August 26, 2024 • 40 mins
What if the future of women's health lay in the hands of innovative technology? Join us for a groundbreaking discussion with Dr. Brittany Barreto, a visionary in the Femtech industry, who transitioned from a geneticist to a pioneering entrepreneur. Discover her compelling journey and how glaring gaps in women's healthcare inspired her to advocate for Femtech, addressing everything from reproductive health to chronic conditions like migraines and heart issues.
Throughout the episode, we delve into the historical gender biases in scientific research and the critical shifts needed to prioritize women's health. With over 100 innovators pushing the boundaries, we explore various health verticals, including the crucial areas of mental health and chronic diseases. Dr. Barreto brings to light the disparities in maternal mortality rates, instances of medical gaslighting, and the ongoing battle for adequate funding, especially within institutions like the NIH. Her insights reveal the pressing need for more investment to bridge these gaps and foster groundbreaking discoveries in women's health.
In our final segment, we tackle the exciting advancements in menopause treatment and education, from adaptive bed sheets and innovative bracelets to new medications addressing symptoms like brain fog. Dr. Barreto emphasizes the importance of normalizing conversations around women's health, offering practical advice and advocating for open dialogue. Don't miss her invaluable insights and a sneak peek into her upcoming book "Unlocking Women's Health." Stay connected with us for more resources via our social media platforms and newsletters.
Every day Dr. Barreto dedicates her work to advancing women’s health by equipping founders, investing in innovative ideas, and engaging key stakeholders to create better healthcare for women, females, and girls, an industry known as FemTech. She is the Founder and Chief Innovation Officer of FemHealth Insights, Host of the FemTech Focus Podcast, Co-Founder of Coyote Ventures, Advisory Board Member for Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Indiana University, and an unconventional scientist, entrepreneur, and consultant that proves that anything is possible with hard work and heart.
She hosts the #1 femtech podcast, FemTech Focus, co-founded an early-stage femtech investment firm, Coyote Ventures, and founded FemHealth Insights, a boutique consulting firm with a market research software tool specializing in women's health innovation. She is considered the voice of femtech and is a 3x recipient of Top Leaders in FemTech. Dr. Barreto has served on women’s health committees with Gates Foundation, NIH, and HLTH. She is a FemTech Forbes contributor and hosts a tech column in HealthyWomen magazine. She is invited internationally to speak on the past, present, and future of women’s health innovation. She is revered by pharma, retail, and private equity as the go-to expert on all things femhealth and femtech.
Website:
https://www.drbrittanybarreto.com
Buy her book, "Unlocking Women’s Health: FemTech and the Quest for Gender Equity” here.
LINKS:
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LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/midovia
Email Us: info@midovia.com
MiDOViA is dedicated to changing the narrative about menopause by educating, raising awareness & supporting women in this stage of life, both at home and in the workplace. Visit midovia.com to learn more.
The information, including but not limited to, text, graphics, images & other material contained on this website are for informational purposes only. No material on this site is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagn
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Medovia Menopause Podcast, your
trusted source forevidence-based, science-backed
information related to menopause.
Medovia is dedicated tochanging the narrative about
menopause by educating, raisingawareness and supporting women
in this stage of life, both athome and in the workplace.
(00:21):
Visit medoviacom to learn morehome and in the workplace.
Visit Medoviacom to learn more.
I'm one of your hosts, aprilHaberman, and I'm joined by Kim
Hart.
We're co-founders of Medovia,certified health coaches,
registered yoga teachers andmidlife mamas specializing in
menopause.
You're listening to anotherepisode of our podcast, where we
(00:43):
offer expert guidance for themost transformative stage of
life, bringing you realconversations, education and
resources to help you overcomechallenges and reach your full
potential through midlife.
Join us and our special guestseach episode as we bring vibrant
, fun and truthful conversationand let us help you have a
(01:07):
deeper understanding ofmenopause.
Hi everyone.
Today we have Brittany Barretoon the show.
Dr Barreto dedicates her work toadvancing women's health by
equipping founders, investing ininnovative ideas and engaging
key stakeholders to createbetter healthcare for women,
females and girls an industryknown as Femtech.
(01:29):
She's the founder and chiefinnovation officer of Fem Health
Insights.
Host of the Femtech Focuspodcast.
Co-founder of Coyote Venturesadvisory board.
Member for Johnson Center forEntrepreneurship and Innovation
at Indiana University and anunconventional scientist,
entrepreneur and consultant thatproves that anything is
(01:53):
possible with hard work andheart.
She is considered the voice ofFemtech and is a three-time
recipient of top leaders inFemtech.
Dr Barreto has served onwomen's health committees with
Gates Foundation, nih and HLTH.
She is a femtech Forbescontributor and hosts a tech
(02:16):
column in Healthy Woman Magazine.
She's invited internationallyto speak on the past, present
and future of women's healthinnovation.
Dr Barreto is revered by pharma, retail and private equity as
the go-to expert on all thingsfem health and fem tech.
We know you are absolutelygoing to love this episode,
(02:39):
hello everybody.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Today we have our friend, dr Brittany Barreto.
Welcome to the podcast,brittany.
Thanks for having me.
We're thrilled to have you.
And you know what?
You had us on your firstLinkedIn Live eight or nine
months ago and I rewatched it inpreparation for this
conversation and I had the worsttechnical problems.
I don't know if you guysremember, but I was like, guys,
(03:02):
I can't hear, I can't talk, um,and after that I got like a new
microphone and a different setupand all those things.
So, uh, thanks for your patience.
You and um April recovered sowell from that and when I was
watching it, I'm like you guys,you guys like I stood in awe as
I was rewatching it again.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
We were master performers right when somebody
kept rolling and yeah, that'swhat they say, right?
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Just keep going, just keep going.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
And you kept going like hey, kim, are you here?
Anyway, we love the work thatyou're doing, advancing female
women, girls, health andwellness through innovation, and
we've learned so much byfollowing your work, and so
thank you for leading that.
You're kind of known as thevoice of Femtech, and there's so
(03:51):
many great things that you'redoing.
I'd love to hear how you gotinto this.
What is Femtech, what yourbackground is?
Just kind of, how did you getto here?
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Wow, I could talk the rest of our time just with
those three questions, but letme first define what femtech is
for the listeners who haven'theard the term.
Femtech.
Essentially it's like cleantech for climate change
technology, or it's like ag techfor agricultural, but this time
it's female tech, so it'ssolutions to conditions that
(04:22):
solely, disproportionately ordifferently affecting females,
and so what I mean by that isthat it's not just boobs and
tubes, as I like to say, it'snot just breastfeeding and
fertility and menstruation, it'salso migraines that
disproportionately affect women,or autoimmune diseases or heart
disease.
So heart disease actuallydisproportionately affects men,
(04:44):
but the way that heart diseaseso heart disease actually
disproportionately affects men.
But the way that heart diseasemanifests in a female heart is
very different than a man'sheart, and so that's the
differently part.
And if we don't consider sexand gender from our basic
scientific understanding ofdisease all the way through, how
does a woman metabolize thisdrug versus a man?
Women may not be getting theright dosage of medication based
(05:06):
on their hormones or their lifestage, et cetera.
And so Femtech is this idea.
Again, you could think about itlike it's gynecology in the tech
world, and I started in thisindustry over five years ago so
about 2018, when I was workingat an investment firm and I
started to meet women's healthcompanies.
(05:26):
And you know, I was meetingwith startups every single day
and they were doing incrediblework, like really futuristic,
awesome life-saving technologies.
But whenever I met a women'shealth company, the thing that
they were telling me was soshocking, you know.
They were saying things likewomen are waiting seven years
for endometriosis diagnosis andI was like wait, why?
(05:48):
And they're like, well, becausea diagnostic test doesn't exist
yet.
And I'd be like, well, why?
Right, like I just kept feelinglike well know their vaginas
melting shut after radiationtreatment of cervical cancer.
I was like wait, what Right?
(06:08):
So I just kept being shocked.
As a female scientist, feminist.
So I have a PhD in genetics.
I'm a serial entrepreneur.
My first startup was a DNAbased dating app.
That's a whole nother episode,you know.
So I was working in tech,working in venture, investing in
startups, and yet I had no ideahow bad women's health was, and
(06:33):
I think that's actually part ofthe issue is that we don't even
realize how.
You know, not studied, we arefrom the basic benchtop science
all the way through FDAapprovals and so, long story
short, I got really inspired.
I said I want to work in thisindustry, and I started to
Google femtech and I couldn'tfind anything.
(06:55):
This is in 2018.
There wasn't a podcast, therewasn't a book, there wasn't a
course, there wasn'taccelerators there.
You know, I couldn't find alist of femtech companies.
People were speculating howmany there might be, and I
realized at that point that ourindustry had a name femtech
which, by the way, I did notknow had only been coined two
(07:15):
years earlier, 2016.
