FemTech Focus

Dr. Amrita Karve is the Co-Founder and Co-Director of Women's Heart Program at Mount Carmel Health System. Dr. Karve, MD, FACC, is a cardiologist at Mount Carmel Health System, a large private community health system in Columbus, Ohio. The Women's Heart Program was created to increase awareness of heart disease in women, reduce gender disparities in diagnosis and treatment, and to provide a concierge experience for women of all socioeconomic classes to be more engaged in their health. Dr. Karve is a member and guest speaker for the American Heart Association and is board-certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular disease, and echocardiography. Her special interests include women's health and innovative clinical approaches to obesity medicine. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from George Washington University's BA/MD program in 2004, completed her residency in internal medicine at the University of Michigan in 2014, and cardiology fellowship at Ohio State University in 2017. We discussed underdiagnosis for women's heart diseases, risk factors for women's heart diseases and the women's heart program at the Mount Carmel Health System.

Check out The Women's Heart Program at the Mount Carmel Health System at https://www.mountcarmelhealth.com/find-a-service-or-specialty/womens-heart-program/

Rate, Review & Subscribe!

Kaitlin Christine is the CEO & Founder of Gabbi, a FemTech company aiming to solve delayed diagnosis of preventable diseases that affect women, starting with breast cancer. Kaitlin is a breast cancer survivor and ovarian cancer previvor who has made it her life's mission to empower women to understand their bodies and advocate for themselves. Kaitlin has spent over 9 years in women’s health--working for leading nonprofits, as a sought after national speaker, was the youngest hire for the world’s leading genetic testing company where she led sales and eventually transitioned to a role as a hereditary cancer specialist, and most recently was the VP of Growth for an e-commerce marketing startup. Kaitlin earned her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Denver. We discussed Kaitlin's personal journey with breast cancer, barriers to entry in healthcare, gaps in awareness and innovation for breast cancer.

Check out Gabbi at www.begabbi.com

Rate, Review & Subscribe!

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!

Somer Baburek is the CEO, President and Co-Founder of Hera Biotech. Hera Biotech is a biotechnology company that was formed to address unmet needs in the field of women’s health and specifically, in reproductive medicine. Hera’s initial goal is to commercialize the MetriDx™, a non-surgical method for the definitive and early diagnosis of endometriosis. Prior to founding Hera, Somer spent 7 years with the largest life science venture capital fund in San Antonio assisting with due diligence activities and served in 2 of the fund’s sister companies as the Director of Clinical Operations. During her time with the companies, she was part of the senior management team that took them from a single investigator-initiated IND to 4 open INDs, saw the successful license of a 5 sku product line to the largest industry participant and successfully managed an End of Phase 2 Meeting with the FDA before they were acquired for $250M USD. Somer took a short break following the exit, while she looked for available technology in her field of passion, women’s health. We discussed menstrual reflux, the stages of endometriosis and endometriosis diagnosis.

Check out Hera Biotech at www.herabiotech.com

Rate, Review & Subscribe!

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!

Michelle Egger, CEO & Co-founder of BIOMILQ, is a diversely experienced food scientist with an eye to global food systems change. She looks to combat global food security and malnutrition in everything she does. Inspired by upstream solutions for infant nutrition at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, she became obsessed with advancing human nutrition through better infant feeding options. Michelle seeks to harness the capacity to drive environmental and social change through creative food solutions with a consumer-first design. Her entrepreneurial expertise in social impact and sustainable business models drives her commitment to seeking mission-aligned partners. Michelle believes that providing all infants with optimal nutrition in their first 1,000 days of life should be a human right for every parent on the planet. We discussed Michelle's mission to advance society through nourishment, how BIOMILQ produces the breastmilk, Michelle's fundraising mandate for BIOMILQ.

Check out BIOMILQ at biomilq.com

Rate, Review & Subscribe!

Christine Goudie is the Co-Founder and CEO of Granville Biomedical, an all female tech company specializing in the design and manufacturing of women’s health anatomical simulation models for surgical training around the world. Cow tongues, orange peels and car wash sponges are being used as vulva simulation models for medical trainees, Christine and her partner at Granville Biomedical aspire to offer trainees to practice and learn on life-like 3D printed models that reflect the real human body and offer opportunities for hands on training that reflect real world, culturally respective, situations that the current simulation models don't offer. Granville Biomedical is also the first female-led company to receive Health Canada approval to begin clinical trials for their COVID-19 testing product. Christina has a background in Industrial Design and Biomedical Engineering. We discussed vaginal models, normalizing the aesthetics of vulvas, vaginas and making women's health devices less invasive.

Check out Granville Biomedical at www.granvillebiomedical.ca

Rate, Review & Subscribe!

Dr. Fatima Ahmed is a physician entrepreneur and an ObGyn from the UK with 10 years’ experience working as a doctor. Her passion for improving women’s health on a global scale led her to working at ORCHA, a game changing & world leading company in health and care app evaluation, as their clinical lead in maternity & women’s health. Her strive to improve women’s health and wellbeing globally is what lies behind her motivation to support Femtech founders develop the best products they can to solve some of women’s most urgent needs. How digital health can increase accessibility, app review requirements and making digital health apps safer for everyone.

Check out ORCHA at www.appfinder.orcha.co.uk

Rate, Review & Subscribe!

Jane Sagui is the co-Founder at Pollie, a personalized telehealth marketplace that matches people with ovaries to hormonal health specialists. They make it easier to manage reproductive hormonal conditions like PCOS and endometriosis, as well as hormonal imbalance symptoms like infertility, acne, hair loss, irregular periods, blood sugar imbalances, PMS, cramping, and more. Jane holds a Bachelor of Arts in Government from Georgetown University.

Femtech Focus listeners can participate in Pollie's pilot PCOS program for 20% off with the code "FEMTECH21" by signing up at the following link: https://www.pollie.co/pcos-eligibility

Check out Pollie at www.pollie.co

Rate, Review & 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!