is proud to have been a member of the Chicago Chapter of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO) and recognized as one of Crain’s Chicago Business’ “Forty Under Forty”, “Notable Women in Manufacturing”, and “Tech 50”. In 2020, SME recognized Caralynn as one of “30 Leaders Transforming Manufacturing”.

Dimension Inx is a biomaterials platform company. We design and develop 3D- printed therapeutic products that restore tissue and organ function. Our materials-centric approach enables biofunctionality without compromising manufacturability. We precisely tune our biomaterials to create clinical solutions not otherwise possible. We work shoulder-to-shoulder with biotech and medical device partners to help solve their most challenging materials problems, and internally develop medical products for various therapeutic applications ranging from bone regeneration to fertility preservation. Dimension Inx is proudly based in Chicago, IL. To learn more about our team and our technology, please visit www.dimensioninx.com. Dimension Inx. Biomaterials, reimagined.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/caralynncollens/ 

https://www.linkedin.com/company/dimension-inx/

 

Social Handles

Linkedin: @FemTech Focus @Brittany Barreto

Twitter: @Femtech_Focus @DrBrittB

Instagram: @FemTechFocus @DrBrittanyBarreto

Facebook: @FemTech Focus @Dr. Brittany Barreto

FemTech Focus Bio:

FemTech Focus is a 501c3 non-profit organization founded to bring awareness externally and internally for the FemTech industry and to empower the key stakeholders including entrepreneurs, investors, physicians, governments, and biopharma with resources and research to elevate women’s health and wellness globally. Subscribe and Donate: www.femtechfocus.org

FemTech Focus Podcast Description:

The FemTech Focus Podcast with Dr. Brittany Barreto is a meaningfully provocative conversational series that brings women's health experts - including doctors, scientists, inventors, and founders - on air to talk about the innovative technology, services, and products that are improving women, female, and girl's health and wellness, collectively known as FemTech. The podcast gives the host, Dr. Brittany Barreto, and guests an engaging, friendly environment to learn about the past, present, and future of women’s health and wellness. 

 

Rachel Braun Scherl is an entrepreneur, speaker, and author. She successfully built and grew Semprae Laboratories, a venture-backed women sexual wellness company. Semprae Laboratories developed topical products to help heighten women's feelings of desire and arousal. This company was successfully acquired by Innovues Pharmaceuticals in 2013. Rachel calls herself a vagipreneur and has been recognized with dozens of awards. She published her book in 2018 titled “Orgasmic Leadership: profiting from the coming surge in female health and wellness”. This was an amazing episode. I hope we have Rachel back on very soon! Rate, review, and subscribe!

Kristen Carbone is the Founder of Brilliantly, a company improving the lives to women that have been impacted by breast cancer. Brilliantly recently launched Brilliantly Warm, their first wearable designed for women who have had implant reconstruction after a mastectomy and feel constantly cold. Prior to Brilliantly, Kristen spent ten years working in the curatorial departments of museums throughout New York and New England, founded an artists' advocacy business and acted as the project manager for two business consulting companies. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Art History from Skidmore College. We discussed breast implants, preventative mastectomies & breast reconstruction, fundraising during COVID-19. Check out the Brilliantly at brilliantly.co Rate, Review & Subscribe!

Abbey Donnell is the Founder and CEO of Work & Mother, a network of fully equipped lactation facilities that not only supports working mothers but makes it easy for employers to be in compliance with FLSA regulations. W&M helps prevent workplace attrition associated with childbirth, while also helping mothers reach their breastfeeding goals and keep their children happy and healthy. W&M operates much like a building gym. So, rather than every company trying to create individual solutions to support working mothers, they can simply join our membership program & enjoy the benefits. We spoke about the setting moms need to produce the most milk and the health benefits of breastmilk for babies. Rate, review, and subscribe!

Yvonne Lin is a designer and an expert at considering gender in developing compelling and functional solutions to complex design problems. She was named a Master of Design by Fast Company. Yvonne is a founder of 4B Collective and the Femme Den. She has designed numerous award-winning and best-selling products and services for clients such as Nike, Under Armour, Lego, Hasbro, UNICEF, Proctor & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, PepsiCo, Nissan, and American Express. She is the inventor of more than 20 patents. In addition, she shares her knowledge by writing for Fast Company and teaching at Parsons. Previously, she was an Associate Director at Smart Design. She also spends a lot of time skiing, cooking, and dressing up her small kids in a variety of unwieldy and fuzzy outfits. We discussed examples of product designs that were not done with women in mind, designs for medical instruments, consumer products and consulting companies on women-centered design. Check out the 4B Collective at www.4bcollective.com Rate, Review & Subscribe!

In this episode, Dr. Brittany Barreto takes a deep-dive into the topic of Osteoporosis - a disease that affects over 10 million people in the US alone, 80% of which are female. We'll be going back to basics and learning what bones actually are, what happens to them throughout a persons life, what osteoporosis is and why it impacts females so disproportionately.

Remember to like, rate and subscribe and enjoy the episode!

Guest bio

Dr. Brittany Barreto is a trailblazer in the field of FemTech, using her scientific background, entrepreneurial spirit, and investment expertise to raise awareness of women’s health issues and showcase the importance of this vital industry.

Dr. Barreto is a proud advocate of FemTech founders and the FemTech Focus podcast is a space for honest and thought-provoking conversations about the past, present, and future of female health. Informative, shocking, and candid, this podcast exposes the truth about the status of female health globally and brings to light the opportunities and current innovations striving to achieve health equality.

FemTech Focus Podcast bio

The FemTech Focus Podcast is brought to you by FemHealth Insights, the leader in Women’s Health market research and consulting. In this show, Dr. Brittany Barreto hosts meaningfully provocative conversations that bring FemTech experts - including doctors, scientists, inventors, and founders - on air to talk about the innovative technology, services, and products (collectively known as FemTech) that are improving women's health and wellness. Though many leaders in FemTech are women, this podcast is not specifically about female founders, nor is it geared toward a specifically female audience. The podcast gives our host, Dr. Brittany Barreto, and guests an engaging, friendly environment to learn about the past, present, and future of women’s health and wellness.

FemHealth Insights bio

Led by a team of analysts and advisors who specialize in female health, FemHealth Insights is a female health-specific market research and analysis firm, offering businesses in diverse industries unparalleled access to the comprehensive data and insights needed to illuminate areas of untapped potential in the nuanced women’s health market.

Time Stamps

[02:38] What are bones?

[04:17] What are bones made of?

[06:16] How are bones maintained?

[10:10] The role of estrogen in bone formation

[11:06] How broken bones heal

[13:20] What bone diseases exist?

[15:09] What is osteoporosis?

[16:20] Osteoporosis risk factors

[18:30] Rates of broken bones and osteoporosis in females

[22:01] Economic impact of osteoporosis

[23:43] Diagnosis and Prevention

[25:46] Funding for Osteoporosis

[26:25] Treatment

 

Sources

• Denver Health
• Hackensack Meridian Health
• Bone Health and Osteoporosis Foundation
• Economic burden of Osteoporosis in the world: A systematic review
• The socioeconomic burden of fractures: Today and in the 21st Century
• Osteoporosis: impact on health and economics
• Osteoporosis: Diagnosis, treatment and steps to take | National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases
• Estimates of Funding for Various Research, Condition, and Disease Categories (RCDC) | NIH RePORT
• Cost Helper Health
• Mayo Clinic

 

Additional Resources

• Osteoporosis | National Institute on Ageing
• International Osteoporosis Foundation
• Osteoporosis | NHS
• Royal Osteoporosis Society

 

Call To Action!

Let us know what you think of these new episodes. Tell us what you want to learn about in future!

Make sure you subscribe to the podcast, and if you like the show please leave us a review!

 

Episode Contributors

Dr. Brittany Barreto

LinkedIn: @Brittany Barreto, Ph.D.

Twitter: @DrBrittB

Instagram: @drbrittanybarreto

 

Apoorva Sudini (Episode Researcher)

Linkedin: @Apoorva Sudini

Instagram: @apoorvasudini

 

Megan Fuller (Show Producer)

LinkedIn: @Megan Fuller

 

FemTech Focus Podcast

Website: https://femtechfocus.org/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/femtechfocus

Twitter: @FemTech_Focus

Instagram: @femtechfocus

 

FemHealth Insights

Website: https://www.femhealthinsights.com/

LinkedIn: @FemHealth Insights

FemTech Focus is a 501c3 non-profit organization founded to empower, equip, and bring together healthcare professionals, life-science entrepreneurs, and forward thinking investors to revolutionize women’s health and wellness. FemTech Focus elevates the FemTech industry through increased awareness, providing resources to FemTech founders, & creating opportunities to support FemTech startups through exposure, networking, and access to capital.The FemTech Focus Podcast with Dr. Brittany Barreto is a meaningfully provocative conversational series that brings femtech experts – including doctors, scientists, inventors, and founders – on air to talk about the innovative technology, services, and products (collectively known as femtech) that are improving women’s health and wellness. The podcast gives our host, Dr. Brittany Barreto, and guests an engaging, friendly environment to learn about the past, present, and future of women’s health and wellness.Dr. Brittany Barreto is a scientist, serial entrepreneur, and venture capitalist. While finishing her PhD in Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine, Brittany founded Pheramor, the first nationwide DNA-based dating app. She then embarked into venture capital as the Senior Venture Associate at Capital Factory and was tasked with launching the fund’s Houston branch. Brittany now has her sights on advancing women’s health. She is host of the FemTech Focus podcast which has 150+ episodes and 30 thousand downloads in 105 countries. Brittany is the co-founding partner of Coyote Ventures, a US-based venture fund investing in early-stage women’s health startups

Kimberly Seals Allers is an award-winning journalist turned speaker and advocate focused on advocating for equity in maternal and infant health. For the past seven years, she has ran on-the-ground community-partnered projects in Birmingham, AL, New Orleans, LA, Detroit and Philadelphia, to name a few, to better understand the lived experiences of birth and breastfeeding in low-income communities of color. Kimberly was recently named one of “21 Leaders for the 21st Century” for 2018 by Women’s eNews for her media advocacy work. Her fifth book, The Big Let Down—How Medicine, Big Business and Feminism Undermine Breastfeeding was published by St. Martin’s Press in January 2017. Kimberly has appeared on Good Morning America, CNN, Anderson Cooper, the Tom Joyner Morning Show, Fox News and has been featured in various international and national media outlets, including The Guardian (U.K.), U.S. News & World Report, Essence, Black Enterprise, Pregnancy and in various online media properties. Kimberly is a graduate of New York University and Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. We discussed black maternal health, disparities in maternal health, dismantling biases for all women's health and the intersection of policy & health. Check out Irth at birthwithoutbias.com Rate, Review & Subscribe!