The founder of clue, the periodtracking app, ida Tin she's the
one who first said it in 2016,and at that point I realized oh
wow, this name's only two yearsold, there's no infrastructure
here, there's no community, andthat's what I've dedicated my
life to the last five years isbuilding that, and so I started
it with a podcast in thepandemic, because what's a girl
(07:37):
to do in lockdown but start apodcast?
And that podcast is still goingon today.
You can listen to it on anystreaming service.
It's called Femtech Focus andwe have over 250 episodes on
there.
I've actually used that towrite a book that's coming out
this fall called UnlockingWomen's Health.
We'll be available on Amazon bythe end of September of 2024.
(07:58):
We have the largest virtualcommunity group of women's
health founders so they can findeach other, find community,
find co-founders, find employees, get inspired, get funding.
I've co-founded an investmentfirm to invest in Femtech.
So I have done a bunch of stuffthe last five years, but at the
(08:18):
end of the day, it's all sothat we can raise awareness for
the need for sex and gender tobe considered in healthcare, but
also to foster a safeenvironment with a lot of
resources for these incrediblefounders that are solving issues
that women need solved.
So that's my answer to yourquestions there.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
You don't sound very excited about it, so I'm sort so
disappointed at that.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
No, I love that there's a space.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
There's a gap and it needs to be filled and we we've,
like I said, we've learned aton from you as we've been
trying to grow Medovia and allof the resources that you have.
Talk a little bit more aboutyour book what what's what is
unlocking health, femtech andthe quest for gender equality.
What, what is in the book andkind of what's what is Unlocking
Health, femtech and the Questfor Gender Equality.
(09:06):
What, what is in the book andkind of what's the premise
behind it?
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Why did you write it?
Yeah, why a book?
Speaker 3 (09:12):
right.
Well, unlocking Women's Health,femtech and the Quest for
Gender Equity essentially isfilling in the gap of a book.
So, you know, some people go toTikTok to learn, some people go
to a podcast to learn, but youknow, even myself, I love to
read a good book and read andlearn about something, and so
this is a book for people notjust in femtech.
(09:33):
I did write it in a way thateveryday women who are
interested in this industry canread it.
What the book does is it kicksoff with an introduction to what
is femtech, and I discuss thehistory of, you know, scientists
assuming that if they includedfemale animal models or females
in clinical trials, then itwould mess up their data.
And there was some goodintention there, right, there
(09:53):
was some scientific reasoningbehind it.
It wasn't just that they didn'tlike women, you know.
But what we have seen is thatthat led to a male-based
healthcare system withmale-based medicines, and so I
kind of talk about the historyand the turning point where we
now realize, oopsies, we need toinclude females.
They are not small men.
(10:15):
We need to actually researchthem, and so I talk about this
history, this transition, andthen where we're at today.
There's this industry calledfemtech.
Here's how many companies arein the space, here's what
they're working on.
And the rest of the bookhighlights over 100 innovators
in women's health, and they arecategorized, each chapter, by a
women's health vertical.
So you have a chapter on mentalhealth, chronic conditions and
(10:37):
it's about, you know, hematology, the study of blood.
It's about brains and hearts andgut health history book sooner
(11:05):
rather than later, and that thethings in the book that I talk
about in terms of you knowmaternal mortality and black
women dying more often thanwhite women, or you know women
having to wait, on average, fiveyears longer for the same
diagnosis than men because ofmedical gaslighting, women not
being believed Right.
I hope that in a very shorttimeline, my book becomes
shocking to people about how badthings were.
(11:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
To inspire them to do better, right?
Yes, that's the whole goal.
That's the whole goal, yeah,yeah, let's do better going
forward, and your book will beavailable in September.
So we'll link all of that inthe show notes as well.
And that's exciting.
I'm wondering.
I have two questions for you.
Exciting, I'm wondering.
I have two questions for you.
I'm wondering because of whereyou sit.
You see, you have this vantagepoint that most of us don't have
(11:51):
.
You can see what's on thehorizon.
You can see the gaps in femtech.
I'm curious to know what you'remost excited about as you look
at the developments in thisfield.
And then the second part ofthat is where do we still need
work?
So what are we excited aboutthat is really on the forefront,
and then, where do we need work?
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Well, as a scientist, I am going to say that one of
the things I'm most excitedabout is that we're really just
starting to study women andstarting to learn things.
Right.
We just discovered last year2023, what was the actual
hormone that's causing nauseaduring pregnancy, right?
And it's like it was just thatno one had studied it right and
(12:36):
we just were like well, womenare nauseous when they're
pregnant, that's morningsickness, that's just how it
happens.
And now somebody, finally, waslike we should like what causes
that and why they researched it.
They found, oh, it's this oneelevated hormone.
And then, when it's elevatedpast this threshold, that's when
women get it.
(12:59):
And it's like, okay, well, nowwe could potentially make a drug
or a supplement or a diet orsomething you know, or at least
let women know you have veryelevated.
Wouldn't be surprised if youhave a lot of nausea.
And so I'm just really excitedabout the basic science.
I mean even menopause, right,like what is causing hot flashes
?
And oh, look at that, blackwomen have more hot flashes than
white women.
Why is that, biologically?
So I'm just really excited forus to have some basic scientific
(13:21):
knowledge, because that's whereinnovation starts.
It starts in the basicscientific research that then we
can say, huh, now that weunderstand how this actually
works, what if we intervenedwith this right and it doesn't
always have to be a drug, right,but it could be a vitamin, it
could be oh, this, you knowwhatever or even just a marker
that we can inform women aheadof time.
(13:43):
So much of women's health iswomen trying to convince doctors
that something is wrong, right?
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Why don't?
Speaker 3 (13:49):
we have doctors actually giving a heads up hey,
based on your hormone profile,it looks like you're going to be
entering menopause earlier thanmost women.
So when you start to experiencethese symptoms at 36, that's
actually what.
That is right, or whatever.
So that's what I'm reallyexcited about.
I think where we need to dobetter I mean this is kind of a
(14:10):
broader than just verticals ofwomen's health but it's funding.
You know we have a, we have ahuge issue in funding this.
So at the NIH so I'll speak, youknow, from the American funding
system, the NIH NationalInstitutes of Health there are
27 institutes, and so theinstitute we're most familiar
with is infectious disease, withDr Anthony Fauci.
(14:31):
Right, he became now I can kindof refer to that and people
know what I'm referring to interms of these institutes right,
these institutes are allocateda budget of funding that they
can then give out to grants asgrants to researchers.
Of the 27 institutes, there isno institute for women's health.
There's an institute for eyehealth, there's an institute for
(14:52):
addiction, and those are allgreat there is still no
institute for women's health.
In fact, there's an Institutefor child's health, children's
health, and there is an officeof women's health underneath
that, and so we, our health isdirectly linked to children's
health.
All right, now don't get mestarted on all the what I
believe in, sexism and you knowwhat I society is thinking of,
(15:15):
women's purpose, et cetera.
We'll put a pin in that, butwhat I'm going to get at here is
that an office of women'shealth under the Institute of
Children's Health.
They are not allocated anymoney to give out grants, and so
the amount of funding that'sactually been dedicated to
women's health is abysmal.
In fact, in 2020, the NIH onlydedicated 0.0001%, so that's
(15:39):
three zeros after that decimal1% to menopause research, and
menopause is not something thatis you know, oh, only you know.
10% of women get it.
It's like that's going to behalf of our lives.
You know if we can reach thatage and so and not even just age
, I mean if you have breastcancer in your thirties, you're
going to be menopause, right.
(16:00):
There's so many other ways thatyou're induced into it as well.
So when that like it, that's.
That's worse than a roundingerror.
Right, like that's not eventhat's a smudge on someone's
sheet that was dedicated tomenopause research.
So until we get that funding,then we can fund the research
and the science, and once wehave the science, then we can
(16:22):
create solutions around them.
And then the second you knowthey call it the valley of death
.
It's terrible.
I'd rather it be the valley ofbirth, which is investors.
So you know your venturecapitalists, your angels, people
who are predominantly whitemales, convincing them to invest
in women's health solutions,and we do see an improvement
(16:45):
over the last five years.
One of the things that ourcompany does is we do a lot of
market research.
Because I'm a big data sciencenerd junkie, I'm always like, ok
, well, we can't just like beangry, we need to report this,
right, we need to quantify.
Well, we can't just like beangry, we need to report this,
right, we need to quantify it sowe can measure it and improve
it.
One of the things we found isthat funding improves if you
(17:08):
have media around the problem,and so what we have found is
that if there is over 250 mediamentions of a condition like
menopause, the following year wewill see significantly higher
investments in startupsaddressing that.
And so I'm really yeah, weactually just that is not even
published yet.
That's coming out later thisyear in a report we're doing.
(17:30):
But to me it's like okay,convincing me that I still need
to be on my TikTok, I still needto do a podcast interview
because this is literally movingthe needle in investment.
