July 8, 2025 • 24 mins
In this episode of Educating to be Human, Lisa speaks with Joanna Strober, seasoned entrepreneur and founder of MidiHealth—a virtual clinic providing personalized care for women navigating midlife changes like perimenopause and menopause. Together, Lisa and Joanna discuss why this stage of life remains one of the most under-researched, underfunded, and underserved areas in medicine, and what can and is being done about it. Digging into the success of MidiHealth, this conversation is a powerful reminder that we need new models of healthcare—ones that not only provide care but also empower women with the knowledge they need to understand and thrive in their changing bodies.
Joanna is the founder of Midi Health, a virtual care platform for women in perimenopause and menopause. The company brings expert care, covered by insurance, to women nationwide. Before Midi, Joanna founded Kurbo, the first digital therapeutic for childhood obesity, which she successfully sold to Weight Watchers. Before diving into digital health, Joanna spent more than 20 years in direct private equity and venture capital investing in health and consumer companies, including several notable consumer internet companies, such as Blue Nile, eToys, BabyCenter, HotJobs, and Flycast.
Resources:
Midi Health's website: https://www.joinmidi.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joinmidi
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/midihealth/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/midi-health/mycompany/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
50% of women don't apply for raises because of
perimenopause symptoms.
25% think about quitting their jobs.
10% do quit their jobs.
And then it also shows that women often go to
doctors,
and when they are not given the appropriate
treatments from those doctors,
they are more likely to then quit their jobs.
(00:24):
This is Educating to be Human,
and I'm your host,
Lisa Petrides,
founder of the Institute for the Study of Knowledge
Management in Education.
In each episode,
I sit down with ordinary people creating
extraordinary impact.
People who are challenging notions of how we learn,
why we learn,
and who controls what we learn.
(00:47):
Thank you very much for listening.
Thank you for joining us today on Educating to be
Human.
In this episode,
I speak with Joanna Strober,
entrepreneur and founder of MidiHealth,
a virtual clinic providing expert,
personalized,
(01:08):
insurance-covered care for women navigating
perimenopause and menopause.
The stage of life for women remains one of the
most under-researched,
(01:35):
and I think that the current success of Midi
(01:56):
Health is a powerful reminder that we need new
models of healthcare,
ones that not only provide care but also empower
women with the education they need to understand
and thrive in their changing bodies.
So,
to begin,
menopause and midlife women's health have been
(02:17):
historically neglected in medical research and in
medical funding.
And in your view,
why has this gap in care and knowledge persisted
for so long?
I know it's a good question.
The reality is that people didn't think that women
needed special care.
Until the 1990s,
they didn't even include women in a lot of
research.
(02:37):
They only included men.
I'm sure there are historical reasons for that,
but it's become a bit of a reality that women's
healthcare is an afterthought.
Would you say,
historically,
who has controlled the conversation around women's
(02:58):
health?
What impact has that had on what we know about
our own bodies and our options?
Well,
most of the research went to men who were
researching things about their healthcare or were
doing research projects and things they were
particularly interested in.
There was one big study,
however,
that was the Women's Health Initiative,
which it was a very,
(03:19):
very well-funded,
large initiative on women's health.
And unfortunately for women,
actually,
the women and men doing that study got it wrong.
So,
you know,
finally,
we had a really big research project and it was
misinterpreted.
So it's not just men,
but women,
too,
(03:40):
who have,
you know,
given somewhat of women's health stewardship.
I'm curious,
do you want to say a little bit more about what
they got wrong?
So essentially what happened is that they stopped
the study.
They said, 'Ah, estrogen causes cancer,
and they stopped the study'.
The study was of older women,
and they were trying to see the connection about
(04:01):
heart disease for people who started taking estrogen
over 65.
And they realized that there was a very small
increase of some diseases and they stopped and they
really basically got the story wrong.
It actually turned out that,
now that we look at that data 25 years later,
(04:22):
that women taking estrogen alone actually had a 30%
decrease in breast cancer,
not an increase in breast cancer.
That the issues were related to progesterone,
that those were a different kind of progesterone
than we take now.
So there hasn't been a lot of research on women's
health.
And unfortunately,
this one big study got it wrong.
(04:42):
And so that is actually part of the pain of all
of this is (04:45):
we don't have very much study,
and we don't have the right information.
And I think that part of what you're doing is
really challenging this idea that menopause is
something that women just have to get through in
silence,
right?