Dr. Rasha Babikir is head of business development at Cedar Health Research, a Clinical Trials site in Dallas, Texas. In this episode, Dr. Rasha teaches us all about the different entities involved in a clinical trial, how much one costs, why women were excluded from clinical trials in 1977 and reintroduced in 1993, and what we can do to ensure equality in clinical trials moving forwards. 

Guest bio

Dr. Rasha Babikir is a first generation American with Afro-Arabian origins in Egypt and Sudan. She acquired her medical education and training in Sudan before she immigrated to the United States. While living in the US, she succeeded in combining her passion for patient care and unfulfilled hunger for knowledge by becoming a clinical research professional. She gained her clinical research experience while working at UT Southwestern Medical Center and while working in academia, she pursued an MBA with a focus in Healthcare Management to expand her knowledge and support her professional growth.

Company bio

Cedar Health Research is a clinical trial site network in Dallas Fort Worth, Texas, that uses machine learning to match candidates to trials from their partner community practices. They then perform the trials themselves and they have a focus on recruiting diverse populations, leading to success in enrolling underrepresented groups to their trials.

FemTech Focus Podcast bio

The FemTech Focus Podcast with Dr. Brittany Barreto is a meaningfully provocative conversational series that brings FemTech experts - including doctors, scientists, inventors, and founders - on air to talk about the innovative technology, services, and products (collectively known as FemTech) that are improving women's health and wellness. Though many leaders in FemTech are women, this podcast is not specifically about female founders, nor is it geared toward a specifically female audience. The podcast gives our host, Dr. Brittany Barreto, and guests an engaging, friendly environment to learn about the past, present, and future of women’s health and wellness.

Time Stamps

[03:34] Dr. Babikir’s background

[06:40] What is Cedar Health Research?

[13:17] Diversity in Clinical Trials

[18:38] The different entities involved in a Clinical Trial

[24:17] The cost of a Clinical Trial

[28:31] The reason women were banned from Clinical Trials for 15 years

[35:18] Representation in Clinical Trials today

[41:15] How to increase female participation in Clinical Trials

[46:07] Birth control in Clinical Trials

[50:27] What’s an area of women’s health and wellness that still needs innovating?

[52:00] What does the femtech industry need in order to be successful?

Resources

Cedar Health Research: https://www.cedarhealthresearch.com/

Call to Action!

Make sure you subscribe to the podcast, and if you like the show please leave us a review!

Episode Contributors

Dr. Rasha Babikir

LinkedIn

Cedar Health Research

Website: https://www.cedarhealthresearch.com/

LinkedIn

Twitter: @CedarTrials

Instagram: @cedarhealthresearch

Facebook: Cedar Health Research

Dr Brittany Barreto

LinkedIn

Twitter: @DrBrittB

Instagram: @drbrittanybarreto

FemTech Focus

LinkedIn

Twitter: @FemTech_Focus

Instagram: @femtechfocus

Michel Alvarez is the Founder & CEO of Alvalux Medical SA and its USA spinout CicaLux Inc, an award-winning wearable for post-surgery scar therapy. Michel has 24 years of medical device industry experience in North America and Europe leading international teams, raising capital, and developing innovative medical devices from concept to market. His prior startup roles include: Founder & CEO of iSTAR Medical; co-Founder, CEO & Chairman of Healionics; and co-Founder & Director General of Medimexico (acquired by NxStage / Fresenius Medical Care). A passionate entrepreneur and patented inventor, he is excited about pioneering the next generation of wearable therapeutic devices to benefit patients. Michel earned an MBA from the University of Washington in Seattle, a BSc from San Francisco State University, and an AA from De Anza College in Cupertino CA. We discussed how to take care of scars, cesarean scars, how the Cicalux scar therapy works, and how to improve scar outcomes for women. Check out the Cicalux Inc. at www.cicalux.com Rate, Review & Subscribe!

Dr. Jerrica Kirkley is the Co-founder and Chief Medical Officer of Plume. She's also a mom, physician, trans woman, educator, fierce social justice advocate and lover of all things athletics and the outdoors. She started Plume, the first health technology company dedicated to the transgender community, to radically redefine the way healthcare is delivered and to ensure that every trans person in the US has access to gender-affirming care at the convenience of a smart phone. She has provided training on gender-affirming care around the country to academic institutions, community health centers, private clinics and national conferences. She grew up in North Carolina and now lives in Denver, Colorado. She loves anything to do with bicycles, hiking, yoga and spending time with her 3-year old. Fun fact - She used to own a bike shop! We discussed access to care & discrimination in trans health, identity-based care, gender affirming care and inclusive healthcare. Check out the Plume at www.getplume.co Rate, Review & Subscribe!

In this episode, we talk to Kristina Cahojova, Founder and CEO of Kegg, the world's first 2-in-1 fertility tracking kegel ball. We discuss the biology of cervical mucus and why it's important for fertility and can be used as a measure of a woman's health. 

This episode was first released in 2020, so there may be one or two references that are slightly out of date. There’s some golden content here though, so let’s get into it.

Remember to like, rate and subscribe and enjoy the episode!

Guest bio

Kristina Cahojova had always struggled with tracking her fertility. Stress and traveling meant that ovulation tests and temperature methods provided limited information and none about her fertile window. After refusing to “fix the problem” with hormonal contraceptives, Kristina was told by a fertility specialist to track her cycles. But as is so often the case in women’s health, there was no technology to help. 

So, after more than 7 years working at Amazon and eBay, Kristina decided to launch Kegg - the worlds first 2-in-1 fertility tracking kegel ball. For decades, women have not been taught that fertility is about more than just making babies. In fact, our fertility is our fifth vital sign.

Organization bio

Kegg is an intuitive fertility tracker that measures changes in electrolyte levels of the cervical mucus —the golden metric to pinpointing your fertile window within each menstrual cycle. By using advanced sensing technology known as impedance, kegg can reveal your fertile window using your unique cycle data.

Following the 2 minute daily reading, kegg will send your reading data to the cloud for analysis. In real-time, the kegg app displays your daily kegg readings, cyclical trends, and fertility predictions. With consistent, once a day use, you can gain deeper insight into your own unique fertility pattern.

FemTech Focus Podcast bio

The FemTech Focus Podcast is brought to you by FemHealth Insights, the leader in Women’s Health market research and consulting. In this show, Dr. Brittany Barreto hosts meaningfully provocative conversations that bring FemTech experts - including doctors, scientists, inventors, and founders - on air to talk about the innovative technology, services, and products (collectively known as FemTech) that are improving women's health and wellness. Though many leaders in FemTech are women, this podcast is not specifically about female founders, nor is it geared toward a specifically female audience. The podcast gives our host, Dr. Brittany Barreto, and guests an engaging, friendly environment to learn about the past, present, and future of women’s health and wellness.

FemHealth Insights bio

Led by a team of analysts and advisors who specialize in female health, FemHealth Insights is a female health-specific market research and analysis firm, offering businesses in diverse industries unparalleled access to the comprehensive data and insights needed to illuminate areas of untapped potential in the nuanced women’s health market.

Call to Action!

Don’t forget to subscribe to the FemTech Focus podcast, and leave us a review!

Episode Contributors

Kristina Cahojova

LinkedIn: @Kristina Cahojova

Twitter: @KristinCahojova

Kegg

Website: https://kegg.tech/

LinkedIn: @kegg

Twitter: @kegg_tech

Instagram: @kegg_tech

Dr. Brittany Barreto

LinkedIn:  @Brittany Barreto, Ph.D.

Twitter: @DrBrittB

Instagram: @drbrittanybarreto

FemTech Focus Podcast

Website: https://femtechfocus.org/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/femtechfocus

Twitter: @FemTech_Focus

Instagram: @femtechfocus

FemHealth Insights

Website: https://www.femhealthinsights.com/

LinkedIn: @FemHealth Insights

Resources

https://kegg.tech/

Dr. Amy Divaraniya is the co-founder & CEO of OOVA, a fertility tracking kit that allows couples to measure, track and predict ovulation cycles from home. Dr. Divaraniya has a PhD in Biomedical Sciences with a focus in Genetics and Genomics from Mount Sinai School of Medicine. In this episode we discussed how Oova works, the progesterone and luteinizing hormones and empowering women with their own fertility knowledge. Check out Oova at www.oova.life Rate, Review, and Subscribe!

Wendy Anderson and Cristina Ljungberg are the Co-Founders of The Case for Her, a philanthropic investment portfolio addressing the key women’s health issues of menstruation and sexual health and pleasure through grants, investments, convenings, and advocacy. Founded in 2017, The Case for Her brings together decades of experience working and investing in women’s health and rights. This dynamic and flexible portfolio spans the globe and includes investments in product companies, tech innovations, research initiatives, and grassroots organizations. Wendy is a graduate of Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada. Wendy Anderson spent over a decade working in the financial industry before transitioning to strategic philanthropy. In 2009, she became founder and director of Futura Foundations, Social Initiatives. Wendy chairs the board at Be Girl, a mission-driven menstrual products company, is an active board member of Women Moving Millions and sits on the advisory board of Saral Designs. Cristina Ljungberg has a Master’s in Biotechnology from Northwestern and an MBA from Dartmouth College and this combined expertise in business and healthcare has propelled her nearly two-decade journey in health and philanthropy. Before The Case for Her, Cristina spent five years on the Board of Directors for Global Grassroots and established the nonprofit foundation Giving Wings in 2010. In 2016, Cristina became a founding member of the Maverick Collective, an initiative to eliminate extreme poverty created by Population Services International (PSI) in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In addition to her work with women’s health, Cristina is also a Partner at Influence Film—a foundation, investment fund and online platform that supports feature-length documentary film production. She is also an active board member of Acumen, a leader in the impact investment space and AFRIpads, a Ugandan manufacturer of reusable menstrual pads. Check out The Case for Her at thecaseforher.com Rate, Review & Subscribe!