Because these male investors hadnever heard about heavy
menstrual bleeding due tofibroids, they had never heard
of Hashimoto'sdisproportionately affecting
females, right.
So they figured that probablywasn't a big deal, probably
(17:53):
wasn't a big market, probablynot a problem for many people.
But when they see Oprah sayingmy menopause is out of control,
they're like, oh, this must be areal issue of Oprah suffering
from it.
And so, anyways, I'm reallypassionate, excited about that
as well.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
I think it's.
It's fascinating everythingthat you just said, and I know
that the majority of ourlisteners may not understand the
lack of, or that percentage of,vc funding.
Can you just share somestatistics with us just to put
it in perspective here?
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Sure.
So the statistic currently liesthat female founders if you're
a woman who started a startup,you only receive 2% of all
investment money that isallocated out.
So if an investor is allocatingout, you know, $100 million,
only 2 million of that 100million is going to female
(18:48):
started companies and there's alot of reasons and speculations
and research around that interms of why I also, you know
it's it's this whole beast.
It's this whole beast.
But something interesting andthis is actually part of the
research that we're going to bepublishing later this year is
there's this concept around whatfemale founders do do better if
(19:12):
they are in predominantlyfemale industries.
So, for example, if you have afemale founder in, you know
she's doing cardiology, a heart,you know device, she's creating
an artificial heart.
She compared to a white manwho's also creating artificial
heart, he's going to win out inthe funding.
But if it's a nail polishcompany, something that society
(19:34):
assumes as a female consumer,purchase, wow, if there's a
white male versus a female and Ido, and I am saying white
because we're not, let's noteven get into race Black
founders it's abysmal, right.
Like let's just just gender,okay, versus not even putting
race on the table or disabilityor accent or you know, sexuality
(19:56):
, like whatever Right right yeahthey.
If it's a nail polish company,the female is more likely to
fundraise because the investorsassume, oh, she knows that
industry.
But something interesting wesee in women's health is that
with that not with that paradigmexisting, we should see women's
health companies started bywomen fundraising a hell of a
(20:19):
lot more than men do.
Right, you would assume ourresearch does not show that our
research shows and it's been afeeling that we all have known,
but no one's been able toquantify it.
We're in again.
We're coming out.
I wasn't going to promote thisreport, but you know that's
coming out.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Yeah, yeah, I love it .
Is that Is?
Speaker 3 (20:36):
that the male founders are fundraising about
three times more than the femalefounders in women's health and
it is there's a lot of theoriesI have around it Really
interesting.
We're still digging into it,but essentially one of the I'll
bring up one of the things thatwe found is that if a female
founder is very advocacy focused, so she's like this is
(20:59):
unacceptable.
Women deserve equity inhealthcare.
Black women's lives matter.
The more loud she is we didsome natural language processing
using their LinkedIn posts themore she uses words around
advocacy, the less chance shehas of fundraising.
Wow.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
The less chance.
Wow, oh my gosh, I'm like Ineed to rewrite it.
There's so much you can unpackwith that.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
And we found out it's because investors perceive her
ambition as focusing more on thepurpose over the profits.
The investor assumes thisperson's so passionate about
this topic.
If it came down to it, they'dgive the test away for free If
it was up to them.
I rather invest in the male whoI know is in it for the money
(21:46):
which, by the way, we haveamazing male founders in femtech
.
So it's actually a bias alsoagainst them that that you're a
male founder in women's health,surely you're only in it for the
money, versus you're a malefounder in women's health,
surely you're only in it for themoney.
Yeah, versus, you're a malefounder in women's health,
because you appreciate women andhave a wife and a daughter and
like, think women matter.
Right, they're assuming, no,you must be in this for the
(22:07):
money, because that's what menwould be after.
So I'm going to invest in you.
It's really quite mind bogglingand you know, and it's all like
under, it's all subconscious,right, like investors are
generally great people who youknow are trying to do right.
But there's these unconscioussocietal things.
But once we shine light on it,we don't want to advocate in the
(22:28):
manner that you just mentioned.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
How can we do that?
What is the Well?
Speaker 3 (22:46):
so, in general, actually full circle here.
What we found is that those 250media articles like mentions,
like in Forbes or Times or CNNknow, cnn, the?
Once you pass 250 headlinestories about a condition, the
gender disparity actuallydisappears, yep, and so that is
(23:07):
actually the like, uh, the thesolution.
The solution is making women'shealth mainstream.
We need to have you knowbillboards has actual red liquid
on a pad.
You know we need to have subwayads that are saying you know,
vaginal dryness.
(23:27):
You know we need to haveFacebook allow advertisements
for at home breast exams.
You know self exams like?
Because currently those arecensored, those are considered
because we've sexualized thefemale body so much that even
when it comes to the health ofthe female body it's considered
sexual and so it's banned.
But you can see erectiledysfunction everywhere, right,
(23:47):
that's not an issue, not anissue at all.
And so, yeah, there's layer onlayer.
I think that's one of thereasons I love femtech so much,
because it tickles my science.
You know medical business somuch, because it tickles my
science, you know medicalbusiness.
But it also tickles my like,activist sociology, psychology,
(24:08):
like it's.
It's a, it's a vertical ofwomen, it's a vertical of
healthcare that depends so muchon the government, on religion,
on culture, right Like.
If you have, if you have atumor, it doesn't matter what
religion you are per mostlyright, tumor, it doesn't matter
what religion you are, mostlyright.
Or it doesn't matter Like,there's not a law in Alabama
that, oh, you have a tumor,sorry, you can't be treated here
, right Like but, women's health.
(24:29):
It's like based on yourgeolocation, your heritage or
ethnicity, like there's allthese other forces influencing
your what treatment you can get.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
I think that's one of the reasons we love being in
the menopause space, so muchbecause the people that are in
it are in it because they wantto advocate for women, because
they want to support women, andeveryone's bringing up
everyone's boat in this space.
And so Oprah has done us, asyou said, a huge favor.
But let's, let's shift for aminute and talk about menopause
and the innovation and menopause.
(24:59):
What do you see coming down,coming down in terms of research
there and products there?
What are companies doing tosupport menopause?
I know you have a whole chapter, so let's talk about, let's
talk about that a little bit, aswe're trying to educate women
on how they need to advocate forthemselves in the menopause
space.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
Yeah, so I the biggest push I see in the
menopause space is telehealthservices for hormone monitoring,
hormone replacement treatment,et cetera.
And so it's essentially medicalzoom right and not to put them
down, but it's it's specificallymedical zoom with menopause
experts and so that women canusually a lot of times they are
(25:39):
getting it through theiremployer right, where the
employer is paying a fee forthis site that the woman can
then, you know, participate inget treatment through.
So that's actually the biggestvertical I see.
And you know it's um, it'snothing, it's not that I don't
want to call it not novel, likeit's not, not innovative.
It is innovative but it isessentially disrupting the
(26:01):
access that women didn't havepreviously to menopause
treatment and education.
So we're we're innovating onthat access, so we're bringing
it forefront.
We're saying here's somethingavailable to you conveniently to
get you know education andtreatment for your menopause
symptoms.
That's the biggest push I see.
The things that I'm reallyexcited about is the other
solutions that are kind of likewhoa, that could really be game
(26:24):
changer.
You know, we've seen companiesthat are creating bed sheets
that can sense when you'rehaving a hot flash and change
the temperature of the sheetsand have airflow under them.
We see bracelets like EmberLabs is.
It uses certain likewavelengths that interfere with
your parasympathetic nervoussystem, which is what is causing
(26:47):
your hot flashes, so it's likea bracelet that blocks hot
flashes.
You know, we're seeing just newdrugs come to market, whether
that be through Estella's.
They have a new hot flash drugand you know what I keep saying.
Hot flash and that is somethingI think we need improving on is
there are 34 symptoms ofmenopause and right now we're
(27:08):
really focused on the hot flashone.
But there's another companyit's still in clinical trial,
still early developmentestrogenics, and it's supposed
to be a therapeutic to help withbrain fog, specifically brain
fog caused by the drop inestrogen.
So, you know I'm really excitedabout things like that.
I actually heard a woman talk ata conference the other week and
(27:29):
she, you know, shared thatshe's, you know, experiencing
menopause symptoms and she callsit mental pause because her
biggest symptom is like andshe's this powerful speaker so I
could really see how it reallywas affecting her life and why
she wanted to even bring it upwas because she was this
powerhouse keynote like inspireus all, and she'd be in the
middle of a sentence and be likeI don't know what I was about
(27:51):
to say.
Actually, you know, and I'mlike God, help that woman.
It has to be our power, you know, like taking a track athlete
and being like oh, by the way,now you have flat feet you know,
it's like help them.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
This is their superpower.
It's so funny that you say thatbecause it's one of it was my.