So how is MIDI and how are you helping shift what
is seen as worth treating and worth researching,
(05:05):
essentially?
Well,
honestly,
the good news is that women are starting to demand
better care; things don't change on their own,
right?
Things are changing because women.
Are getting to be in their 40s and 50s and
they're saying actually this care is not acceptable
for me I deserve better and they now have jobs
and they have money and they're demanding better
(05:25):
care and it's really that demand by them that's
making a difference,
they're also saying research labs that they should
be putting money into this and they're funding
companies that should help women's health.
But it is women demanding it and asking for it
that's making the difference.
So I guess what are some of the biggest barriers
that you've seen for women trying to access
(05:46):
accurate and personalized information?
Is it just that it's not there or that they're
getting the incorrect information from their medical
practitioners,
as you alluded to from those studies?
(06:14):
The people who do know it then also go into
concierge medicine so they can rightfully charge a
lot of money,
which is fine,
but it just means that most women don't have
access to this education and to this knowledge,
and most doctors haven't been trained on it.
And this is kind of an obvious question,
but when women don't have access to real
information about their health,
(06:35):
when it's missing from the training the doctors are
getting,
if it's not covered by our insurance policies or
if public conversations aren't happening,
you know,
what's at stake?
What do we lose?
Well,
women don't feel good.
I don't know.
There you go.
There you go.
It can't be any simpler than that.
Women don't feel good.
(06:56):
I love that.
Well,
you know,
and there's still so much stigma about talking
about menopause openly,
you know,
and it's so important to break that silence.
And of course,
for me as an educator,
I think a lot about what the role,
what role could education bring,
both informal and formal,
you know,
(07:16):
what role could education play in that and breaking
that stigma?
There are a few components to the education that
are actually really important.
There was a Harvard Business School study that
looked at women in the workplace who were
experiencing menopausal symptoms.
And what they saw is that when women started
having hot flashes or brain fog at work,
they were seen as less important leaders.
(07:38):
And they were taken less seriously in their
organization by both the men and the women in
their organization.
But when the women called it out and said, 'Oh,
that was brain fog,
and I'm getting treated for it. 'They regained
their power.
So I think that it's really important that we have
this conversation and it doesn't stay silent,
(07:58):
that it's an open conversation,
that we say these are the symptoms and treatments
are available.
It is not a sign of dementia.
It is not a sign of weakness.
It's just a physical symptom that we can treat.
And if you educate people to understand that it's
just a physical symptom that they can treat,
then it can be treated like any other health issue
(08:19):
and not derail you at work.
You know,
just a quick story.
I remember it was about 10 years ago,
I was a bit perimenopausal myself.
(08:40):
And I was in a meeting and everybody was in there
in a board meeting with their,
you know,
their suits on.
And all of a sudden,
this woman who was leading the meeting kind of,
she kind of paused or sort of flubbed her words.
And then she goes, 'It's hot in here.' And she
whips off her jacket and has this tank top on and
she's sweating and all the women in the room are
(09:00):
just laughing.
(09:29):
Yeah,
I think that,
you know,
we have to know that's what's going on,
though.
So,
the research shows that actually.
50% of women don't apply for raises because of
perimenopause symptoms.
25% think about quitting their jobs.
10% do quit their jobs.
And then it also shows that women often go to
doctors and when they are not given the appropriate
treatments from those doctors,
(09:51):
they are more likely to then quit their jobs.
If you get the wrong care or you're told by a
doctor,
this is just normal aging,
deal with it.
Those women are more likely to leave their jobs.
It's really important that women get the right
treatments.
Those are some phenomenal statistics.
Could you just repeat those again?
I want everybody to make sure they've heard those.
(10:12):
Yeah.
50% of women think about don't apply for a raise
or promotion because of menopause symptoms.
25% of women think about leaving their jobs because
of them.
And 10% actually do leave their jobs because of
perimenopause and menopause symptoms.
Incredible.
Thank you for that research,
right?
We need to know those things.
I'm curious,
looking ahead,
(10:33):
what changes do you hope to see both in how the
medical knowledge about menopause is created and
then how it's shared with the people who need it
the most?
It's a hard thing to argue that a lot of time in
medical school will ever be spent on this.
You know,
theoretically,
we would like all doctors to be trained on how to
(10:54):
manage these types of symptoms.
The truth is it's probably not going to happen.
And,
you know,
the reality is there's a lot to teach in medical
school and you have a lot to teach doctors.
I think I go at it from a different perspective.