Celina Gorre is the CEO of WomenHeart: the National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease. WomenHeart’s mission is to improve the health and quality of life of women living with or at risk of heart disease and to advocate for their benefit. Prior to WomenHeart, Celina served as executive director of the Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (GACD). In that role, she led the GACD Secretariat team based in London. She was also the managing director of the Foundation for the United Nations Global Compact and worked with the United Nations Populations Fund and UNICEF in Angola as a senior HIV/AIDS advisor. She consulted the government of Angola on its HIV strategy, child survival, and nutrition programs, and local companies on their social and community investments. She earned her Bachelor's in Psychology and Masters in Public Health from UCLA and Masters in Public Administration from Harvard University. In this episode, we discussed stresses that women experience that contribute to heart diseases, the importance of knowing your body intimately, the lack of symptoms for high blood pressure, and prevention of hypertension. Check out the WomenHeart at www.womenheart.org Rate, Review & Subscribe!

In today’s episode, I interview Jackie Rotman, the founder of the Center for Intimacy Justice. Jackie has been a social entrepreneur for over 15 years. She has also worked in venture capital with a particular focus on women's health and sexual wellness. In 2019 she wrote a New York Times investigative op-ed on the sexual wellness market, which made the NY Times "Most Popular" list and was the Opinion section's display piece. Today Jackie is the founder and CEO of the Center for Intimacy Justice. This organization is leading the movement to rewrite corporate advertising policies in tech companies to allow sexual health and wellness ads for women and people with vulvas. These ads are systematically censored which causes huge barriers for femtech companies. The center for intimacy Justice believes in catalyzing greater technological innovation and investment, education, and cultural understanding toward female sexual health - and building a culture of greater equity, agency, and wellbeing. Learn more at www.intimacyjustice.org Enjoy the episode!

This is just a quick intro into what we are, and what we are about. Thanks for listening.

In this episode, we talk to Katie Schubert, President and CEO of the Society for Women's Health Research, or SWHR. We discuss the 3 pillars of SWHR’s work, the potential for an Institute for Women’s Health and methods of increasing the participation of underrepresented populations in clinical trials.

Remember to like, rate and subscribe and enjoy the episode!

Guest bio

Kathryn (Katie) Schubert joined the Society for Women’s Health Research (SWHR) as President and CEO in April 2020. Under Katie’s leadership, SWHR developed a strategic plan focused on fulfilling the organization’s mission of promoting research on biological sex differences in disease and improving women’s health through science, policy, and education.

She has served in multiple Board roles, including as Chair of the Board of the Maternal Mental Health Leadership Alliance, advisor to the John E. Lewy Fund for Children’s Health, and past president of Women in Government Relations. She previously worked for the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM), CRD Associates, and on Capitol Hill. She received her BA from Mary Washington College and her Masters of Public Policy from George Washington University. Katie lives in Virginia with her husband, three children, and dog George.

Organization bio

The Society for Women’s Health Research (SWHR) is a national nonprofit and thought leader dedicated to promoting research on biological sex differences in disease and improving women’s health through science, policy, and education. Founded in 1990 by a group of physicians, medical researchers, and health advocates, SWHR is making women’s health mainstream by addressing unmet needs and research gaps in women’s health. 

Episode Sponsor

Good Clean Love

When my vagina is feeling a little off–like a little out of balance–I go for Good Clean Love’s Restore Moisturizing Vaginal Gel. It’s made to help with vaginal dryness, itching and unusual odor; so it’s my go-to before I feel like I should make a doctor’s appointment. And I feel comfortable using it, because of their Bio-Match Technology. Good Clean Love’s patented Bio-Match Technology taps into three factors that can maintain a healthy vaginal microbiome; which are osmolality, a healthy vaginal pH range and lactobacilli. Good Clean Love’s products are iso-osmolar to help you retain moisture and not strip any away. They have a pH range of 3.5 to 4.5 so their products match your vaginal pH range. And they contain lactic acid to help maintain a healthy vaginal biome.

Holiday travel and stress always throws me a little out of whack, so if you’re like me, make sure to get yours before you travel! 10% off your first order using promo code FemTech.

Shop products that are made to match your vaginal biome at goodcleanlove.com.

FemTech Focus Podcast bio

The FemTech Focus Podcast is brought to you by FemHealth Insights, the leader in Women’s Health market research and consulting. In this show, Dr. Brittany Barreto hosts meaningfully provocative conversations that bring FemTech experts - including doctors, scientists, inventors, and founders - on air to talk about the innovative technology, services, and products (collectively known as FemTech) that are improving women's health and wellness. Though many leaders in FemTech are women, this podcast is not specifically about female founders, nor is it geared toward a specifically female audience. The podcast gives our host, Dr. Brittany Barreto, and guests an engaging, friendly environment to learn about the past, present, and future of women’s health and wellness.

FemHealth Insights bio

Led by a team of analysts and advisors who specialize in female health, FemHealth Insights is a female health-specific market research and analysis firm, offering businesses in diverse industries unparalleled access to the comprehensive data and insights needed to illuminate areas of untapped potential in the nuanced women’s health market.

Time Stamps

[04:26] Katie’s background

[08:32] What is SWHR?

[13:44] Should there be an Institute for Women’s Health at the NIH? 

[22:20] Is tech and investment involvement helping the conversation at Government level?

[26:54] Organization pillars:  policy, science and education

[30:38] SWHR Resources

[33:25] Policy Pillar

[29:20] Methods of getting lactating & pregnant women into clinical trials

[42:15] Education Pillar

[46:15] Upcoming Events and vision for the future of SWHR

Call to Action!

Don’t forget to subscribe to the FemTech Focus podcast, and leave us a review!

Episode Contributors

Katie Schubert

LinkedIn: @Kathryn Godburn Schubert

 

Society for Women’s Health Research

Website: https://swhr.org/

LinkedIn: @Society for Women’s Health Research (SWHR)

Twitter: @SWHR

 

Dr. Brittany Barreto

LinkedIn:  @Brittany Barreto, Ph.D.

Twitter: @DrBrittB

Instagram: @drbrittanybarreto

 

FemTech Focus Podcast

Website: https://femtechfocus.org/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/femtechfocus

Twitter: @FemTech_Focus

Instagram: @femtechfocus

 

FemHealth Insights

Website: https://www.femhealthinsights.com/

LinkedIn: @FemHealth Insights

Allison Shickel is the CEO, founder & inventor of Brobe, a bra & robe combination for women after mastectomies or any kind of chest surgery. Allison's company specializes in post-surgical adaptive clothing company that focuses on developing apparel and accessories for women recovering from major surgeries that are comfortable yet chic. Allison has won multiple awards namely, the Women's Chamber of Commerce 2016 "Blazing Star" award and Austin's 2015 InnovateHer Award. Among her accomplishments, she has also partnered with Kendra Scott for the "Heal Comfortable, Feel Beautiful" campaign in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. We discussed her story behind Brobe, the obstacles she overcame and fundraising as a femtech entrepreneur. Check their products at www.thebrobe.com Rate, Review, and Subscribe!

Flowly is a science-backed and data-driven method designed to reduce chronic pain for 100 million Americans. Using a mobile app and VR headset, Flowly uses biometric data such as HR and HRV and converts it to visualizations in virtual experiences that reduce pain by over 46%.The founding team is made up of Yale, DreamWorks, and Hyperloop One alums in conjunction with a world-class clinical team at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and USC. Flowly has also been studied in NIH-backed clinical trials that show an average 40% reduction in opioid usage. Flowly is backed by Y Combinator and has been featured by Inc., People, US Pain Foundation and more.

Celine Tien is the founder and CEO of Flowly, a mobile app that combines Virtual Reality and biofeedback for pain and anxiety management. Celine is also Principal Investigator on NIH-backed clinical trials investigating opioid-sparing devices for pain management. Celine got her start in VR as the director and writer of Pippa’s Pan 盼, one of the world’s first immersive Virtual Reality hybrid live-action films. Pippa’s Pan 盼 was selected for the 2017 Festival de Cannes VR Library Showcase, making Celine the youngest director at Cannes with the youngest team. The VR film experience also won 3rd place at the 2017 AT&T VR/AR Challenge at the AT&T Developer’s Summit. Previously, Celine worked in feature development at Oriental DreamWorks in Shanghai and DreamWorks Animation in Los Angeles. She also founded a non-profit education-based organization: Zoom for Kids! Celine graduated with distinction from Yale University and is an alum of Y Combinator, Stanford StartX, and AARP Innovation Labs. Celine is a former film and television actor and model.

https://www.instagram.com/officialflowly

https://www.flowly.world

 

Podcast Link: 

https://link.chtbl.com/FemTechFocus

Social Handles

Linkedin: @FemTech Focus @Brittany Barreto

Twitter: @Femtech_Focus @DrBrittB

Instagram: @FemTechFocus @DrBrittanyBarreto

Facebook: @FemTech Focus @Dr. Brittany Barreto

FemTech Focus Bio:

FemTech Focus is a 501c3 non-profit organization founded to bring awareness externally and internally for the FemTech industry and to empower the key stakeholders including entrepreneurs, investors, physicians, governments, and biopharma with resources and research to elevate women’s health and wellness globally. Subscribe and Donate: www.femtechfocus.org

FemTech Focus Podcast Description:

The FemTech Focus Podcast with Dr. Brittany Barreto is a meaningfully provocative conversational series that brings women's health experts - including doctors, scientists, inventors, and founders - on air to talk about the innovative technology, services, and products that are improving women, female, and girl's health and wellness, collectively known as FemTech. The podcast gives the host, Dr. Brittany Barreto, and guests an engaging, friendly environment to learn about the past, present, and future of women’s health and wellness. 