It's is my major symptom thatI'm dealing with and whenever I
have podcasts I have to plan tomake sure that my hormone
replacement therapy is ready togo and full bore and new and
fresh, because I know that if Iget to a point in the life cycle
(28:27):
of the hormone therapy that I'musing that there will be times
where I cannot think of a word.
I couldn't think of hammockyesterday.
I'm like yeah, that word yeah.
Oh it's so frustrating.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
Well, you know, I had a COVID a few months ago and I
got the brain fog symptom and Ithe whole time I was like is
this menopause?
Not like that?
Not that I'm going, but like isthis what it's like?
Is this what it's like?
Because I'm a communicator too,you know, like all day long I'm
giving interviews and talking.
So I'm like, oh my gosh.
So yeah, hopefully they figurethat out in the next, you know.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Believe me, and we're all using our voices for that
change.
That's another reason why welove being in this space,
because we know that maybe wewon't see the results of what we
do in our lifetime, but we knowthat then we're making change
for the better.
I mean the women who Behind us,right?
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (29:25):
the women who fought for women to have bank accounts
right Like, may not have seenwomen's wealth when they did
that, but now women have bankaccounts that are, you know,
credit cards, are able to sign amortgage.
You know, like the financialfreedom of women has.
You know, I'm I'm a millennial,33 year old woman and there's
so much talk.
I'm also childless and you know, and I don't know if I'll have
(29:49):
children or not, but the factthat I have an option that I'm
even sitting back being like I'mnot sure who knows what will
happen, it's like never inhistory have women been given
the space to even consider it.
You know it's either you'rehaving children and you want to
have children, and even if youdon't think you will, once
you're pregnant you'll want itor, oh, you're infertile, so
(30:14):
like the only option to bechildless as a woman was to be a
broken woman, right, thatcouldn't do it, versus one that
had a choice over it.
So, anyways, there's a lot of,and I think and why am I
bringing that up?
I attribute it back to thefinancial freedom of women is
that we have that, these choicesnow that say, hey, I have my
own house, or I have this, or Ihave that and I have this job,
(30:35):
and that's not really fitting inmy story.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
It's empowering it's usually empowering and it'll be
really interesting to see thenext 10, 20 years what happens
there are.
There's so much that we couldtalk to you about this morning
You're like um, how long is thispodcast?
Because we have so much that wecould talk about.
Truly, I've got this list overhere and I'm like I know, know,
(30:57):
or you want to share, just anencouragement to talk about
women's health in your everydaylife.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
You know, if you are walking with the tampon to the
bathroom, don't put it in yoursleeve.
You know, and that noteverybody is courageous enough
to do that.
But if you are somebody who hasa little bit of umph in you,
you know who's willing to have abumper sticker that says
reproductive rights matter.
You know like, and you don'tneed to say I love abortion,
right, but you know, if youcould just, you know, call it a
(31:36):
vulva versus a coochie you know,using the right words for
things you know, or you know forkids.
You know telling them if this isyour arm, that's your penis
right and like people aren'tsupposed to touch your penis or
you know, like, and then youmove on right, but making these
names or making this mysteryaround it, causing shame and
(31:57):
discomfort, but also like as anadult.
If there are men listening tothis, you are the person I'm
really, really speaking to,because I need you to be
bringing up in your male friendgroups about your wife's, you
know, menopause symptoms and howthat's affecting you, and
providing safe space for othermen to open up about that
experience for them too, or beable to ask questions.
(32:17):
You would not believe, based onwho I am and what I do, how
many men approach me and theyhave really basic questions and
they're like I don't know who,to ask.
I really don't know who to ask,Like how many tampons do you use
a day?
Like I really don't know Right,Like and, and they are really
looking for a safe person to asktoo.
That won't be ashamed.
(32:37):
And you know, obviously I'm anangry feminist, but, like in
these moments, I'm, I'm no, I'mnot an angry feminist, I'm just
a teacher who's able to say youknow four to five you know
versus one, or you know, or.
And right now, with all thistalk about abortion, I have men
genuinely asking, or you know,saying well, do women use
(32:58):
abortion as contraception?
And I was like absolutely not.
There are not women who are atthe abortion clinic once a month
to just get their womb emptied,like it's not.
And then you know what?
I share my experience withabortion.
I tell them what it was likeand they're like Whoa, really, I
didn't you know.
(33:18):
And then, when they have afirsthand account, they're like,
damn, yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
I can't see a woman choosing to go through that
every month you know and it'slike, yeah, but they just need
that information.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
So, yeah, that's my last big call to action is the
more mainstream we can make this.
Hopefully we can have, like Isaid, you know, a subway
advertisement that actually saysthe word vulva, without you
know people being like offendedand emails that come right.
Yes, yeah so.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
Brittany, where can people find you?
Speaker 3 (33:45):
So you can find me on social media.
I'm Dr Brittany Barreto, drBrittany Barreto.
I'm on TikTok, I'm on Instagram, facebook, linkedin, so
whichever vertical you're into,I'm on there, and then listen to
the podcast Femtech Focus,spotify, apple, wherever you
stream, also on YouTube, andthen the book will be on Amazon
(34:06):
at the end of September.
Unlocking Women's Health.
That's fantastic, can we?
Speaker 1 (34:09):
pre-order that book right now, or do we need to wait
until September?
The pre-order that book rightnow, or do we need to wait until
September?
Speaker 3 (34:15):
The pre-order link is coming soon.
I don't have an exact date.
I know for sure though it'll beavailable at the end of
September.
But if you follow me on socialmedia, obviously I'll be
promoting the heck out of it.
If you're interested in more inlike the business of Femtech
what I was talking about in thebeginning with investing and
startups you can also subscribeto our newsletter that's Fem
(34:36):
Health Insights.
That's my consulting firm, so Iconsult pharma and governments
and large companies on theirwomen's health strategy.
So we have a really coolnewsletter we put out every week
with, like, the main news youneed to know.
But that's really for if you'reinterested in kind of the
business side of it, it'sFemHealth Insights.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
It's all fascinating it really is.
And, listeners, we'll put thoselinks in our show notes, but
we'll also highlight your bookin September in our newsletter.
So you can subscribe atMedoviacom and we'll provide
that link for you.
Make it nice and easy Before weleave.
We always do rapid fire, sowe're excited to get to know you
(35:14):
a little bit better.
So let's just dive into somefun stuff.
Do you prefer and I think Iknow the answer to this because
of the industry you're in- Doyou prefer texting or calling
Texting.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
Is that the answer?
Speaker 3 (35:31):
you thought I would say I'm actually a really big
fan of voice memos as well.
I do a lot of I'm on mycomputer all day and so, like
when I'm walking my dogs, I'drather send you a voice memo.
Oh my gosh, you are.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
We do that back and forth April walks in the morning
and I walk at night and wevoice text each other the whole
time, cause do our best thinkingthen I can't see anything
anymore without my glasses and Iwear those on my walk, so so do
you prefer a restaurant orpreparing your own meal?
Speaker 3 (36:04):
oh, I do love cooking , but um, I'll say restaurant
like somebody's, I reallybecause I love like cultural,
like Indian food and sushi andstuff that I may not be as
nearly as good as thoserestaurant owners are yeah, I
love that too.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
Okay, so how about reading a good book or binging
your favorite show?
Speaker 2 (36:29):
I'd say a book, book, yeah yeah, and would the book
be an actual book or a Kindlebook?
Speaker 3 (36:35):
Actual book.
I'm a this is still, you know,I'm um, I don't know if on the
spectrum of millennial, if I'm alate or early, but I still love
a good highlighter, cause youknow what I really love
self-help books.
I like to learn, and so I'malways writing notes and I'm
highlighting and stuff.
But I did just read a fictionbook which I was like good for
you, brit, and it was like youknow, listen to this.
(37:00):
The book was called Lessons inChemistry and it's about a book.
It's about this female scientistin like the 1960s so it's
totally up my alley.
But that was my good lastfiction book and I binged that.
Good for you.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
Well, okay.
Our last question is what's thebest piece of advice you've
ever received?
Speaker 3 (37:27):
So I always used to say I had an academic advisor
who said share the glory, theglory grows, and I absolutely
believe in that.
You know, when something goodhappens, give credit to everyone
, even the smallest ounce ofeffort they put into it.
And then also, though, as I'veaged and matured, I also
(37:48):
realized, as a female leader, Ineed to own my space, like if I
freaking did it, I freaking didit, you know and to like own my
space, right, and there's almostthis like um melting of
scientific paradigms that I'vehad to get rid of.
So like I have a PhD in genetics.
A PhD essentially means thatthey are just going to humble
the heck out of you to the pointthat you're going to question
(38:10):
everything.
And as a scientist, you should.
You shouldn't be so egotisticalthat you're like I know that
this is the answer, right, youshould always be questioning it,
but it almost goes too far.
I meet other PhDs that are likethis too, where they're like so
smart and yet the whole timethey're like I'm just not sure
if I'm qualified.