I think women need to demand better care.
And I think the market has to solve it for them.
I mean,
in general,
markets evolve when there is a need and there's
(11:17):
someone to pay for the service.
And I believe that we we can't count on,
you know,
medical schools teaching this.
We can't count on the government doing this.
Like it's going to be market forces that actually
solve this because women are going to say 'I
deserve better care' and they're going to.
(11:44):
When you think about the women who come to MIDI,
what do their experiences tell you about what's not
working and in how we talk about it and treat
women's health at midlife?
And then what do they get when they come to MIDI
in that way?
So what do their experiences tell us when they
walk in?
You know,
what are you learning?
You're probably learning a lot about how we are
(12:06):
traditionally teaching and talking about it,
right,
from these women that come in.
So mostly in our system,
you know,
we have a sick care system.
What we don't do as well as we should with people
who say they're not feeling good or they're not
(12:29):
feeling right and you don't have a diagnosis.
And for those women,
they're usually just told, 'You're fine.'It's just
fine.
It's a normal sign of aging.
You're fine.
And,
you know,
I joke all the time that like when your eyesight
goes,
they don't say, 'OK,
you're fine.' Right.
They give you glasses.
I think that historically we have just been
dismissed as,
(12:50):
you know,
those things they don't they don't create a
surgery.
You know,
you know,
they're willing to do a hysterectomy.
You make a lot of money on a hysterectomy.
You don't make a lot of money treating hot
flashes,
and so the time is not allocated there.
(13:27):
Right?
We can just give you time on telehealth; you get
to have that conversation with me to understand
your physical symptoms and to take care of them,
that's it.
It's a gift actually to women,
to be able to,
what they tell us every day is someone listened to
me.
They cared about me.
They took care of me.
(13:48):
They listened to my symptoms.
They took them seriously.
And so,
a lot of what we're doing is giving them the gift
of time and the gift of someone who understands
and takes them seriously.
And then we have trained all of our providers to
understand women's bodies and understand what are
the solutions that women can try.
And one of the biggest things is this is a very
(14:08):
iterative process.
It is not a one-size-fits-all.
It's try one thing,
try another thing,
try another thing until you start feeling better.
And our providers are trained to do that.
It's a different kind of care than our current
medical system is equipped to provide.
Right,
because in traditional healthcare,
the flow of knowledge or knowing stays with that
(14:29):
specialist or physician.
And I'd love to hear more,
because I know that you work and I think many
ways empower nurse practitioners to do that work
and to help change that.
I'd love to hear some more about that.
Yeah.
So we train nurse practitioners to offer this care.
I mean,
I think nurse practitioners are amazing at providing
(14:51):
care,
quite honestly.
They listen,
they are trained to relate to patients.
So they are the perfect people who should and can
be providing this care.
So we have experts in all aspects of women's
health who train the nurse practitioners to offer
the care,
and then they are able to then offer it.
(15:11):
So basically,
we have physician supervisors,
and we have physician trainers,
and then all the care is actually delivered by the
nurse practitioners.
So,
I'm curious how the nurse practitioners come to
you,
right?
So,
they're probably out in the field already.
Why do the nurse practitioners come to you?
What is it that as you're recruiting them,
(15:33):
what are they seeing differently or doing
differently?
Or how does this change their experience in their
profession?
Well,
we take them very seriously.
We think they're fundamental to offering good care
to women.
And so our job is to offer them really good jobs.
And it's also to offer them flexible jobs so we
can give them some flexibility.
But also we treat them like professionals.
(15:54):
And they don't always get that in other parts of.
Their work life.
Are you able to also be doing some of your own,
I don't know if we want to call it research,
but information gathering because of the work that
you do?
We are.
We are going to have the biggest repository of
information on midlife women and their care
(16:14):
concerns.
And so our goal is to eventually do more research
based on that data.
Do you have any even sort of anecdotal findings
that you've seen thus far?
I mean,
a lot of what we're seeing is that we save the
system a lot of money.
The average woman,
when they go to a PCP,
to their primary care doctor,
25% of them are referred to a specialist.
(16:37):
But with us,
only 3% are referred to a specialist because we're
able to take care of so many other things.
And then,
you know,
when we think,
for example,
about UTIs,
a lot of women go on antibiotics to take care of
them,
but all you need is vaginal estrogen.
And so we're able to prevent UTIs,
and we're seeing that.