 

 

In this episode, we talk to Ula Sankowska, Co-Owner and Co-CEO of MIM Fertility. In this interview, we discuss the use of machine learning to analyze IVF imagery, and how this software can expand access, & increase success rates for women.

Remember to like, rate and subscribe and enjoy the episode!

Guest bio

Ula is an Economist, and graduated from the Warsaw School of Economics and University College Dublin, in Ireland. She has 15 years of professional experience in business and government and at MIM Solutions, she is responsible for the company’s business strategy, marketing and customer contacts.

Organization bio

MIM Fertility was founded in 2015 as the first spin-off of the Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics, and Mechanics at the University of Warsaw. They combined the most advanced machine learning, imaging solutions, and data mining algorithms with clinical knowledge of reproductive medicine. Their goal is to empower doctors and patients to make well-informed decisions about fertility treatments.

FemTech Focus Podcast bio

The FemTech Focus Podcast is brought to you by FemHealth Insights, the leader in Women’s Health market research and consulting. In this show, Dr. Brittany Barreto hosts meaningfully provocative conversations that bring FemTech experts - including doctors, scientists, inventors, and founders - on air to talk about the innovative technology, services, and products (collectively known as FemTech) that are improving women's health and wellness. Though many leaders in FemTech are women, this podcast is not specifically about female founders, nor is it geared toward a specifically female audience. The podcast gives our host, Dr. Brittany Barreto, and guests an engaging, friendly environment to learn about the past, present, and future of women’s health and wellness.

FemHealth Insights bio

Led by a team of analysts and advisors who specialize in female health, FemHealth Insights is a female health-specific market research and analysis firm, offering businesses in diverse industries unparalleled access to the comprehensive data and insights needed to illuminate areas of untapped potential in the nuanced women’s health market.

Time Stamps

[02:39] Femtech in Poland

[03:43] Women’s health issues specific to Poland

[06:20] IVF treatment in Poland

[08:04] Ula’s background

[15:15] MIM Fertility

[18:30] MIM’s software

[23:46] Training an AI algorithm on something subjective

[29:56] Quirks when training an algorithm

[33:11] Utilizing the software in clinics

[35:59] Will AI replace embryologists?

[38:20] Folliscan

[46:25] At-home scanning

[48:55] Future direction for MIM fertility

Call to Action!

Don’t forget to subscribe to the FemTech Focus podcast, and leave us a review!

Sponsor Info

This episode is brought to you by Guidea your go-to UX design consultancy specializing in digital health innovation. Guidea isn't just any design firm. They're a women-owned, women-led powerhouse team that's partnered with 20 of the Fortune 100 companies and impacted over a billion lives through dozens of live products, clinical trials, and even FDA approvals.

Speaking from personal experience, the Guidea team excels in translating your vision into transformative solutions that not only win awards but significantly improve outcomes. And, driven by their passion for health equity, Guidea is also the team behind Femovate, a sponsorship program focused on uplifting underrepresented founders and reaching underserved populations. They've already collaborated with over 30 Femtech startups across 14 different verticals, offering personalized, one-on-one mentorship and guidance in UX research, strategy, and design.

So, if you're in the Femtech space—whether you’re just starting out or scaling up—Guidea wants to hear from you.

Don’t miss this chance to work with a team that's as committed to your vision as you are. Visit www.guidea.com and let's raise the standard for digital healthcare, together.

Episode Contributors

Ula Sankowska

LinkedIn: @Ula Sankowska

 

MIM Fertility

Website: https://www.mimfertility.ai/

LinkedIn: @MIM Solutions

Twitter: @SolutionsMim

Instagram: @mim_solutions_pl

 

Dr. Brittany Barreto

LinkedIn:  @Brittany Barreto, Ph.D.

Twitter: @DrBrittB

Instagram: @drbrittanybarreto

 

FemTech Focus Podcast

Website: https://femtechfocus.org/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/femtechfocus

Twitter: @FemTech_Focus

Instagram: @femtechfocus

 

FemHealth Insights

Website: https://www.femhealthinsights.com/

LinkedIn: @FemHealth Insights

Saundra Pelletier is the CEO of Evofem Biosciences, a biopharmaceutical company developing innovative women's sexual and reproductive health products.  In September 2020, Saundra led the successful launch of Phexxi – the first and only FDA-approved non-hormonal, female-controlled, on-demand prescription contraceptive vaginal gel.  Saundra is also advancing the Company’s pipeline product, EVO100, into a Phase 3 clinical trial for prevention of urogenital chlamydia and gonorrhea in women.  During her tenure, Saundra has led multiple equity financing rounds, raising more than $425 million in capital.  Prior to joining Evofem, Saundra founded WCG, a global non-profit organization focused on creating access to reproductive health products in over 100 developing countries.  Saundra is a breast cancer survivor, single mother, published author, skilled moderator, and coveted keynote speaker.  She was recently named to Inc. Magazine’s 2020 Female Founders 100 List. We discussed Phexxi's launch and becoming a public company. Check out Evofem at evofem.com and Phexxi at phexxi.com Rate, Review & Subscribe!

Dr. Roopan Gill is an obstetrician gynecologist with expertise in family planning and abortion care and also the Co-Founder & Executive Director of Vitala Global. Dr. Gill is a Women’s Health Advisor for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Paris section and has worked as an emergency obstetrician gynecologist in Nigeria and Yemen and has supported projects in countries such as Malawi, Chad and Pakistan. Her research interests include human-centered design, innovative approaches to improving abortion access, sexual and reproductive health in humanitarian contexts and knowledge translation to improve health policy. She completed her training in Canada and holds a Masters in Public Health in Global Health from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. We discussed reproductive health for adolescent girls, self-managed medication abortions and did some abortion myth-busting. Check out Vitala Global at vitalaglobal.org Rate, Review & Subscribe!

This episode is a bonus episode, brought to you in partnership with Nyoo ("New") Health. Nyoo hosts the "What's Nyoo!" series, with monthly events that bring together women and experts to have engaging, honest, and educational conversations about women's health, and this one is all about Pelvic Health. This event blew us away, and we knew we had to share it. Special thanks to Priya Bathija - CEO of Nyoo - for allowing us to share this recording. We hope you enjoy it just as much as we did!

Remember to like, rate and subscribe and enjoy the episode!

Guest bios

Priya Bathija is a nationally-recognized healthcare leader, attorney, and policy expert. She is currently Founder and CEO of Nyoo Health, an organization dedicated to improving health and healthcare for women. Previously, she was at the American Hospital Association where she led policy efforts and strategic initiatives on value, health equity and maternal health. She started her career as a healthcare attorney and served as in-house counsel and a member of the leadership teams at ProMedica and MedStar Health. Priya is also a Distinguished Practitioner in Residence at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law and an adjunct professor at Loyola University Chicago School of Law. In addition, she serves as a public board member for the American Board of Medical Specialties, the largest physician-led specialty certification organization in the U.S.

Carine Carmy is CEO and Co-Founder at Origin, the leading provider of pelvic floor and women’s physical therapy. She has focused her career on increasing access to products and services that improve lives, from healthcare to 3D printing. Carine's passion for women's health started in her twenties, when she struggled with painful sex for nearly a decade.  Following years of misdiagnoses, ineffective treatment options, and hearing “that’s just the way it is,” Carine discovered the power of pelvic floor physical therapy to treat, not only pelvic pain, but dozens of conditions and symptoms that impact some 40 million U.S. women and individuals with vaginal anatomy, every year. Already a go-to-market leader in healthcare and technology — with leadership roles at Amino, Shapeways, MarketspaceNext and Monitor Group — she felt compelled to help make pelvic health the norm for women across the country. Outside of Origin, Carine is an avid writer and has been published in MIT Technology Review, Forbes, Ad Age, and PSFK, and serves as an advisor to startups and nonprofits in support of diversity and economic equality.

Dr. Somi Javaid is a board-certified OB/GYN, leading women’s sexual health thought leader, and menopause advocate. She is the Founder and Chief Medical Officer of HerMD, a team on a mission to make women’s healthcare exceptional by educating, advocating for, and empowering patients to take control of their health concerns. Dr. Javaid has been featured in Forbes, Vogue, Well+Good, InStyle, Parents, Refinery29, Mashable, Adweek, and Popsugar. In August 2020 Dr. Javaid spoke about Gender Bias and the Female Sexual Health Revolution on the TEDx mainstage, and in January 2021 she was featured in Women on Topp for her work as a trailblazer and pioneer in women’s sexual health.

Dr. Rachel Rubin is a board-certified urologist and sexual medicine specialist. She is an assistant clinical professor of Urology at Georgetown University and owns her private practice in the Washington DC region. She is one of only a handful of physicians fellowship trained in male and female sexual medicine. Dr. Rubin is a clinician, researcher, and vocal educator in the field of sexual medicine. In addition to being education chair for the International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health (ISSWSH), she also serves as an Associate Editor for the Journal Sexual Medicine Reviews. Her work has been featured in the NYT and PBS.

Emma Schmidt, PhD, is a doctor in Clinical Sexology, a Professional Clinical Counselor, Supervisor, and Certified Sex Therapist, Supervisor through the American Association for Sex Educators Counselors and Therapists (AASECT) as well as the American Board for Christian Sex Therapists (ABCST). She is the owner of Emma Schmidt and Associates in Cincinnati, Indian and Kentucky, a therapy group practice which focuses on sex and relationship therapy. Dr. Schmidt received her Bachelor of Arts in Biblical Studies and Psychology as well as a Master of Arts in Counseling from Cincinnati Christian University. She received her Doctorate from Modern Sex Therapy Institutes. Her research and publications have focused on female sexual pain.

Organization bio

Nyoo Health provides strategic and advisory support to startups, investors, providers, and others as they grow and scale new ways of delivering health and healthcare to women. Beyond that, Nyoo Health is building a movement that will redefine women's health and investing in women as they advocate for themselves in the healthcare system.

FemTech Focus Podcast bio

The FemTech Focus Podcast is brought to you by FemHealth Insights, the leader in Women’s Health market research and consulting. In this show, Dr. Brittany Barreto hosts meaningfully provocative conversations that bring FemTech experts - including doctors, scientists, inventors, and founders - on air to talk about the innovative technology, services, and products (collectively known as FemTech) that are improving women's health and wellness. Though many leaders in FemTech are women, this podcast is not specifically about female founders, nor is it geared toward a specifically female audience. The podcast gives our host, Dr. Brittany Barreto, and guests an engaging, friendly environment to learn about the past, present, and future of women’s health and wellness.