I'm like so overqualified so Ialmost want to make like an
(38:32):
asterisk on.
My like biggest life lesson wasshare the glory, the glory
grows.
Asterisk, if you did it ownyour space you're awesome.
Speaker 1 (38:40):
Yeah, I like both of those.
You're right, let's lift otherpeople up, let's give credit
where credits do.
But you're right, own it, ownit.
Speaker 2 (38:47):
And pat yourself on the back right.
Speaker 1 (38:49):
Yeah, it's great advice.
Well, we loved having you onthe show.
We cannot wait for your book.
I know our listeners are goingto find you all over the place,
but let's have you back on.
Let's talk about some of theother topics that we didn't have
time to discuss, but until then, everyone go out and find joy
in the journey.
It's been a treat.
(39:09):
Thanks, brittany.
Bye everyone in the journey.
It's been a treat.
Thanks, brittany.
Bye everyone.
Thank you for listening to theMedovia Menopause Podcast.
If you enjoyed today's show,please give it a thumbs up,
subscribe for future episodes,leave a review and share this
episode with a friend.
There are more than 50 millionwomen in the USS who are
(39:31):
navigating the menopausetransition.
The situation is compounded bythe presence of stigma, shame
and secrecy surroundingmenopause, posing significant
challenges and disruptions inwomen's personal and
professional spheres.
Medovia is out to change thenarrative.
Learn more at medoviacom.
(39:52):
That's M-I-D-O-V-I-A dot com.
Welcome to the Medovia Menopause Podcast, your
trusted source forevidence-based, science-backed
information related to menopause.
Medovia is dedicated tochanging the narrative about
menopause by educating, raisingawareness and supporting women
in this stage of life, both athome and in the workplace.
(00:21):
Visit medoviacom to learn morehome and in the workplace.
Visit Medoviacom to learn more.
I'm one of your hosts, aprilHaberman, and I'm joined by Kim
Hart.
We're co-founders of Medovia,certified health coaches,
registered yoga teachers andmidlife mamas specializing in
menopause.
You're listening to anotherepisode of our podcast, where we
(00:43):
offer expert guidance for themost transformative stage of
life, bringing you realconversations, education and
resources to help you overcomechallenges and reach your full
potential through midlife.
Join us and our special guestseach episode as we bring vibrant
, fun and truthful conversationand let us help you have a
(01:07):
deeper understanding ofmenopause.
Hi everyone.
Today we have Brittany Barretoon the show.
Dr Barreto dedicates her work toadvancing women's health by
equipping founders, investing ininnovative ideas and engaging
key stakeholders to createbetter healthcare for women,
females and girls an industryknown as Femtech.
(01:29):
She's the founder and chiefinnovation officer of Fem Health
Insights.
Host of the Femtech Focuspodcast.
Co-founder of Coyote Venturesadvisory board.
Member for Johnson Center forEntrepreneurship and Innovation
at Indiana University and anunconventional scientist,
entrepreneur and consultant thatproves that anything is
(01:53):
possible with hard work andheart.
She is considered the voice ofFemtech and is a three-time
recipient of top leaders inFemtech.
Dr Barreto has served onwomen's health committees with
Gates Foundation, nih and HLTH.
She is a femtech Forbescontributor and hosts a tech
(02:16):
column in Healthy Woman Magazine.
She's invited internationallyto speak on the past, present
and future of women's healthinnovation.
Dr Barreto is revered by pharma, retail and private equity as
the go-to expert on all thingsfem health and fem tech.
We know you are absolutelygoing to love this episode,
(02:39):
hello everybody.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Today we have our friend, dr Brittany Barreto.
Welcome to the podcast,brittany.
Thanks for having me.
We're thrilled to have you.
And you know what?
You had us on your firstLinkedIn Live eight or nine
months ago and I rewatched it inpreparation for this
conversation and I had the worsttechnical problems.
I don't know if you guysremember, but I was like, guys,
(03:02):
I can't hear, I can't talk, um,and after that I got like a new
microphone and a different setupand all those things.
So, uh, thanks for your patience.
You and um April recovered sowell from that and when I was
watching it, I'm like you guys,you guys like I stood in awe as
I was rewatching it again.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
We were master performers right when somebody
kept rolling and yeah, that'swhat they say, right?
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Just keep going, just keep going.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
And you kept going like hey, kim, are you here?
Anyway, we love the work thatyou're doing, advancing female
women, girls, health andwellness through innovation, and
we've learned so much byfollowing your work, and so
thank you for leading that.
You're kind of known as thevoice of Femtech, and there's so
(03:51):
many great things that you'redoing.
I'd love to hear how you gotinto this.
What is Femtech, what yourbackground is?
Just kind of, how did you getto here?
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Wow, I could talk the rest of our time just with
those three questions, but letme first define what femtech is
for the listeners who haven'theard the term.
Femtech.
Essentially it's like cleantech for climate change
technology, or it's like ag techfor agricultural, but this time
it's female tech, so it'ssolutions to conditions that
(04:22):
solely, disproportionately ordifferently affecting females,
and so what I mean by that isthat it's not just boobs and
tubes, as I like to say, it'snot just breastfeeding and
fertility and menstruation, it'salso migraines that
disproportionately affect women,or autoimmune diseases or heart
disease.
So heart disease actuallydisproportionately affects men,
(04:44):
but the way that heart diseaseso heart disease actually
disproportionately affects men.
But the way that heart diseasemanifests in a female heart is
very different than a man'sheart, and so that's the
differently part.
And if we don't consider sexand gender from our basic
scientific understanding ofdisease all the way through, how
does a woman metabolize thisdrug versus a man?
Women may not be getting theright dosage of medication based
(05:06):
on their hormones or their lifestage, et cetera.
And so Femtech is this idea.
Again, you could think about itlike it's gynecology in the tech
world, and I started in thisindustry over five years ago so
about 2018, when I was workingat an investment firm and I
started to meet women's healthcompanies.
(05:26):
And you know, I was meetingwith startups every single day
and they were doing incrediblework, like really futuristic,
awesome life-saving technologies.
But whenever I met a women'shealth company, the thing that
they were telling me was soshocking, you know.
They were saying things likewomen are waiting seven years
for endometriosis diagnosis andI was like wait, why?
(05:48):
And they're like, well, becausea diagnostic test doesn't exist
yet.
And I'd be like, well, why?
Right, like I just kept feelinglike well know their vaginas
melting shut after radiationtreatment of cervical cancer.
I was like wait, what Right?
(06:08):
So I just kept being shocked.
As a female scientist, feminist.
So I have a PhD in genetics.
I'm a serial entrepreneur.
My first startup was a DNAbased dating app.
That's a whole nother episode,you know.
So I was working in tech,working in venture, investing in
startups, and yet I had no ideahow bad women's health was, and
(06:33):
I think that's actually part ofthe issue is that we don't even
realize how.
You know, not studied, we arefrom the basic benchtop science
all the way through FDAapprovals and so, long story
short, I got really inspired.
I said I want to work in thisindustry, and I started to
Google femtech and I couldn'tfind anything.
(06:55):
This is in 2018.
There wasn't a podcast, therewasn't a book, there wasn't a
course, there wasn'taccelerators there.
You know, I couldn't find alist of femtech companies.
People were speculating howmany there might be, and I
realized at that point that ourindustry had a name femtech
which, by the way, I did notknow had only been coined two
(07:15):
years earlier, 2016.
The founder of clue, the periodtracking app, ida Tin she's the
one who first said it in 2016,and at that point I realized oh
wow, this name's only two yearsold, there's no infrastructure
here, there's no community, andthat's what I've dedicated my
life to the last five years isbuilding that, and so I started
it with a podcast in thepandemic, because what's a girl
(07:37):
to do in lockdown but start apodcast?
And that podcast is still goingon today.
You can listen to it on anystreaming service.
It's called Femtech Focus andwe have over 250 episodes on
there.
I've actually used that towrite a book that's coming out
this fall called UnlockingWomen's Health.
We'll be available on Amazon bythe end of September of 2024.
(07:58):
We have the largest virtualcommunity group of women's
health founders so they can findeach other, find community,
find co-founders, find employees, get inspired, get funding.
I've co-founded an investmentfirm to invest in Femtech.
So I have done a bunch of stuffthe last five years, but at the
(08:18):
end of the day, it's all sothat we can raise awareness for
the need for sex and gender tobe considered in healthcare, but
also to foster a safeenvironment with a lot of
resources for these incrediblefounders that are solving issues
that women need solved.
So that's my answer to yourquestions there.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
You don't sound very excited about it, so I'm sort so
disappointed at that.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
No, I love that there's a space.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
There's a gap and it needs to be filled and we we've,
like I said, we've learned aton from you as we've been
trying to grow Medovia and allof the resources that you have.
Talk a little bit more aboutyour book what what's what is
unlocking health, femtech andthe quest for gender equality.