We're seeing that we're preventing emergency room
visits because we know when someone needs to go to
(16:59):
the emergency room and when they don't.
We are seeing that we're significantly reducing
healthcare costs by using MIDI rather than going
and relying on the traditional healthcare system.
Can you say a little bit more?
I mean,
people understand telemedicine,
right?
Since COVID,
we've all experienced it in some way.
But it seems that you have really built a model
of care on this.
(17:20):
And it would be really interesting for folks to
hear about that.
What we realized is that we should offer
insurance-covered healthcare using the internet and
telehealth.
And that hadn't really been done before.
Mostly it was cash pay and with subscription
models.
And so we decided not to follow a subscription
model,
we decided to offer insurance-covered care to women.
(17:43):
So that was really our big differentiator.
What drew you to women's health?
I mean,
I know you've been involved in other health-related
startups,
but what drew you personally to this and to create
this platform focused specifically on this stage of
life for women?
(18:20):
And what are some of the stories that you've heard
so far from women?
When you're talking about its success today thus
far,
what are you hearing?
I will read some to you.
I think that's better than me saying.
Excellent.
Yes,
of course.
So I liked this one that came in the other day.
(18:41):
I want you to know that I just enjoyed sex with
my husband for the first time in five years.
I cannot tell you how appreciative I am for your
saving my marriage and my mental well-being.
That came in this morning.
Love that.
But I get these all day.
I mean,
it's really the most fun part of my job is
(19:02):
getting,
all of these testimonials of people saying how much
of an impact.
Here we go.
"This morning I saw a patient who was bouncing up
and down with excitement and said, 'I finally feel
like an actual human being again,
and not just a slave to my menopause symptoms."
Here's another one.
(19:23):
Direct quote.
"The seething rage monster is back in the box.
She says, 'thank you.'" Here's another.
"It's been life-changing.
It's helped all of my symptoms.
I feel normal again.
" Here we go.
"This woman when she came to me,
could not even take a shower by herself because of
(19:44):
extreme fatigue,
lightheadedness,
and sadness that she'd been dealing with for six
years.
She thanked me that she can now take a shower and
is feeling much better.
" These come in,
I mean,
they literally come in all day long.
One woman said that in the last 50 years of life,
this is honestly the best care she has ever
received as a woman.
(20:04):
Oh,
this one just came in.
"God bless MIDI and everyone who works there.
I say this now every single day.
I've been sleeping for the first time in years."
Thank you so much for sharing those.
They're remarkable.
And in some ways,
what you've done is so simple.
You've listened to the voices of women.
(20:25):
You've done the training.
You provide it.
You listen.
Right.
That's not like what we think of when we think of
advanced healthcare and all of the interventions and
medicines and tests that we need.
And I just think,
really remarkably,
I'll say that word again.
When I think about how you're providing access to
(20:50):
knowledge that has formerly not even been part of
what women have had access to.
And I also think it's so important to see,
you know,
we're talking about bodies,
right?
So we're talking about the embodied experience of
women and you're really showing and bringing out
how we learn and know from our bodies and how
(21:12):
absolutely,
you know,
essential that is and how your work is really
accelerating that.
So kudos,
kudos to you.
I would love to,
any kind of final comments that you would like to
share with us?
No,
you know,
I think,
you know,
your podcast is about education.
(21:32):
And what's really important is that women need to
educate themselves.
They need to know that they have these symptoms.
They need to know that most women in their 40s or
30s are going to have menopause symptoms,
that all women go through menopause.
Everyone.
We don't have babies,
but we do all go through menopause.
(21:53):
If you are feeling off,
you should not accept the status quo and you
should demand getting better care.
And I feel like what I was saying to you earlier,
that,
you know,
we finally have care because women are demanding
it.
They're saying this is not okay.
And I think it's really important that women start
saying that.
And if you're not feeling right,
if things are changing,
it doesn't matter if someone says to you, 'You're
(22:15):
not in perimenopause yet.' You are peri just means
pre.
You can get fixed.
You don't have to say, 'Okay,
I'll wait until I feel really terrible and then
get care. 'That is what I suggest,
whether it's coming to MIDI Health or someplace
else.
If you're not feeling right,
make sure that you get taken care of and that you
get the right medication.
Joanna,
thank you so much for your time.
(22:36):
Your work is helping women feel seen,
heard,
and whole again,
not just through compassion,
but through an innovative model that reimagines what
accessible,
expert care can look like.
It's not just health care,
it's human care,
and it's long overdue.