FemHealth Insights bio

Led by a team of analysts and advisors who specialize in female health, FemHealth Insights is a female health-specific market research and analysis firm, offering businesses in diverse industries unparalleled access to the comprehensive data and insights needed to illuminate areas of untapped potential in the nuanced women’s health market.

Episode Contributors

Priya Bathija

LinkedIn: @Priya Bathija

 

Carine Carmy

LinkedIn: @Carine Carmy & @Origin

Instagram: @carinerachelle & @theoriginway

 

Dr. Somi Javaid

LinkedIn: Somi Javaid, MD & HerMD

Instagram: @somijavaidmd & @hermdhealth

 

Dr. Rachel Rubin

LinkedIn: @Rachel Rubin

Instagram: @drrachelrubin

 

Dr. Emma Schmidt

LinkedIn: @Dr. Emma Schmidt

Instagram: @heyemmatherapy

 

Nyoo Health

Website: https://www.nyoohealth.com/

LinkedIn: @Nyoo Health

Instagram: @nyoohealth 

 

Dr. Brittany Barreto

LinkedIn:  @Brittany Barreto, Ph.D.

Twitter: @DrBrittB

Instagram: @drbrittanybarreto

 

FemTech Focus Podcast

Website: https://femtechfocus.org/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/femtechfocus

Twitter: @FemTech_Focus

Instagram: @femtechfocus

 

FemHealth Insights

Website: https://www.femhealthinsights.com/

LinkedIn: @FemHealth Insights

Sylvia Kang is the Co-Founder & CEO of Mira, a women's health monitoring platform with that tracks cycles, predicts ovulation, monitors fetal health, measures ovarian reserve and detects menopause at home. Sylvia earned her BS in Bioengineering from the University of Pittsburgh, MS in Biomedical Engineering from Columbia University and MBA from the Cornell Johnson Graduate School of Management. She has extensive experience in P&L general management and has worked in product director roles in a Fortune 500 life science company. Mira's fertility racker is clinically validated with 99% accuracy and has won the Best Startup of CES 2018 by Tom’s Guide and Finalist company of 2018 TechCrunch Disrupt SF Battlefield. We discussed all things hormones, the social stigma of infertility and when should people start tracking their fertility. Check out Mira by visiting www.miracare.com Rate, Review, and Subscribe!

The founders of Femtech Focus, Drs. Brittany Barreto and Julie Hakim, sit down to talk all things femtech. They have a casual conversation on Brittany's coach surrounded by her rescue pups. The conversation was live-streamed in May on Facebook and Instagram. Don't wait for these behind the scenes discussions to drop on the podcast. Follow Femtech Focus on social to watch them (and their dogs!) live!

Kristen Comer is a program manager at Springboard Enterprises who carries out their signature accelerator programs, focusing on the Tech and Health Innovation Hubs. Springboard's mission is to accelerate the growth of entrepreneurial companies led by women through access to essential resources and a global community of experts. Since 2000, over 800 Springboard portfolio companies seeking financial and human capital for product development and expansion have created over $20B in value, are revenue generators and job creators. With 200 exits to strategic acquirers and 20 IPOs, Springboard Entrepreneurs are transforming industries. Kristen holds a BA in Psychology and Dance from University of California, Santa Barbara. She also obtained her MSc in Management from Lund University School of Economics and Management in Lund, Sweden. We discussed the changing the narrative of looking at women's hollistic health, the women's health coalition and what is considered "Femtech". Check out the Women's Health Coalition at www.womens.health Rate, Review, and Subscribe!

In this episode, Dr Brittany Barreto talks to Kimberly Haven, Executive Director of Reproductive Justice Inside. They discuss all aspects of an incarcerated woman’s healthcare experience, from access to menstrual products to what happens if you’re pregnant, to experiences with menopause. This is a truly fascinating and highly educational episode.

Remember to like, rate and subscribe and enjoy the episode!

Guest bio

Kimberly Haven is a powerful voice and force in the social justice movement. She is a sought-after expert and a frequently called-upon speaker on issues such as Women in Prison, Women’s Reproductive Justice, and a broad range of criminal justice reform and advocacy issues. 

She is uniquely familiar with the criminal justice system because of her own incarceration. She has the unique distinction of being the only formerly incarcerated woman in Maryland who has written and gotten passed into law, several pieces of legislation.

She has a strong passion for all justice issues, with a special focus on the reproductive justice issues facing incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women. She is the Executive Director of Reproductive Justice Inside (RJI) where she wrote the first-in-the-nation law prohibiting the forced solitary confinement of pregnant and post-pregnant individuals. This law ended an archaic practice that was tantamount to punishing a woman for being pregnant.

Company bio

The mission of Reproductive Justice Inside was initially to address the needs of systems-involved individuals in Maryland seeking quality and timely sexual and reproductive healthcare. Reproductive Justice Inside is now the go-to organization in Maryland on these issues.  Our mission has expanded to support and protect, as a fundamental right and value, reproductive freedom for the entire reproductive lifespan of incarcerated individuals and to address the conditions of confinement where systems-involved individuals are not in complete control of their reproductive futures and freedom. 

FemTech Focus Podcast bio

The FemTech Focus Podcast is brought to you by FemHealth Insights, the leader in Women’s Health market research and consulting. In this show, Dr. Brittany Barreto hosts meaningfully provocative conversations that bring FemTech experts - including doctors, scientists, inventors, and founders - on air to talk about the innovative technology, services, and products (collectively known as FemTech) that are improving women's health and wellness. Though many leaders in FemTech are women, this podcast is not specifically about female founders, nor is it geared toward a specifically female audience. The podcast gives our host, Dr. Brittany Barreto, and guests an engaging, friendly environment to learn about the past, present, and future of women’s health and wellness.

FemHealth Insights bio

Led by a team of analysts and advisors who specialize in female health, FemHealth Insights is a female health-specific market research and analysis firm, offering businesses in diverse industries unparalleled access to the comprehensive data and insights needed to illuminate areas of untapped potential in the nuanced women’s health market.

Time Stamps

[03:46] Kimberly’s background

[05:47] Kimberly’s personal experiences

[12:14] Availability of menstrual products to incarcerated women

[15:11] Expansion of Reproductive Justice Inside

[16:46] Birth Control whilst incarcerated

[22:10] Pregnancy whilst incarcerated

[29:15] Boober

[34:00] Post-partum care whilst incarcerated

[35:00] Lack of care = increased healthcare costs

[37:00] Menopause whilst incarcerated

[42:22] How to help, get involved or find out more

Call To Action!

Make sure you subscribe to the podcast, and if you like the show please leave us a review!

Don't forget to download the 2022 Landscape Report! Available via the link, or on our website: femhealthinsights.com

Episode Contributors

Kimberly Haven

Email: kimberly@reproductivejusticeinside.org

LinkedIn: @Kimberly Haven

Instagram: @kimberlyhaven

Reproductive Justice Inside

Instagram: @rjinside

 

Dr Brittany Barreto

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittanybarreto/

Twitter: @DrBrittB

Instagram: @drbrittanybarreto

 

FemTech Focus Podcast

Website: https://femtechfocus.org/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/femtechfocus

Twitter: @FemTech_Focus

Instagram: @femtechfocus

 

FemHealth Insights

Website: https://www.femhealthinsights.com/

LinkedIn: @FemHealth Insights

Kim Palmer is the CEO and Founder of the hypnotherapy app Clementine, which aims to improve the emotional wellbeing of women all over the world. Born after Kim experienced a number of panic attacks whilst pregnant, Clementine has been created to make women feel calmer, more confident, and better equipped to cope with everyday life. The hypnotherapy sessions available on the Clementine app can be used to boost confidence or help you return to sleep by guiding you to a relaxed state, similar to daydreaming, and suggests new ways to deal with everyday grievances; allowing you to kick back and continue your daily routine. Kim is listed as one of the top 100 women in Fem Tech & Health Tech and winner of the IPA Campaign Women of Tomorrow in 2018, which recognises female industry leaders of the future. Whilst working at Wunderman Thompson as a strategy director, Kim also helped some of the world’s biggest brands with their global marketing campaigns and was able to develop her personal resilience and kick-start a women’s mentoring programme. We discussed what is hypnotherapy and how it functions in an app, emotional wellbeing in the FemTech lens, self-confidence and self-esteem. Check out the Clementine at www.clementineapp.com Rate, Review & Subscribe!

Since starting the podcast in early 2020, the listenership and FemTech Focus community has grown so much since then. In this episode, Dr. Brittany Barreto discusses the year in review from our successes to new discoveries. Check out FemTech Focus at www.femtechfocus.org Rate, Review & Subscribe!

Kate Torgersen is CEO and Founder of Milk Stork. The first and only breast milk delivery service for business traveling moms. They provide refrigerated overnight shipping of your milk to your baby while you are away. Milk Stork is on a mission to help moms continue to nourish their babies while they continue to nourish their careers. In 2015, Milk Stork was recognized as one of Business Insider's "19 Coolest New Businesses in San Francisco" and has shipped over 3.6 million ounces of breast milk. We discussed the basics of breastfeeding, balancing life while lactating and supporting mom-run businesses. Check out Milk Stork by visiting www.milkstork.com Rate, Review, and Subscribe!

In this episode, Dr Brittany Barreto talks to Maurissa Bell, VP of Private Equity and Clairvest Group Inc. They take it back to basics and discuss what Private Equity actually is, how it works and how it can help a company. Maurissa also gives us the 411 on the relationship between Private Equity and FemTech, why Clairvest sees opportunity in the sector, and what they see as the future of women’s health and wellness.

Guest bio

Maurissa Bell is Vice President of Private Equity at Clairvest Group Inc. She joined Clairvest focusing on Women's Healthcare and is involved in all areas of the investment process. She is a Chartered Accountant and has held various roles in investment and corporate banking, and Maurissa is also a recipient of the Women in Capital Markets 2021 Emerging Leader award.