What, what is in the book andkind of what's what is Unlocking
Health, femtech and the Questfor Gender Equality.
(09:06):
What, what is in the book andkind of what's the premise
behind it?
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Why did you write it?
Yeah, why a book?
Speaker 3 (09:12):
right.
Well, unlocking Women's Health,femtech and the Quest for
Gender Equity essentially isfilling in the gap of a book.
So, you know, some people go toTikTok to learn, some people go
to a podcast to learn, but youknow, even myself, I love to
read a good book and read andlearn about something, and so
this is a book for people notjust in femtech.
(09:33):
I did write it in a way thateveryday women who are
interested in this industry canread it.
What the book does is it kicksoff with an introduction to what
is femtech, and I discuss thehistory of, you know, scientists
assuming that if they includedfemale animal models or females
in clinical trials, then itwould mess up their data.
And there was some goodintention there, right, there
(09:53):
was some scientific reasoningbehind it.
It wasn't just that they didn'tlike women, you know.
But what we have seen is thatthat led to a male-based
healthcare system withmale-based medicines, and so I
kind of talk about the historyand the turning point where we
now realize, oopsies, we need toinclude females.
They are not small men.
(10:15):
We need to actually researchthem, and so I talk about this
history, this transition, andthen where we're at today.
There's this industry calledfemtech.
Here's how many companies arein the space, here's what
they're working on.
And the rest of the bookhighlights over 100 innovators
in women's health, and they arecategorized, each chapter, by a
women's health vertical.
So you have a chapter on mentalhealth, chronic conditions and
(10:37):
it's about, you know, hematology, the study of blood.
It's about brains and hearts andgut health history book sooner
(11:05):
rather than later, and that thethings in the book that I talk
about in terms of you knowmaternal mortality and black
women dying more often thanwhite women, or you know women
having to wait, on average, fiveyears longer for the same
diagnosis than men because ofmedical gaslighting, women not
being believed Right.
I hope that in a very shorttimeline, my book becomes
shocking to people about how badthings were.
(11:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
To inspire them to do better, right?
Yes, that's the whole goal.
That's the whole goal, yeah,yeah, let's do better going
forward, and your book will beavailable in September.
So we'll link all of that inthe show notes as well.
And that's exciting.
I'm wondering.
I have two questions for you.
Exciting, I'm wondering.
I have two questions for you.
I'm wondering because of whereyou sit.
You see, you have this vantagepoint that most of us don't have
(11:51):
.
You can see what's on thehorizon.
You can see the gaps in femtech.
I'm curious to know what you'remost excited about as you look
at the developments in thisfield.
And then the second part ofthat is where do we still need
work?
So what are we excited aboutthat is really on the forefront,
and then, where do we need work?
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Well, as a scientist, I am going to say that one of
the things I'm most excitedabout is that we're really just
starting to study women andstarting to learn things.
Right.
We just discovered last year2023, what was the actual
hormone that's causing nauseaduring pregnancy, right?
And it's like it was just thatno one had studied it right and
(12:36):
we just were like well, womenare nauseous when they're
pregnant, that's morningsickness, that's just how it
happens.
And now somebody, finally, waslike we should like what causes
that and why they researched it.
They found, oh, it's this oneelevated hormone.
And then, when it's elevatedpast this threshold, that's when
women get it.
(12:59):
And it's like, okay, well, nowwe could potentially make a drug
or a supplement or a diet orsomething you know, or at least
let women know you have veryelevated.
Wouldn't be surprised if youhave a lot of nausea.
And so I'm just really excitedabout the basic science.
I mean even menopause, right,like what is causing hot flashes
?
And oh, look at that, blackwomen have more hot flashes than
white women.
Why is that, biologically?
So I'm just really excited forus to have some basic scientific
(13:21):
knowledge, because that's whereinnovation starts.
It starts in the basicscientific research that then we
can say, huh, now that weunderstand how this actually
works, what if we intervenedwith this right and it doesn't
always have to be a drug, right,but it could be a vitamin, it
could be oh, this, you knowwhatever or even just a marker
that we can inform women aheadof time.
(13:43):
So much of women's health iswomen trying to convince doctors
that something is wrong, right?
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Why don't?
Speaker 3 (13:49):
we have doctors actually giving a heads up hey,
based on your hormone profile,it looks like you're going to be
entering menopause earlier thanmost women.
So when you start to experiencethese symptoms at 36, that's
actually what.
That is right, or whatever.
So that's what I'm reallyexcited about.
I think where we need to dobetter I mean this is kind of a
(14:10):
broader than just verticals ofwomen's health but it's funding.
You know we have a, we have ahuge issue in funding this.
So at the NIH so I'll speak, youknow, from the American funding
system, the NIH NationalInstitutes of Health there are
27 institutes, and so theinstitute we're most familiar
with is infectious disease, withDr Anthony Fauci.
(14:31):
Right, he became now I can kindof refer to that and people
know what I'm referring to interms of these institutes right,
these institutes are allocateda budget of funding that they
can then give out to grants asgrants to researchers.
Of the 27 institutes, there isno institute for women's health.
There's an institute for eyehealth, there's an institute for
(14:52):
addiction, and those are allgreat there is still no
institute for women's health.
In fact, there's an Institutefor child's health, children's
health, and there is an officeof women's health underneath
that, and so we, our health isdirectly linked to children's
health.
All right, now don't get mestarted on all the what I
believe in, sexism and you knowwhat I society is thinking of,
(15:15):
women's purpose, et cetera.
We'll put a pin in that, butwhat I'm going to get at here is
that an office of women'shealth under the Institute of
Children's Health.
They are not allocated anymoney to give out grants, and so
the amount of funding that'sactually been dedicated to
women's health is abysmal.
In fact, in 2020, the NIH onlydedicated 0.0001%, so that's
(15:39):
three zeros after that decimal1% to menopause research, and
menopause is not something thatis you know, oh, only you know.
10% of women get it.
It's like that's going to behalf of our lives.
You know if we can reach thatage and so and not even just age
, I mean if you have breastcancer in your thirties, you're
going to be menopause, right.
(16:00):
There's so many other ways thatyou're induced into it as well.
So when that like it, that's.
That's worse than a roundingerror.
Right, like that's not eventhat's a smudge on someone's
sheet that was dedicated tomenopause research.
So until we get that funding,then we can fund the research
and the science, and once wehave the science, then we can
(16:22):
create solutions around them.
And then the second you knowthey call it the valley of death
.
It's terrible.
I'd rather it be the valley ofbirth, which is investors.
So you know your venturecapitalists, your angels, people
who are predominantly whitemales, convincing them to invest
in women's health solutions,and we do see an improvement
(16:45):
over the last five years.
One of the things that ourcompany does is we do a lot of
market research.
Because I'm a big data sciencenerd junkie, I'm always like, ok
, well, we can't just like beangry, we need to report this,
right, we need to quantify.
Well, we can't just like beangry, we need to report this,
right, we need to quantify it sowe can measure it and improve
it.
One of the things we found isthat funding improves if you
(17:08):
have media around the problem,and so what we have found is
that if there is over 250 mediamentions of a condition like
menopause, the following year wewill see significantly higher
investments in startupsaddressing that.
And so I'm really yeah, weactually just that is not even
published yet.
That's coming out later thisyear in a report we're doing.
(17:30):
But to me it's like okay,convincing me that I still need
to be on my TikTok, I still needto do a podcast interview
because this is literally movingthe needle in investment.
Because these male investors hadnever heard about heavy
menstrual bleeding due tofibroids, they had never heard
of Hashimoto'sdisproportionately affecting
females, right.
So they figured that probablywasn't a big deal, probably
(17:53):
wasn't a big market, probablynot a problem for many people.
But when they see Oprah sayingmy menopause is out of control,
they're like, oh, this must be areal issue of Oprah suffering
from it.
And so, anyways, I'm reallypassionate, excited about that
as well.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
I think it's.
It's fascinating everythingthat you just said, and I know
that the majority of ourlisteners may not understand the
lack of, or that percentage of,vc funding.
Can you just share somestatistics with us just to put
it in perspective here?
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Sure.
So the statistic currently liesthat female founders if you're
a woman who started a startup,you only receive 2% of all
investment money that isallocated out.
So if an investor is allocatingout, you know, $100 million,
only 2 million of that 100million is going to female
(18:48):
started companies and there's alot of reasons and speculations
and research around that interms of why I also, you know
it's it's this whole beast.
It's this whole beast.
But something interesting andthis is actually part of the
research that we're going to bepublishing later this year is
there's this concept around whatfemale founders do do better if
(19:12):
they are in predominantlyfemale industries.
So, for example, if you have afemale founder in, you know
she's doing cardiology, a heart,you know device, she's creating
an artificial heart.
She compared to a white manwho's also creating artificial
heart, he's going to win out inthe funding.