Thank you,
Joanna.
(22:56):
Thank you,
everybody,
for listening to the show this week.
This has been Lisa Petrides with Educating to be
Human.
If you enjoy our show,
please rate and review us on Apple,
Spotify,
or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
You can access our show notes for links and
information on our guests.
And don't forget to follow us on Instagram, @
(23:17):
BlueSky,
at Edu2BeHuman.
That is E-D-U to be human.
This podcast was created by Lisa Petrides and
produced by Helene Theros.
Educating to Be Human is recorded by Nathan Sherman
and edited by Ty Mayer with music by Orestis
Koletsos.
50% of women don't apply for raises because of
perimenopause symptoms.
25% think about quitting their jobs.
10% do quit their jobs.
And then it also shows that women often go to
doctors,
and when they are not given the appropriate
treatments from those doctors,
they are more likely to then quit their jobs.
(00:24):
This is Educating to be Human,
and I'm your host,
Lisa Petrides,
founder of the Institute for the Study of Knowledge
Management in Education.
In each episode,
I sit down with ordinary people creating
extraordinary impact.
People who are challenging notions of how we learn,
why we learn,
and who controls what we learn.
(00:47):
Thank you very much for listening.
Thank you for joining us today on Educating to be
Human.
In this episode,
I speak with Joanna Strober,
entrepreneur and founder of MidiHealth,
a virtual clinic providing expert,
personalized,
(01:08):
insurance-covered care for women navigating
perimenopause and menopause.
The stage of life for women remains one of the
most under-researched,
(01:35):
and I think that the current success of Midi
(01:56):
Health is a powerful reminder that we need new
models of healthcare,
ones that not only provide care but also empower
women with the education they need to understand
and thrive in their changing bodies.
So,
to begin,
menopause and midlife women's health have been
(02:17):
historically neglected in medical research and in
medical funding.
And in your view,
why has this gap in care and knowledge persisted
for so long?
I know it's a good question.
The reality is that people didn't think that women
needed special care.
Until the 1990s,
they didn't even include women in a lot of
research.
(02:37):
They only included men.
I'm sure there are historical reasons for that,
but it's become a bit of a reality that women's
healthcare is an afterthought.
Would you say,
historically,
who has controlled the conversation around women's
(02:58):
health?
What impact has that had on what we know about
our own bodies and our options?
Well,
most of the research went to men who were
researching things about their healthcare or were
doing research projects and things they were
particularly interested in.
There was one big study,
however,
that was the Women's Health Initiative,
which it was a very,
(03:19):
very well-funded,
large initiative on women's health.
And unfortunately for women,
actually,
the women and men doing that study got it wrong.
So,
you know,
finally,
we had a really big research project and it was
misinterpreted.
So it's not just men,
but women,
too,
(03:40):
who have,
you know,
given somewhat of women's health stewardship.
I'm curious,
do you want to say a little bit more about what
they got wrong?
So essentially what happened is that they stopped
the study.
They said, 'Ah, estrogen causes cancer,
and they stopped the study'.
The study was of older women,
and they were trying to see the connection about
(04:01):
heart disease for people who started taking estrogen
over 65.
And they realized that there was a very small
increase of some diseases and they stopped and they
really basically got the story wrong.
It actually turned out that,
now that we look at that data 25 years later,
(04:22):
that women taking estrogen alone actually had a 30%
decrease in breast cancer,
not an increase in breast cancer.
That the issues were related to progesterone,
that those were a different kind of progesterone
than we take now.
So there hasn't been a lot of research on women's
health.
And unfortunately,
this one big study got it wrong.
(04:42):
And so that is actually part of the pain of all
of this is (04:45):
we don't have very much study,
and we don't have the right information.
And I think that part of what you're doing is
really challenging this idea that menopause is
something that women just have to get through in
silence,
right?
So how is MIDI and how are you helping shift what
is seen as worth treating and worth researching,
(05:05):
essentially?
Well,
honestly,
the good news is that women are starting to demand
better care; things don't change on their own,
right?
Things are changing because women.
Are getting to be in their 40s and 50s and
they're saying actually this care is not acceptable
for me I deserve better and they now have jobs
and they have money and they're demanding better
(05:25):
care and it's really that demand by them that's
making a difference,
they're also saying research labs that they should
be putting money into this and they're funding
companies that should help women's health.
But it is women demanding it and asking for it
that's making the difference.
So I guess what are some of the biggest barriers
that you've seen for women trying to access
(05:46):
accurate and personalized information?