Company bio

Clairvest is a top performing private equity management firm with over CAD $3.2 billion of capital under management. Founded in 1987 by a group of successful entrepreneurs, Clairvest’s mission is to partner with entrepreneurs to help them build strategically significant businesses.

FemTech Focus Podcast bio

The FemTech Focus Podcast with Dr. Brittany Barreto is a meaningfully provocative conversational series that brings FemTech experts - including doctors, scientists, inventors, and founders - on air to talk about the innovative technology, services, and products (collectively known as FemTech) that are improving women's health and wellness. Though many leaders in FemTech are women, this podcast is not specifically about female founders, nor is it geared toward a specifically female audience. The podcast gives our host, Dr. Brittany Barreto, and guests an engaging, friendly environment to learn about the past, present, and future of women’s health and wellness.

Time Stamps

[01:26] Maurissa Bell and Clairvest

[05:39] What is Private Equity?

[13:15] How does a Private Equity fund actually work?

[19:44] Why does Clairvest want to invest in Women’s Health?

[28:29] The relationship between Women’s Health and Private Equity today.

[33:53] Women’s Health in the future.

[38:43] Advice for founders considering Private Equity in their company’s future.

[44:31] What is an area in women’s health and wellness that still needs innovating?

[45:13] What does the femtech industry need the most right now to be successful?

Call To Action!

Make sure you subscribe to the podcast, and if you like the show please leave us a review!

Episode Contributors

Maurissa Bell

LinkedIn: @Maurissa Bell, CPA, CA

Clairvest Group Inc.

LinkedIn: @Clairvest Group Inc

Website: https://www.clairvest.com/

Twitter: @clairvest_group

Dr. Brittany Barreto

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittanybarreto/

Twitter: @DrBrittB

Instagram: @drbrittanybarreto

FemTech Focus

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/femtechfocus

Twitter: @FemTech_Focus

Instagram: @femtechfocus

Dr. Olivia Ahn is the CEO and co-founder of Planera. Her indignation at the current femcare industry and a recent eco-convert makes for a good co-founder and a bad dinner guest. Olivia founded Planera as a result of mounting frustration with companies forcing the burden of waste onto us as individuals. She believes that a well-designed product should be intuitively simple to use and to dispose in a sustainable manner. Here, the flushable and biodegradable sanitary pad was born and three years of research and development later, Planera has launched the world's first and only certified flushable and 100% biodegradable sanitary pad. Planera's pads have a similar impact to toilet paper and give back the guilt-free choice and freedom to the consumer. Planera will be bringing a range of personal hygiene products to the market from 2021. We discussed how Planera products work, the double-standards for pads among the genders, the eco-conscious responsibility in the femcare space and material engineering in FemTech, Check out the Planera at www.planera.care/ Rate, Review & Subscribe!

Dr. Kelly Teagle is the Founder & CEO of WellFemme, a Telehealth service provided by female General Practitioners who specialize in menopause and midlife care. They provide evidence-based menopause information, advice and treatment in collaboration with our clients’ usual General Practitioners. She graduated in Medicine from the University of Queensland in 2001 and worked in the Royal Australian Air Force as a Medical Officer until 2010. As a civilian GP she gained Fellowship of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and developed her interest in women’s medicine with a Graduate Diploma of Women’s Health, further studies in reproductive and sexual health and surgical assisting. On this episode we discussed the barriers in telehealth for women in Australia, educating on menopause, cultural differences in menopause and the goal of building a global pipeline for access to women's health services & products. Check out WellFemme by visiting www.wellfemme.com.au Rate, Review, and Subscribe!

In today’s episode, I interview Glenise Kinard - Moore, the Founder and CEO Skii MooTech which produces their product the VDOM. SkiiMoo Tech was created to disrupt the status quo and break through societal barriers by leveraging "all things tech". Their focus is on creating tech-based consumer products for niche markets that are usually not at the forefront. Their premier product, The VDOM, is the first app-connected prosthetic penis that can go from flaccid to erect at the push of a button or via a swipe on a smartphone or smartwatch. This device is specifically designed to enhance the lifestyles of LGBTQ+ people, Erectile Dysfunction sufferers, and Spinal cord injury patients. While pre-order quantities have sold out, you can join our waitlist at www.thevdom.com Enjoy the episode!

Molly Broache serves as Associate Director, US Region, Medical Affairs for BD Integrated Diagnostic Solutions (IDS) and is also licensed as a women’s health nurse practitioner in both Maryland and Virginia. Molly manages a team of medical science liaisons responsible for specimen management, microbiology, and women’s health & cancer. Molly’s clinical areas of expertise include women’s healthcare, gynecology, infectious disease diagnostic tests, and women’s health screening guidelines. Molly is a member of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health (NPWH), American Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology (ASCCP), and the Medical Science Liaison Society (MSLS). She serves on the membership committee for ASCCP and the Cervical Cancer Screening Initiative – Provider Workgroup for the American Cancer Society. Molly holds two Bachelor’s degrees from Johns Hopkins University, in both molecular biology and nursing. She also holds a master’s degree in nursing from Georgetown University, where she received her training as a nurse practitioner. Molly is currently completing her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree at the University of Maryland, Baltimore.

BD is one of the largest global medical technology companies in the world and is advancing the world of health by improving medical discovery, diagnostics and the delivery of care. The company supports the heroes on the frontlines of health care by developing innovative technology, services and solutions that help advance both clinical therapy for patients and clinical process for health care providers. BD and its 75,000 employees have a passion and commitment to help enhance the safety and efficiency of clinicians' care delivery process, enable laboratory scientists to accurately detect disease and advance researchers' capabilities to develop the next generation of diagnostics and therapeutics. BD has a presence in virtually every country and partners with organizations around the world to address some of the most challenging global health issues. By working in close collaboration with customers, BD can help enhance outcomes, lower costs, increase efficiencies, improve safety and expand access to health care.

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/bd1/ | Twitter @BDandCo | Instagram: @becton_dickinson

In this episode, we talk to Wendy Strgar, Founder and CEO of Good Clean Love, and Vaginal Biome Science. We discuss Wendy's companies, and what led her to create them, an Institute for Women's Health - will they or won't they - and the importance of getting to know your own vagina.

Remember to like, rate and subscribe and enjoy the episode!

Guest bio

Wendy Strgar is an award-winning entrepreneur and the Founder and CEO of Good Clean Love, a woman-owned B corporation and a pioneer in the organic personal care product industry.  She is also the founder and CEO of Vaginal Biome Science, a biotechnology company that develops vaginal microbiota-based therapies to protect and restore microbial health.  She was named in Top 25 Consumer HealthTech CEOs 2020  and has been recognized in the top 100 impact CEOs in 2022, 2021 and 2018.

Strgar's commitment to innovation lead to the development of patented BioMatched technology for women’s health. Strgar holds multiple US patents for Bio-Match technology, a leading scientific approach applying biomimicry to sexual health and hygiene products.

Organization bio

Good Clean Love products are distributed in more than 50,000 stores across the United States and Canada. As a leading sexual wellness brand, Good Clean Love products are found in top retailers such as Target, CVS, Kroger, Whole Foods Market, Walgreens and more. Its best-selling SKU is the #1 organic personal lubricant on the market.

Under Wendy’s leadership, Good Clean Love is a champion of sustainable business practices. In 2018, the company launched a carbon offset initiative; its flagship product, Almost Naked personal lubricant, became the first-ever Carbon Neutral intimacy product in the world. Good Clean Love is also one of the only personal care product brands whose products are packaged using bioplastic, a material made from recyclable sugar cane.

Good Clean Love was included in the prestigious Inc 5000 awards in 2022.  

FemTech Focus Podcast bio

The FemTech Focus Podcast is brought to you by FemHealth Insights, the leader in Women’s Health market research and consulting. In this show, Dr. Brittany Barreto hosts meaningfully provocative conversations that bring FemTech experts - including doctors, scientists, inventors, and founders - on air to talk about the innovative technology, services, and products (collectively known as FemTech) that are improving women's health and wellness. Though many leaders in FemTech are women, this podcast is not specifically about female founders, nor is it geared toward a specifically female audience. The podcast gives our host, Dr. Brittany Barreto, and guests an engaging, friendly environment to learn about the past, present, and future of women’s health and wellness.

FemHealth Insights bio

Led by a team of analysts and advisors who specialize in female health, FemHealth Insights is a female health-specific market research and analysis firm, offering businesses in diverse industries unparalleled access to the comprehensive data and insights needed to illuminate areas of untapped potential in the nuanced women’s health market.

Time Stamps

[04:18] Wendy’s background

[16:50] Good Clean Love?

[29:25] Microbiome Sequencing

[34:03] Transfer of bacteria in same-sex relationships

[38:31] Long term goal for Vaginal Biome Science

[41:28] NIH

[44:45] Getting involved with Wendy and Good Clean Love

Episode Contributors

Wendy Strgar

LinkedIn: @Wendy Strgar

 

Good Clean Love

Website: https://goodcleanlove.com/

LinkedIn: @Good Clean Love

Instagram: @goodcleanlove

TikTok: @goodcleanlove

YouTube: @GoodCleanLove  

 

Dr. Brittany Barreto

LinkedIn:  @Brittany Barreto, Ph.D.