But if it's a nail polishcompany, something that society
(19:34):
assumes as a female consumer,purchase, wow, if there's a
white male versus a female and Ido, and I am saying white
because we're not, let's noteven get into race Black
founders it's abysmal, right.
Like let's just just gender,okay, versus not even putting
race on the table or disabilityor accent or you know, sexuality
(19:56):
, like whatever Right right yeahthey.
If it's a nail polish company,the female is more likely to
fundraise because the investorsassume, oh, she knows that
industry.
But something interesting wesee in women's health is that
with that not with that paradigmexisting, we should see women's
health companies started bywomen fundraising a hell of a
(20:19):
lot more than men do.
Right, you would assume ourresearch does not show that our
research shows and it's been afeeling that we all have known,
but no one's been able toquantify it.
We're in again.
We're coming out.
I wasn't going to promote thisreport, but you know that's
coming out.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Yeah, yeah, I love it .
Is that Is?
Speaker 3 (20:36):
that the male founders are fundraising about
three times more than the femalefounders in women's health and
it is there's a lot of theoriesI have around it Really
interesting.
We're still digging into it,but essentially one of the I'll
bring up one of the things thatwe found is that if a female
founder is very advocacy focused, so she's like this is
(20:59):
unacceptable.
Women deserve equity inhealthcare.
Black women's lives matter.
The more loud she is we didsome natural language processing
using their LinkedIn posts themore she uses words around
advocacy, the less chance shehas of fundraising.
Wow.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
The less chance.
Wow, oh my gosh, I'm like Ineed to rewrite it.
There's so much you can unpackwith that.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
And we found out it's because investors perceive her
ambition as focusing more on thepurpose over the profits.
The investor assumes thisperson's so passionate about
this topic.
If it came down to it, they'dgive the test away for free If
it was up to them.
I rather invest in the male whoI know is in it for the money
(21:46):
which, by the way, we haveamazing male founders in femtech
.
So it's actually a bias alsoagainst them that that you're a
male founder in women's health,surely you're only in it for the
money, versus you're a malefounder in women's health,
surely you're only in it for themoney.
Yeah, versus, you're a malefounder in women's health,
because you appreciate women andhave a wife and a daughter and
like, think women matter.
Right, they're assuming, no,you must be in this for the
(22:07):
money, because that's what menwould be after.
So I'm going to invest in you.
It's really quite mind bogglingand you know, and it's all like
under, it's all subconscious,right, like investors are
generally great people who youknow are trying to do right.
But there's these unconscioussocietal things.
But once we shine light on it,we don't want to advocate in the
(22:28):
manner that you just mentioned.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
How can we do that?
What is the Well?
Speaker 3 (22:46):
so, in general, actually full circle here.
What we found is that those 250media articles like mentions,
like in Forbes or Times or CNNknow, cnn, the?
Once you pass 250 headlinestories about a condition, the
gender disparity actuallydisappears, yep, and so that is
(23:07):
actually the like, uh, the thesolution.
The solution is making women'shealth mainstream.
We need to have you knowbillboards has actual red liquid
on a pad.
You know we need to have subwayads that are saying you know,
vaginal dryness.
(23:27):
You know we need to haveFacebook allow advertisements
for at home breast exams.
You know self exams like?
Because currently those arecensored, those are considered
because we've sexualized thefemale body so much that even
when it comes to the health ofthe female body it's considered
sexual and so it's banned.
But you can see erectiledysfunction everywhere, right,
(23:47):
that's not an issue, not anissue at all.
And so, yeah, there's layer onlayer.
I think that's one of thereasons I love femtech so much,
because it tickles my science.
You know medical business somuch, because it tickles my
science, you know medicalbusiness.
But it also tickles my like,activist sociology, psychology,
(24:08):
like it's.
It's a, it's a vertical ofwomen, it's a vertical of
healthcare that depends so muchon the government, on religion,
on culture, right Like.
If you have, if you have atumor, it doesn't matter what
religion you are per mostlyright, tumor, it doesn't matter
what religion you are, mostlyright.
Or it doesn't matter Like,there's not a law in Alabama
that, oh, you have a tumor,sorry, you can't be treated here
, right Like but, women's health.
(24:29):
It's like based on yourgeolocation, your heritage or
ethnicity, like there's allthese other forces influencing
your what treatment you can get.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
I think that's one of the reasons we love being in
the menopause space, so muchbecause the people that are in
it are in it because they wantto advocate for women, because
they want to support women, andeveryone's bringing up
everyone's boat in this space.
And so Oprah has done us, asyou said, a huge favor.
But let's, let's shift for aminute and talk about menopause
and the innovation and menopause.
(24:59):
What do you see coming down,coming down in terms of research
there and products there?
What are companies doing tosupport menopause?
I know you have a whole chapter, so let's talk about, let's
talk about that a little bit, aswe're trying to educate women
on how they need to advocate forthemselves in the menopause
space.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
Yeah, so I the biggest push I see in the
menopause space is telehealthservices for hormone monitoring,
hormone replacement treatment,et cetera.
And so it's essentially medicalzoom right and not to put them
down, but it's it's specificallymedical zoom with menopause
experts and so that women canusually a lot of times they are
(25:39):
getting it through theiremployer right, where the
employer is paying a fee forthis site that the woman can
then, you know, participate inget treatment through.
So that's actually the biggestvertical I see.
And you know it's um, it'snothing, it's not that I don't
want to call it not novel, likeit's not, not innovative.
It is innovative but it isessentially disrupting the
(26:01):
access that women didn't havepreviously to menopause
treatment and education.
So we're we're innovating onthat access, so we're bringing
it forefront.
We're saying here's somethingavailable to you conveniently to
get you know education andtreatment for your menopause
symptoms.
That's the biggest push I see.
The things that I'm reallyexcited about is the other
solutions that are kind of likewhoa, that could really be game
(26:24):
changer.
You know, we've seen companiesthat are creating bed sheets
that can sense when you'rehaving a hot flash and change
the temperature of the sheetsand have airflow under them.
We see bracelets like EmberLabs is.
It uses certain likewavelengths that interfere with
your parasympathetic nervoussystem, which is what is causing
(26:47):
your hot flashes, so it's likea bracelet that blocks hot
flashes.
You know, we're seeing just newdrugs come to market, whether
that be through Estella's.
They have a new hot flash drugand you know what I keep saying.
Hot flash and that is somethingI think we need improving on is
there are 34 symptoms ofmenopause and right now we're
(27:08):
really focused on the hot flashone.
But there's another companyit's still in clinical trial,
still early developmentestrogenics, and it's supposed
to be a therapeutic to help withbrain fog, specifically brain
fog caused by the drop inestrogen.
So, you know I'm really excitedabout things like that.
I actually heard a woman talk ata conference the other week and
(27:29):
she, you know, shared thatshe's, you know, experiencing
menopause symptoms and she callsit mental pause because her
biggest symptom is like andshe's this powerful speaker so I
could really see how it reallywas affecting her life and why
she wanted to even bring it upwas because she was this
powerhouse keynote like inspireus all, and she'd be in the
middle of a sentence and be likeI don't know what I was about
(27:51):
to say.
Actually, you know, and I'mlike God, help that woman.
It has to be our power, you know, like taking a track athlete
and being like oh, by the way,now you have flat feet you know,
it's like help them.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
This is their superpower.
It's so funny that you say thatbecause it's one of it was my.
It's is my major symptom thatI'm dealing with and whenever I
have podcasts I have to plan tomake sure that my hormone
replacement therapy is ready togo and full bore and new and
fresh, because I know that if Iget to a point in the life cycle
(28:27):
of the hormone therapy that I'musing that there will be times
where I cannot think of a word.
I couldn't think of hammockyesterday.
I'm like yeah, that word yeah.
Oh it's so frustrating.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
Well, you know, I had a COVID a few months ago and I
got the brain fog symptom and Ithe whole time I was like is
this menopause?
Not like that?
Not that I'm going, but like isthis what it's like?
Is this what it's like?
Because I'm a communicator too,you know, like all day long I'm
giving interviews and talking.
So I'm like, oh my gosh.
So yeah, hopefully they figurethat out in the next, you know.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Believe me, and we're all using our voices for that
change.
That's another reason why welove being in this space,
because we know that maybe wewon't see the results of what we
do in our lifetime, but we knowthat then we're making change
for the better.
I mean the women who Behind us,right?
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (29:25):
the women who fought for women to have bank accounts
right Like, may not have seenwomen's wealth when they did
that, but now women have bankaccounts that are, you know,
credit cards, are able to sign amortgage.
You know, like the financialfreedom of women has.
You know, I'm I'm a millennial,33 year old woman and there's
so much talk.
I'm also childless and you know, and I don't know if I'll have
(29:49):
children or not, but the factthat I have an option that I'm
even sitting back being like I'mnot sure who knows what will
happen, it's like never inhistory have women been given
the space to even consider it.