Is it just that it's not there or that they're
getting the incorrect information from their medical
practitioners,
as you alluded to from those studies?
(06:14):
The people who do know it then also go into
concierge medicine so they can rightfully charge a
lot of money,
which is fine,
but it just means that most women don't have
access to this education and to this knowledge,
and most doctors haven't been trained on it.
And this is kind of an obvious question,
but when women don't have access to real
information about their health,
(06:35):
when it's missing from the training the doctors are
getting,
if it's not covered by our insurance policies or
if public conversations aren't happening,
you know,
what's at stake?
What do we lose?
Well,
women don't feel good.
I don't know.
There you go.
There you go.
It can't be any simpler than that.
Women don't feel good.
(06:56):
I love that.
Well,
you know,
and there's still so much stigma about talking
about menopause openly,
you know,
and it's so important to break that silence.
And of course,
for me as an educator,
I think a lot about what the role,
what role could education bring,
both informal and formal,
you know,
(07:16):
what role could education play in that and breaking
that stigma?
There are a few components to the education that
are actually really important.
There was a Harvard Business School study that
looked at women in the workplace who were
experiencing menopausal symptoms.
And what they saw is that when women started
having hot flashes or brain fog at work,
they were seen as less important leaders.
(07:38):
And they were taken less seriously in their
organization by both the men and the women in
their organization.
But when the women called it out and said, 'Oh,
that was brain fog,
and I'm getting treated for it. 'They regained
their power.
So I think that it's really important that we have
this conversation and it doesn't stay silent,
(07:58):
that it's an open conversation,
that we say these are the symptoms and treatments
are available.
It is not a sign of dementia.
It is not a sign of weakness.
It's just a physical symptom that we can treat.
And if you educate people to understand that it's
just a physical symptom that they can treat,
then it can be treated like any other health issue
(08:19):
and not derail you at work.
You know,
just a quick story.
I remember it was about 10 years ago,
I was a bit perimenopausal myself.
(08:40):
And I was in a meeting and everybody was in there
in a board meeting with their,
you know,
their suits on.
And all of a sudden,
this woman who was leading the meeting kind of,
she kind of paused or sort of flubbed her words.
And then she goes, 'It's hot in here.' And she
whips off her jacket and has this tank top on and
she's sweating and all the women in the room are
(09:00):
just laughing.
(09:29):
Yeah,
I think that,
you know,
we have to know that's what's going on,
though.
So,
the research shows that actually.
50% of women don't apply for raises because of
perimenopause symptoms.
25% think about quitting their jobs.
10% do quit their jobs.
And then it also shows that women often go to
doctors and when they are not given the appropriate
treatments from those doctors,
(09:51):
they are more likely to then quit their jobs.
If you get the wrong care or you're told by a
doctor,
this is just normal aging,
deal with it.
Those women are more likely to leave their jobs.
It's really important that women get the right
treatments.
Those are some phenomenal statistics.
Could you just repeat those again?
I want everybody to make sure they've heard those.
(10:12):
Yeah.
50% of women think about don't apply for a raise
or promotion because of menopause symptoms.
25% of women think about leaving their jobs because
of them.
And 10% actually do leave their jobs because of
perimenopause and menopause symptoms.
Incredible.
Thank you for that research,
right?
We need to know those things.
I'm curious,
looking ahead,
(10:33):
what changes do you hope to see both in how the
medical knowledge about menopause is created and
then how it's shared with the people who need it
the most?
It's a hard thing to argue that a lot of time in
medical school will ever be spent on this.
You know,
theoretically,
we would like all doctors to be trained on how to
(10:54):
manage these types of symptoms.
The truth is it's probably not going to happen.
And,
you know,
the reality is there's a lot to teach in medical
school and you have a lot to teach doctors.
I think I go at it from a different perspective.
I think women need to demand better care.
And I think the market has to solve it for them.
I mean,
in general,
markets evolve when there is a need and there's
(11:17):
someone to pay for the service.
And I believe that we we can't count on,
you know,
medical schools teaching this.
We can't count on the government doing this.
Like it's going to be market forces that actually
solve this because women are going to say 'I
deserve better care' and they're going to.
(11:44):
When you think about the women who come to MIDI,
what do their experiences tell you about what's not
working and in how we talk about it and treat
women's health at midlife?
And then what do they get when they come to MIDI
in that way?
So what do their experiences tell us when they
walk in?
