FemTech Focus

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

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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

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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

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Amanda French is the Co-Founder and CEO of Emme, a contraception company home to the Emme Smart Case system that automatically tracks when a user takes their pill and reminds them when you don't, so they can live stress-free. Amanda has over a decade of experience bringing innovative products to the market with a focus on women’s health, including a product that facilitated the distribution of antiretrovirals to mothers in the developing world which was recognized by Hilary Clinton and won USAID’s Saving Lives at Birth Grand Challenge. She also developed heart valve technology as an R&D engineer with Edwards Lifesciences and went on to develop state-of-the-art hearing aids at Earlens. Amanda was a 2016-2017 Innovation Fellow at the Stanford-Byers Center for Biodesign, and a Ferolyn Fellow in 2018-2019 with the Fogarty Institute for Innovation. She holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Duke University. We discussed the barriers to accessing contraception, fundraising by grants, research and investment in FemTech.

Check out the Emme at www.emme.com

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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

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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/

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Dr. Jane van Dis, MD, is an Ob Hospitalist, Medical Director at MavenClinic, Co-Founder of Equity Quotient, Co-Founder of OB Best Practice in partnership with OBGProject, and a Co-Founder of TIME'S UP Healthcare. Dr van Dis also co-admins the non-profit OB Mom Group – a group of 4800+ women ObGyns. She is a national expert and speaker on equity in healthcare, as well, she currently advises 4 health care startups and was recently selected to serve as a medical advisor to Europe’s first FemTech accelerator, FemTechLab, and is a medical advisor with Portfolia. She is a single mom to twins Brooklyn and Miles. We discussed the doctor that changed her life, accessibility in healthcare and telehealth and how to create more equity in healthcare.

Check out the Maven Clinic at www.mavenclinic.com/ and Equity Quotient at www.eqmedicine.com/

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Mitchella Gilbert is the Founder & CEO of OYA Apparel, a FemTech apparel company on a mission to create technical clothes that support women’s health. OYA, aims to provide give all women more control over their health and create safe spaces to discuss feminine care. Based out of UCLA and born in a fashion lab, OYA engineers for women’s health, style, functionality, and comfort. Think: breathable, silky, leak absorbent, and curve shaping. Mitchella earned her Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy from The University of Chicago and is currently pursuing her Masters in Business Administration from the University of California - Los Angeles. We discussed the relationship between bacterial vaginosis and leggings, diversity in the apparel industry and societal pressures in the apparel industry.

Check out the OYA Leggings at www.wearoya.com

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Quinn Edgecomb is a the Founder and CEO of Cali Balance, Inc. and leads a team who are developing CALI to alleviate the burdens of life with Benign Proximal Positional Vertigo (BPPV, commonly referred to as vertigo). Cali is a human centered designed product enabling people to perform vertigo alleviating maneuvers effectively, independently, and accurately. Outside of Cali Balance, she also works at Brochsteins, where she program machines to turn creative designs into real woodworking products and furniture. Quinn earned her Bachelor of Science in Industrial Design from the University of Houston. We discussed benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), how prevelant vertigo is in women, physical therapy for vertigo and the dix-hallpike test.

Check out the Cali Balance at www.calibalanceinc.com

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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

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