You know it's either you'rehaving children and you want to
have children, and even if youdon't think you will, once
you're pregnant you'll want itor, oh, you're infertile, so
(30:14):
like the only option to bechildless as a woman was to be a
broken woman, right, thatcouldn't do it, versus one that
had a choice over it.
So, anyways, there's a lot of,and I think and why am I
bringing that up?
I attribute it back to thefinancial freedom of women is
that we have that, these choicesnow that say, hey, I have my
own house, or I have this, or Ihave that and I have this job,
(30:35):
and that's not really fitting inmy story.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
It's empowering it's usually empowering and it'll be
really interesting to see thenext 10, 20 years what happens
there are.
There's so much that we couldtalk to you about this morning
You're like um, how long is thispodcast?
Because we have so much that wecould talk about.
Truly, I've got this list overhere and I'm like I know, know,
(30:57):
or you want to share, just anencouragement to talk about
women's health in your everydaylife.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
You know, if you are walking with the tampon to the
bathroom, don't put it in yoursleeve.
You know, and that noteverybody is courageous enough
to do that.
But if you are somebody who hasa little bit of umph in you,
you know who's willing to have abumper sticker that says
reproductive rights matter.
You know like, and you don'tneed to say I love abortion,
right, but you know, if youcould just, you know, call it a
(31:36):
vulva versus a coochie you know,using the right words for
things you know, or you know forkids.
You know telling them if this isyour arm, that's your penis
right and like people aren'tsupposed to touch your penis or
you know, like, and then youmove on right, but making these
names or making this mysteryaround it, causing shame and
(31:57):
discomfort, but also like as anadult.
If there are men listening tothis, you are the person I'm
really, really speaking to,because I need you to be
bringing up in your male friendgroups about your wife's, you
know, menopause symptoms and howthat's affecting you, and
providing safe space for othermen to open up about that
experience for them too, or beable to ask questions.
(32:17):
You would not believe, based onwho I am and what I do, how
many men approach me and theyhave really basic questions and
they're like I don't know who,to ask.
I really don't know who to ask,Like how many tampons do you use
a day?
Like I really don't know Right,Like and, and they are really
looking for a safe person to asktoo.
That won't be ashamed.
(32:37):
And you know, obviously I'm anangry feminist, but, like in
these moments, I'm, I'm no, I'mnot an angry feminist, I'm just
a teacher who's able to say youknow four to five you know
versus one, or you know, or.
And right now, with all thistalk about abortion, I have men
genuinely asking, or you know,saying well, do women use
(32:58):
abortion as contraception?
And I was like absolutely not.
There are not women who are atthe abortion clinic once a month
to just get their womb emptied,like it's not.
And then you know what?
I share my experience withabortion.
I tell them what it was likeand they're like Whoa, really, I
didn't you know.
(33:18):
And then, when they have afirsthand account, they're like,
damn, yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
I can't see a woman choosing to go through that
every month you know and it'slike, yeah, but they just need
that information.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
So, yeah, that's my last big call to action is the
more mainstream we can make this.
Hopefully we can have, like Isaid, you know, a subway
advertisement that actually saysthe word vulva, without you
know people being like offendedand emails that come right.
Yes, yeah so.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
Brittany, where can people find you?
Speaker 3 (33:45):
So you can find me on social media.
I'm Dr Brittany Barreto, drBrittany Barreto.
I'm on TikTok, I'm on Instagram, facebook, linkedin, so
whichever vertical you're into,I'm on there, and then listen to
the podcast Femtech Focus,spotify, apple, wherever you
stream, also on YouTube, andthen the book will be on Amazon
(34:06):
at the end of September.
Unlocking Women's Health.
That's fantastic, can we?
Speaker 1 (34:09):
pre-order that book right now, or do we need to wait
until September?
The pre-order that book rightnow, or do we need to wait until
September?
Speaker 3 (34:15):
The pre-order link is coming soon.
I don't have an exact date.
I know for sure though it'll beavailable at the end of
September.
But if you follow me on socialmedia, obviously I'll be
promoting the heck out of it.
If you're interested in more inlike the business of Femtech
what I was talking about in thebeginning with investing and
startups you can also subscribeto our newsletter that's Fem
(34:36):
Health Insights.
That's my consulting firm, so Iconsult pharma and governments
and large companies on theirwomen's health strategy.
So we have a really coolnewsletter we put out every week
with, like, the main news youneed to know.
But that's really for if you'reinterested in kind of the
business side of it, it'sFemHealth Insights.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
It's all fascinating it really is.
And, listeners, we'll put thoselinks in our show notes, but
we'll also highlight your bookin September in our newsletter.
So you can subscribe atMedoviacom and we'll provide
that link for you.
Make it nice and easy Before weleave.
We always do rapid fire, sowe're excited to get to know you
(35:14):
a little bit better.
So let's just dive into somefun stuff.
Do you prefer and I think Iknow the answer to this because
of the industry you're in- Doyou prefer texting or calling
Texting.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
Is that the answer?
Speaker 3 (35:31):
you thought I would say I'm actually a really big
fan of voice memos as well.
I do a lot of I'm on mycomputer all day and so, like
when I'm walking my dogs, I'drather send you a voice memo.
Oh my gosh, you are.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
We do that back and forth April walks in the morning
and I walk at night and wevoice text each other the whole
time, cause do our best thinkingthen I can't see anything
anymore without my glasses and Iwear those on my walk, so so do
you prefer a restaurant orpreparing your own meal?
Speaker 3 (36:04):
oh, I do love cooking , but um, I'll say restaurant
like somebody's, I reallybecause I love like cultural,
like Indian food and sushi andstuff that I may not be as
nearly as good as thoserestaurant owners are yeah, I
love that too.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
Okay, so how about reading a good book or binging
your favorite show?
Speaker 2 (36:29):
I'd say a book, book, yeah yeah, and would the book
be an actual book or a Kindlebook?
Speaker 3 (36:35):
Actual book.
I'm a this is still, you know,I'm um, I don't know if on the
spectrum of millennial, if I'm alate or early, but I still love
a good highlighter, cause youknow what I really love
self-help books.
I like to learn, and so I'malways writing notes and I'm
highlighting and stuff.
But I did just read a fictionbook which I was like good for
you, brit, and it was like youknow, listen to this.
(37:00):
The book was called Lessons inChemistry and it's about a book.
It's about this female scientistin like the 1960s so it's
totally up my alley.
But that was my good lastfiction book and I binged that.
Good for you.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
Well, okay.
Our last question is what's thebest piece of advice you've
ever received?
Speaker 3 (37:27):
So I always used to say I had an academic advisor
who said share the glory, theglory grows, and I absolutely
believe in that.
You know, when something goodhappens, give credit to everyone
, even the smallest ounce ofeffort they put into it.
And then also, though, as I'veaged and matured, I also
(37:48):
realized, as a female leader, Ineed to own my space, like if I
freaking did it, I freaking didit, you know and to like own my
space, right, and there's almostthis like um melting of
scientific paradigms that I'vehad to get rid of.
So like I have a PhD in genetics.
A PhD essentially means thatthey are just going to humble
the heck out of you to the pointthat you're going to question
(38:10):
everything.
And as a scientist, you should.
You shouldn't be so egotisticalthat you're like I know that
this is the answer, right, youshould always be questioning it,
but it almost goes too far.
I meet other PhDs that are likethis too, where they're like so
smart and yet the whole timethey're like I'm just not sure
if I'm qualified.
I'm like so overqualified so Ialmost want to make like an
(38:32):
asterisk on.
My like biggest life lesson wasshare the glory, the glory
grows.
Asterisk, if you did it ownyour space you're awesome.
Speaker 1 (38:40):
Yeah, I like both of those.
You're right, let's lift otherpeople up, let's give credit
where credits do.
But you're right, own it, ownit.
Speaker 2 (38:47):
And pat yourself on the back right.
Speaker 1 (38:49):
Yeah, it's great advice.
Well, we loved having you onthe show.
We cannot wait for your book.
I know our listeners are goingto find you all over the place,
but let's have you back on.
Let's talk about some of theother topics that we didn't have
time to discuss, but until then, everyone go out and find joy
in the journey.
It's been a treat.
(39:09):
Thanks, brittany.
Bye everyone in the journey.
It's been a treat.
Thanks, brittany.
Bye everyone.
Thank you for listening to theMedovia Menopause Podcast.
If you enjoyed today's show,please give it a thumbs up,
subscribe for future episodes,leave a review and share this
episode with a friend.
There are more than 50 millionwomen in the USS who are
(39:31):
navigating the menopausetransition.
The situation is compounded bythe presence of stigma, shame
and secrecy surroundingmenopause, posing significant
challenges and disruptions inwomen's personal and
professional spheres.
Medovia is out to change thenarrative.
Learn more at medoviacom.
(39:52):
That's M-I-D-O-V-I-A dot com.
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