Twitter: @DrBrittB

Instagram: @drbrittanybarreto

 

FemTech Focus Podcast

Website: https://femtechfocus.org/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/femtechfocus

Twitter: @FemTech_Focus

Instagram: @femtechfocus

 

FemHealth Insights

Website: https://www.femhealthinsights.com/

LinkedIn: @FemHealth Insights

Maria Berruezo es la cofundadora de LactApp Women's Health con sede en Barcelona, ​​España. LactApp, la primera aplicación dedicada a la lactancia y la maternidad con consultas individuales con especialistas sin la molestia de visitas en persona o largos períodos de incertidumbre. LactApp tiene 40,000 usuarios mensuales y responde a más de 90,000 preguntas cada semana y fue seleccionada por Apple como una de las 10 empresas dirigidas por mujeres en el mundo para su Campamento de Emprendedores de Apple. María es consultora certificada en lactancia desde 2012 y tiene una maestría en Gestión del Conocimiento y una Licenciatura en Publicidad y Comunicación de Relaciones Públicas. Hablamos sobre cómo funciona LactApp, la baja por maternidad en España y la educación en lactancia. Echa un vistazo a LactApp visitando www.lactapp.com ¡Califica, revisa y suscríbete! Title translation: LactApp, the breastfeeding expert in your pocket! Maria Berruezo is the Co-Founder of LactApp Women's Health based in Barcelona, Spain. LactApp the first app dedicated to breastfeeding & motherhood with one-on-one consultation with specialists without the hassle of in-person visits or long periods of uncertainty. LactApp has 40,000 monthly users and responds to over 90,000 questions each week and was selected by Apple as one of 10 female-led companies in the world for their Apple Entrepreneur Camp. Maria is a certified lactation consultant since 2012 and has a Master’s Degree in Knowledge Management & Bachelor’s Degree in Advertising & PR Communication. We discussed how LactApp works, maternity leave in Spain and lactation education. Check out LactApp by visiting www.lactapp.com Rate, Review, and Subscribe!

Dr. Teriya Monick Richmond is a board certified family medicine physician and has been practicing for over 10 years. Dr. Richmond was the first physician in the Harris Health System to facilitate Centering Pregnancy, she also served as an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas-Houston and currently serves as the Chief Medical Officer of the AIDS Foundation in Houston. Dr. Richmond recently opened Your Essential Healthcare and DaySpa (YEHD), which is a dedicated women’s health center and continues her clinical research in areas topics including endometriosis, cervical cancer and bacterial vaginosis. Apart from her extensive career in health, Dr. Richmond has also initiated her own women’s empowerment brand, Mocha Millennium Women, which encourages women to be confident in who they are through fitness, fashion, and fun. We discussed the history, disparities & the current state of of black women’s health in the United States including racism in public health. Check out Dr. Richmond’s work at www.yourtotalhealthdoctor.com

In this episode, we talk to Dr. Yesmean Wahdan, Vice President for U.S. Medical Affairs in the Bayer Women’s HealthCare division. In this episode, we discuss the prevalence, causes and treatments for heavy menstrual bleeding. This is a great opportunity to learn more about Bayer’s new women’s health strategy which emphasizes partnerships with startups, and which companies they’re interested in working with.

Remember to like, rate and subscribe and enjoy the episode!

Guest bio

Dr. Yesmean Wahdan, MD is the Vice President for U.S. Medical Affairs in the Bayer Women’s HealthCare division. She is the eldest of 6 children and was born and raised in the Northern Virginia area not far from the Nation’s Capital – Washington, DC. She received her bachelor’s degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology from Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia, and her Medical Degree from Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington, DC. She completed her OB/GYN residency at a combined program at Georgetown University Medical Center and Washington Hospital Center in Washington, DC. She has also published several abstracts and articles in the field of Women’s Health. In her time at Bayer, Dr. Wahdan has served as Medical Science Liaison, a Medical Director, and most recently as head of the U.S. Medical Affairs group for Women’s HealthCare.  

Dr. Wahdan is passionate about the care and health of women and is proud to work with an organization dedicated to advancing the health of women through science, research, and creating accessibility to options that impact the lives of women throughout their life journey. She believes that when women are healthy, informed, and can realize their full potential, their families, communities, and ultimately the world can have better tomorrows.

Dr. Wahdan is based in the US Bayer Headquarters office in Whippany, New Jersey, and lives in Northern New Jersey with her family.

FemTech Focus Podcast bio

The FemTech Focus Podcast is brought to you by FemHealth Insights, the leader in Women’s Health market research and consulting. In this show, Dr. Brittany Barreto hosts meaningfully provocative conversations that bring FemTech experts - including doctors, scientists, inventors, and founders - on air to talk about the innovative technology, services, and products (collectively known as FemTech) that are improving women's health and wellness. Though many leaders in FemTech are women, this podcast is not specifically about female founders, nor is it geared toward a specifically female audience. The podcast gives our host, Dr. Brittany Barreto, and guests an engaging, friendly environment to learn about the past, present, and future of women’s health and wellness.

FemHealth Insights bio

Led by a team of analysts and advisors who specialize in female health, FemHealth Insights is a female health-specific market research and analysis firm, offering businesses in diverse industries unparalleled access to the comprehensive data and insights needed to illuminate areas of untapped potential in the nuanced women’s health market.

Time Stamps

[04:10] Dr. Wahdan’s background

[06:49] What is Bayer?

[09:10] Why is Bayer deprioritizing women’s health Research & Development?

[12:45] What is Heavy Menstrual Bleeding?

[15:14] Indicators of Heavy Menstrual Bleeding

[16:06] Causes of Heavy Menstrual Bleeding

[16:55] Prevalence of Heavy Menstrual Bleeding

[19:27] Disproportion based on race, ethnicity, age and location

[20:10] Are you born with Heavy Menstrual Bleeding or does it develop?

[20:32] Treatment options

[23:30] Hormonal contraceptive impact on bleeding

[24:43] Non-hormonal options

[25:34] Bayer’s clinical trials for endometriosis treatments

[28:03] What kind of partnership is Bayer looking for?

[28:35] What’s an area of Women’s Health that still needs innovation?

[30:42] What does the femtech industry as a whole need the most in order to be successful?

 

Resources

Bayer’s commitment to Women’s Healthcare - Episode 141

 

Episode Contributors

Dr. Yesmean Wahdan

LinkedIn: @Yesmean H. Wahdan, MD

 

Dr. Brittany Barreto

LinkedIn: @Brittany Barreto, Ph.D.

Twitter: @DrBrittB

Instagram: @drbrittanybarreto

 

Bayer

Website: https://www.bayer.com/en/us/bayer-united-states-of-america

LinkedIn: @Bayer

Twitter: @Bayer

Instagram: @bayerofficial  

 

FemTech Focus Podcast

Website: https://femtechfocus.org/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/femtechfocus

Twitter: @FemTech_Focus

Instagram: @femtechfocus

 

FemHealth Insights

Website: https://www.femhealthinsights.com/

LinkedIn: @FemHealth Insights

In this episode, we talk to Irene Laurora, SVP of Scientific Affairs, and Flavia Mason, global VP of women’s health at Perrigo, a consumer health company. Their over the counter birth control, Opill, was the first to receive FDA approval in the US, a significant step towards decreasing barriers for women to access quality healthcare. Join us for a conversation where we discuss the societal role of hormonal birth control, Perrigo’s journey to securing FDA approval for Opill, and whether Opill is right for you.

Remember to like, rate, and subscribe. Enjoy the episode!

Guest bio

Irene Laurora is a pharmacist by training who has spent her career in the pharmaceutical industry working to build solutions that make people’s lives better and healthier. She currently serves as the SVP of Scientific Affairs at Perrigo, where she has played an instrumental role in the development of products like Opill.

Flavia Mason is the Global VP of Women’s Health at Perrigo. She came to this role after many years in corporate America, where she proved herself to be a strong leader and capable operator. She joined Perrigo to help improve women’s experiences when interacting with the healthcare system.

Organization bio

Perrigo is a consumer health company responsible for securing FDA approval for the first over the counter birth control in the US, the Opill. Perrigo is behind many of the personal health brands you may be familiar with and see at your local pharmacy. With the addition of the Opill, consumers are now able to walk into a pharmacy, big box retailer, or favorite e-commerce platform, and access hormonal birth control pills without doctor’s appointment or prescription. It is a massive step forward in reducing barriers to accessing healthcare for women.

FemTech Focus Podcast bio

The FemTech Focus Podcast is brought to you by FemHealth Insights, the leader in Women’s Health market research and consulting. In this show, Dr. Brittany Barreto hosts meaningfully provocative conversations that bring FemTech experts - including doctors, scientists, inventors, and founders - on air to talk about the innovative technology, services, and products (collectively known as FemTech) that are improving women's health and wellness. Though many leaders in FemTech are women, this podcast is not specifically about female founders, nor is it geared toward a specifically female audience. The podcast gives our host, Dr. Brittany Barreto, and guests an engaging, friendly environment to learn about the past, present, and future of women’s health and wellness.

FemHealth Insights bio

Led by a team of analysts and advisors who specialize in female health, FemHealth Insights is a female health-specific market research and analysis firm, offering businesses in diverse industries unparalleled access to the comprehensive data and insights needed to illuminate areas of untapped potential in the nuanced women’s health market.

 

Time Stamps

[02:10] Flavia and Irene’s backgrounds

[09:38] Description of Perrigo and explanation of connection to women’s health

[12:45] What is Opill?

[16:02] Other forms of over the counter contraception

[20:20] Stats around unintended pregnancy in the US

[23:48] Effectiveness of OTC birth control

[29:38] The FDA approval process for Opill 

[32:12] How Perrigo is helping increase access to birth control 

[35:10] Is Opill right for you?

[37:12] Is OTC birth control new to the world? Or just new to the US? 

[38:50] Looking ahead: aspirations for Opill and Perrigo

 

Episode Contributors

Irene Laurora 

LinkedIn: @Irene Laurora

Flavia Mason

LinkedIn: @Flavia Mason

 

Opill

Website: https://opill.com/

 

Dr. Brittany Barreto

LinkedIn:  @Brittany Barreto, Ph.D.

Twitter: @DrBrittB

Instagram: @drbrittanybarreto

 

FemTech Focus Podcast

Website: https://femtechfocus.org/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/femtechfocus

Twitter: @FemTech_Focus

Instagram: @femtechfocus

 

FemHealth Insights

Website: https://www.femhealthinsights.com/

LinkedIn: @FemHealth Insights

CoFertility is a platform that provides resources and tools to answer the tons of unanswered questions around fertility. Infertility affects 1 in 8 couples trying to conceive, and with information vastly spread out across forums, blogs, and clinic websites, Co provides helpful, digestible fertility content all in one place—while keeping it real. We aim to un-complicate the fertility journey.

Prior to founding Co, Arielle led digital marketing strategy initiatives at Victoria's Secret PINK, Coach, and many other consumer brands. She thrives on bolstering brand relevance among key audiences, especially when they involve first-to-market technology and content partnerships.