You know,
what are you learning?
You're probably learning a lot about how we are
(12:06):
traditionally teaching and talking about it,
right,
from these women that come in.
So mostly in our system,
you know,
we have a sick care system.
What we don't do as well as we should with people
who say they're not feeling good or they're not
(12:29):
feeling right and you don't have a diagnosis.
And for those women,
they're usually just told, 'You're fine.'It's just
fine.
It's a normal sign of aging.
You're fine.
And,
you know,
I joke all the time that like when your eyesight
goes,
they don't say, 'OK,
you're fine.' Right.
They give you glasses.
I think that historically we have just been
dismissed as,
(12:50):
you know,
those things they don't they don't create a
surgery.
You know,
you know,
they're willing to do a hysterectomy.
You make a lot of money on a hysterectomy.
You don't make a lot of money treating hot
flashes,
and so the time is not allocated there.
(13:27):
Right?
We can just give you time on telehealth; you get
to have that conversation with me to understand
your physical symptoms and to take care of them,
that's it.
It's a gift actually to women,
to be able to,
what they tell us every day is someone listened to
me.
They cared about me.
They took care of me.
(13:48):
They listened to my symptoms.
They took them seriously.
And so,
a lot of what we're doing is giving them the gift
of time and the gift of someone who understands
and takes them seriously.
And then we have trained all of our providers to
understand women's bodies and understand what are
the solutions that women can try.
And one of the biggest things is this is a very
(14:08):
iterative process.
It is not a one-size-fits-all.
It's try one thing,
try another thing,
try another thing until you start feeling better.
And our providers are trained to do that.
It's a different kind of care than our current
medical system is equipped to provide.
Right,
because in traditional healthcare,
the flow of knowledge or knowing stays with that
(14:29):
specialist or physician.
And I'd love to hear more,
because I know that you work and I think many
ways empower nurse practitioners to do that work
and to help change that.
I'd love to hear some more about that.
Yeah.
So we train nurse practitioners to offer this care.
I mean,
I think nurse practitioners are amazing at providing
(14:51):
care,
quite honestly.
They listen,
they are trained to relate to patients.
So they are the perfect people who should and can
be providing this care.
So we have experts in all aspects of women's
health who train the nurse practitioners to offer
the care,
and then they are able to then offer it.
(15:11):
So basically,
we have physician supervisors,
and we have physician trainers,
and then all the care is actually delivered by the
nurse practitioners.
So,
I'm curious how the nurse practitioners come to
you,
right?
So,
they're probably out in the field already.
Why do the nurse practitioners come to you?
What is it that as you're recruiting them,
(15:33):
what are they seeing differently or doing
differently?
Or how does this change their experience in their
profession?
Well,
we take them very seriously.
We think they're fundamental to offering good care
to women.
And so our job is to offer them really good jobs.
And it's also to offer them flexible jobs so we
can give them some flexibility.
But also we treat them like professionals.
(15:54):
And they don't always get that in other parts of.
Their work life.
Are you able to also be doing some of your own,
I don't know if we want to call it research,
but information gathering because of the work that
you do?
We are.
We are going to have the biggest repository of
information on midlife women and their care
(16:14):
concerns.
And so our goal is to eventually do more research
based on that data.
Do you have any even sort of anecdotal findings
that you've seen thus far?
I mean,
a lot of what we're seeing is that we save the
system a lot of money.
The average woman,
when they go to a PCP,
to their primary care doctor,
25% of them are referred to a specialist.
(16:37):
But with us,
only 3% are referred to a specialist because we're
able to take care of so many other things.
And then,
you know,
when we think,
for example,
about UTIs,
a lot of women go on antibiotics to take care of
them,
but all you need is vaginal estrogen.
And so we're able to prevent UTIs,
and we're seeing that.
We're seeing that we're preventing emergency room
visits because we know when someone needs to go to
(16:59):
the emergency room and when they don't.
We are seeing that we're significantly reducing
healthcare costs by using MIDI rather than going
and relying on the traditional healthcare system.
Can you say a little bit more?
I mean,
people understand telemedicine,
right?
Since COVID,
we've all experienced it in some way.
But it seems that you have really built a model
of care on this.
(17:20):
And it would be really interesting for folks to
hear about that.
What we realized is that we should offer
insurance-covered healthcare using the internet and
telehealth.
And that hadn't really been done before.
Mostly it was cash pay and with subscription
models.
And so we decided not to follow a subscription
model,
we decided to offer insurance-covered care to women.
(17:43):
So that was really our big differentiator.
What drew you to women's health?
I mean,
I know you've been involved in other health-related
startups,
but what drew you personally to this and to create
this platform focused specifically on this stage of
life for women?
(18:20):
And what are some of the stories that you've heard
so far from women?
When you're talking about its success today thus
far,
what are you hearing?
I will read some to you.
I think that's better than me saying.
Excellent.
Yes,
of course.
So I liked this one that came in the other day.
(18:41):
I want you to know that I just enjoyed sex with
my husband for the first time in five years.
I cannot tell you how appreciative I am for your
saving my marriage and my mental well-being.
That came in this morning.
Love that.
But I get these all day.
I mean,
it's really the most fun part of my job is
(19:02):
getting,
all of these testimonials of people saying how much
of an impact.
Here we go.
"This morning I saw a patient who was bouncing up
and down with excitement and said, 'I finally feel
like an actual human being again,
and not just a slave to my menopause symptoms."
Here's another one.
(19:23):
Direct quote.
"The seething rage monster is back in the box.
She says, 'thank you.'" Here's another.
"It's been life-changing.
It's helped all of my symptoms.
I feel normal again.
" Here we go.
"This woman when she came to me,
could not even take a shower by herself because of
(19:44):
extreme fatigue,
lightheadedness,
and sadness that she'd been dealing with for six
years.
She thanked me that she can now take a shower and
is feeling much better.
" These come in,
I mean,
they literally come in all day long.
One woman said that in the last 50 years of life,
this is honestly the best care she has ever
received as a woman.
(20:04):
Oh,
this one just came in.
"God bless MIDI and everyone who works there.
I say this now every single day.
I've been sleeping for the first time in years."
Thank you so much for sharing those.
They're remarkable.
And in some ways,
what you've done is so simple.
You've listened to the voices of women.
(20:25):
You've done the training.
You provide it.
You listen.
Right.
That's not like what we think of when we think of
advanced healthcare and all of the interventions and
medicines and tests that we need.
And I just think,
really remarkably,
I'll say that word again.
When I think about how you're providing access to
(20:50):
knowledge that has formerly not even been part of
what women have had access to.
And I also think it's so important to see,
you know,
we're talking about bodies,
right?
So we're talking about the embodied experience of
women and you're really showing and bringing out
how we learn and know from our bodies and how
(21:12):
absolutely,
you know,
essential that is and how your work is really
accelerating that.
So kudos,
kudos to you.
I would love to,
any kind of final comments that you would like to
share with us?
No,
you know,
I think,
you know,
your podcast is about education.
(21:32):
And what's really important is that women need to
educate themselves.
They need to know that they have these symptoms.
They need to know that most women in their 40s or
30s are going to have menopause symptoms,
that all women go through menopause.
Everyone.
We don't have babies,
but we do all go through menopause.
(21:53):
If you are feeling off,
you should not accept the status quo and you
should demand getting better care.
And I feel like what I was saying to you earlier,
that,
you know,
we finally have care because women are demanding
it.
They're saying this is not okay.
And I think it's really important that women start
saying that.
And if you're not feeling right,
if things are changing,
it doesn't matter if someone says to you, 'You're
(22:15):
not in perimenopause yet.' You are peri just means
pre.
You can get fixed.
You don't have to say, 'Okay,
I'll wait until I feel really terrible and then
get care. 'That is what I suggest,
whether it's coming to MIDI Health or someplace
else.
If you're not feeling right,
make sure that you get taken care of and that you
get the right medication.
Joanna,
thank you so much for your time.
(22:36):
Your work is helping women feel seen,
heard,
and whole again,
not just through compassion,
but through an innovative model that reimagines what
accessible,
expert care can look like.
It's not just health care,
it's human care,
and it's long overdue.
Thank you,
Joanna.
(22:56):
Thank you,
everybody,
for listening to the show this week.
This has been Lisa Petrides with Educating to be
Human.
If you enjoy our show,
please rate and review us on Apple,
Spotify,
or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
You can access our show notes for links and
information on our guests.
And don't forget to follow us on Instagram, @
(23:17):
BlueSky,
at Edu2BeHuman.
That is E-D-U to be human.
This podcast was created by Lisa Petrides and
produced by Helene Theros.
Educating to Be Human is recorded by Nathan Sherman
and edited by Ty Mayer with music by Orestis
Koletsos.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.