 

FemTech Focus is a 501c3 non-profit organization founded to empower, equip, and bring together healthcare professionals, life-science entrepreneurs, and forward thinking investors to revolutionize women’s health and wellness. FemTech Focus elevates the FemTech industry through increased awareness, providing resources to FemTech founders, & creating opportunities to support FemTech startups through exposure, networking, and access to capital.

The FemTech Focus Podcast with Dr. Brittany Barreto is a meaningfully provocative conversational series that brings femtech experts – including doctors, scientists, inventors, and founders – on air to talk about the innovative technology, services, and products (collectively known as femtech) that are improving women’s health and wellness. The podcast gives our host, Dr. Brittany Barreto, and guests an engaging, friendly environment to learn about the past, present, and future of women’s health and wellness.

Dr. Brittany Barreto is a scientist, serial entrepreneur, and venture capitalist. While finishing her PhD in Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine, Brittany founded Pheramor, the first nationwide DNA-based dating app. She then embarked into venture capital as the Senior Venture Associate at Capital Factory and was tasked with launching the fund’s Houston branch. Brittany now has her sights on advancing women’s health. She is host of the FemTech Focus podcast which has 150+ episodes and 30 thousand downloads in 105 countries. Brittany is the co-founding partner of Coyote Ventures, a US-based venture fund investing in early-stage women’s health startups.

Allison Kasirer is the Founder and CEO of Robyn, a company on a mission to make maternal wellness and education accessible to all. Today, Robyn is a digital platform for aspiring, expecting, and new parents featuring 200+ meticulously selected providers across specialized fields including acupuncture, nutrition, lactation, mental and physical health and personal coaching. Robyn has also launched Parentbirth™, a modern and inclusive virtual childbirth education class featuring real stories and parent-centric care. Prior to launching Robyn, Allison was a Vice President at J.P. Morgan’s Corporate & Investment Bank. She holds a Bachelor of Applied Science from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering and Applied Science. We discussed maternal mental health, FemTech marketplace, "Parentbirth" and reproductive justice. Check out the Robyn at www.wearerobyn.co Rate, Review & Subscribe!

On our first ever 3-way interview, we have Abby Stern and Savira Dargar from HITLAB. Abby was the Manager of the Women's Health Tech Initiative & Innovation Research & Evaluation and previously has a maternal and child health background with a Master's Public Health from Columbia University. Savira was the Deputy Director, Innovation Research, Strategy, & Compliance and the Director, Women’s Health Initiatives and has a clinical research background with a Master's degree in Health Policy & Economics from Cornell University. HITLAB is a research, advisory and educational organization focused in the digital health space and believe in the greater in academic research aiming to help people and startups in the community of digital health to gather the scientific knowledge needed to advance their technology. In this episode we discussed The Women's Health Tech Challenge, how public health relates to femtech and destigmatizing abortion. Check out HITLAB at hitlab.org Rate, Review & Subscribe!

In today’s episode, I interview Melissa Kramer the CEO and Founder of Live UTI free. As a women's health advocate Melissa works closely with researchers, clinicians, and members of the public to ensure the patient perspective is acknowledged, particularly in the area of recurrent urinary tract infection - the second most common infection in adults, globally. In 2017, she founded Live UTI Free, a patient advocacy and research organization with a highly engaged community. 7 million females experience a UTI each year in the United States with about 35% of them having another UTI within 6 months. Many of these reoccurring infections may be caused by an underlying bladder infection that goes undiagnosed and ineffectively treated. My favorite resource they offer is the ‘take to your doctor’ and ‘patient guide’ resources. These are documents that help empower women to speak with their physicians about what they believe they are experiencing. Get these resources and more at www.LiveUTIfree.com. Enjoy the episode!

Dr. Andrea Lukes has an extensive career in women’s health ranging from being a board-certified OB/GYN to the Chief Medical Officer of Health Decisions. Dr. Lukes currently advises Health Decisions on the development and implementation of research protocols and communications to the FDA. Dr. Lukes has conducted and/or overseen more than 80 clinical trials of investigational women’s health products over the last ten years. Her articles have appeared in journals including the Obstetrics and Gynecology, the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the International Journal of Women’s Health, Cancer and Current Medical Research & Opinion and Drug Safety just to name a few. She also founded the Carolina Women’s Research & Wellness Center, co-founded and served as the Director of Gynecology for the Women’s Hemostasis and Thrombosis Clinic at the Duke University Medical Center and founded and chaired the OB/GYN Alliance, an online network of 8,000 OB/GYN physicians in the United States. We discussed heavy menstrual bleeding, clinical trials and barriers to getting women medical device getting approved. Check out Health Decisions at healthdec.com Rate, Review & Subscribe!

Amy Beckley - PhD scientist with a background in hormone signaling. My personal battle with hormone imbalance leading to infertility and recurrent miscarriage led me to invent Proov, the first and only FDA cleared test to help determine ovulation quality. High quality ovulation leads to more pregnancies and better hormone balance in women, so they can live their best lives.

FemTech Focus is a 501c3 non-profit organization founded to empower, equip, and bring together healthcare professionals, life-science entrepreneurs, and forward-thinking investors to revolutionize women’s health and wellness. FemTech Focus elevates the FemTech industry through increased awareness, providing resources to FemTech founders, & creating opportunities to support FemTech startups through exposure, networking, and access to capital.

The FemTech Focus Podcast with Dr. Brittany Barreto is a meaningfully provocative conversational series that brings femtech experts – including doctors, scientists, inventors, and founders – on air to talk about the innovative technology, services, and products (collectively known as femtech) that are improving women’s health and wellness. The podcast gives our host, Dr. Brittany Barreto, and guests an engaging, friendly environment to learn about the past, present, and future of women’s health and wellness.

Dr. Brittany Barreto is a scientist, serial entrepreneur, and venture capitalist. While finishing her PhD in Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine, Brittany founded Pheramor, the first nationwide DNA-based dating app. She then embarked into venture capital as the Senior Venture Associate at Capital Factory and was tasked with launching the fund’s Houston branch. Brittany now has her sights on advancing women’s health. She is host of the FemTech Focus podcast which has 150+ episodes and 30 thousand downloads in 105 countries. Brittany is the co-founding partner of Coyote Ventures, a US-based venture fund investing in early-stage women’s health startups.

Harpreet Nagra, PhD, is a behavioral scientist, clinical researcher, licensed psychologist, and equity expert with over 15 years of experience in non-profit organizations, academic institutions, medical clinics, and private practice. At One Drop, Dr. Nagra serves as the VP of Behavior Science and Advanced Technologies. In her role, Dr. Nagra guides the application of behavioral science frameworks and methodologies across key components of our AI-powered platform, including one-on-one coaching, goal setting, health predictions, and an interactive learning experience.

One Drop is a digital health company harnessing the power of behavioral science, mobile computing, and data science to transform the lives of people with diabetes and other chronic conditions worldwide. Evidence-based and clinically effective, the One Drop app brings affordable, accessible self-care to every person with a smartphone, as well as their insurers, employers, and healthcare providers. 

FemTech Focus is a 501c3 non-profit organization founded to empower, equip, and bring together healthcare professionals, life-science entrepreneurs, and forward thinking investors to revolutionize women’s health and wellness. FemTech Focus elevates the FemTech industry through increased awareness, providing resources to FemTech founders, & creating opportunities to support FemTech startups through exposure, networking, and access to capital.

The FemTech Focus Podcast with Dr. Brittany Barreto is a meaningfully provocative conversational series that brings femtech experts – including doctors, scientists, inventors, and founders – on air to talk about the innovative technology, services, and products (collectively known as femtech) that are improving women’s health and wellness. The podcast gives our host, Dr. Brittany Barreto, and guests an engaging, friendly environment to learn about the past, present, and future of women’s health and wellness.

Dr. Brittany Barreto is a scientist, serial entrepreneur, and venture capitalist. While finishing her PhD in Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine, Brittany founded Pheramor, the first nationwide DNA-based dating app. She then embarked into venture capital as the Senior Venture Associate at Capital Factory and was tasked with launching the fund’s Houston branch. Brittany now has her sights on advancing women’s health. She is host of the FemTech Focus podcast which has 150+ episodes and 30 thousand downloads in 105 countries. Brittany is the co-founding partner of Coyote Ventures, a US-based venture fund investing in early-stage women’s health startups.

FemTech Focus is a 501c3 non-profit organization founded to empower, equip, and bring together healthcare professionals, life-science entrepreneurs, and forward thinking investors to revolutionize women’s health and wellness. FemTech Focus elevates the FemTech industry through increased awareness, providing resources to FemTech founders, & creating opportunities to support FemTech startups through exposure, networking, and access to capital.The FemTech Focus Podcast with Dr. Brittany Barreto is a meaningfully provocative conversational series that brings femtech experts – including doctors, scientists, inventors, and founders – on air to talk about the innovative technology, services, and products (collectively known as femtech) that are improving women’s health and wellness. The podcast gives our host, Dr. Brittany Barreto, and guests an engaging, friendly environment to learn about the past, present, and future of women’s health and wellness.Dr. Brittany Barreto is a scientist, serial entrepreneur, and venture capitalist. While finishing her PhD in Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine, Brittany founded Pheramor, the first nationwide DNA-based dating app. She then embarked into venture capital as the Senior Venture Associate at Capital Factory and was tasked with launching the fund’s Houston branch. Brittany now has her sights on advancing women’s health. She is host of the FemTech Focus podcast which has 150+ episodes and 30 thousand downloads in 105 countries. Brittany is the co-founding partner of Coyote Ventures, a US-based venture fund investing in early-stage women’s health startups.

Roya Pakza is Founder and CEO of Feminade, an online concierge for women’s hormone and reproductive health based on naturopathic and holistic health. Roya was sick and tired of being sick and tired. When she realized that the pill was not the 'easy' solution for her, she decided to build a platform and at-home test to truly understand women's hormones. Feminade offers an at-home Dutch Test and online naturopathic clinicians to help women understand their beautifully complex biology and feel better. Rate, review, and subscribe to the podcast!