Meet the small but mighty team building Women’s Health Horizons, a global platform dedicated to accelerating progress in women’s health
FutureFemHealth sat down with the Women's Health Horizons team
This week, FutureFemHeath sat down with the team from Women’s Health Horizons: Founder and CEO, Jason Clark and core team members Ashleigh Niziol, Co-Founder and Director of Strategy, Partnerships and Marketing and Holly Carruthers, Global Strategic Partnerships Director. To learn more about their mission, story, and the growing momentum behind Women’s Health Horizons (WHH), ahead of their flagship conference taking place in Boston on October 15–16 visit the WHH website.
Anna: So Jason, tell us about the story so far.
Jason Clark: Women’s Health Horizons was born out of a deeply personal experience. Over the past few years, my mother has undergone three major surgeries due to severe gastrointestinal issues. Watching her in pain, and repeatedly dismissed or misdiagnosed while navigating both the private and public healthcare systems, made me realize the healthcare system was not built for women.
With a background in consulting, I’ve always been naturally curious and driven to find solutions. As I began researching women’s health outcomes and data, I was genuinely shocked by what I found. The disparities were staggering and frankly disgusting, and I knew I couldn’t just sit on the sidelines.
I’ve always been a big believer that progress comes from connection. So, I approached a few personal contacts for seed funding and began exploring the idea of creating a global platform dedicated to improving health outcomes for women. What started as curiosity quickly became a calling.
Over the course of more than 180 research calls, I met with extraordinary women who became the Women’s Health Horizons Advisory Board, incredible advocates who have been championing change in women’s health for decades. These women are true super-connectors, doing remarkable work across policy, research, advocacy and innovation.
Anna: That is really unique, tell me more about your advisors? Who are they?
It’s always been important for us to be led by industry, our guiding principles in selection are around working with people from different backgrounds and parts of the ecosystem, we have people like Cheryl Kerr who brings 30 years of experience in Pharma at Bayer, Mitzi Krockover, who was founding Medical Director of the lris Cantor-UCLA Women’s Health Center, and Amy Millman who founded Springboard Enterprises, now Managing Director of the StageNext fund, as well as outspoken patient advocates like Sally Wolf and Lauren Ruotolo.
Their insights, networks, and optimism have shaped a truly inspiring program. We’re led by their expertise, and most of our advisors have generously invested hours, days, and even weeks into the project, consulting with us over WhatsApp and Zoom across multiple time zones.
In the early days, it was just Holly Carruthers and me, grinding through 10–15 calls a day to bring this to life. Slowly but surely, the pieces began to fall into place. Our first major milestone came when HSBC Innovation Banking signed on as our first strategic sponsor, a huge moment that validated our mission and gave us the confidence to keep building. Since then Katherine Andersen has been a tremendous supporter and champion of our vision.
Since then, we’ve been fortunate to partner with a growing network of incredible organizations that share our belief that the future of healthcare must include equitable, evidence-based progress for women.
A major turning point for us was welcoming our Co-Founder, Ashleigh Niziol, who joined through an organic referral. Her passion, drive, and belief in our mission have been transformative for WHH.
We’ve learned that there are so many people who want to make a difference in women’s health, the key is finding the right partners who truly believe in the vision and are ready to take action.
Anna: Holly, what excites you most about working in women’s health?
Holly Carruthers: Even though I’m relatively new to the field, what immediately drew me in was the passion and collaborative energy across everyone I’ve met. Women’s health feels unique in that way — people aren’t just focused on individual projects or silos. There’s a genuine drive to connect, share expertise, and accelerate meaningful change together.
At the same time, one thing I’ve noticed is that while many organizations talk about supporting women, far fewer are willing to commit the funding or resources necessary to drive real change. If we want to make a tangible impact, that has to shift.
That said, I feel we’ve reached a moment of real momentum. We have a strong pipeline for 2026 and are working closely with partners to help them shape their impact and ensure their messaging is meaningful and curated for maximum impact.
It’s incredibly rewarding to be part of a truly global initiative. Over the next 12 months, we’re launching conferences in London, New York, Central Europe, the US West Coast, and the APAC region, creating opportunities for stakeholders from around the world to connect, share insights, and accelerate progress in women’s health.
I love that every conversation at WHH feels like an opportunity to learn, grow, and build something bigger than any one person or organization could achieve alone. Through thoughtful, action-oriented partnerships, we can genuinely improve outcomes and create lasting impact for women everywhere.
Anna: Jason and Ashleigh, what can attendees expect from this year’s Boston agenda?
Ashleigh Niziol: we were very intentional about the topics we included - and those that we didn’t. For example, this year we’re not touching on the gender data gap. We felt strongly that this was a topic that we have a clear consensus on: we understand the problem, and we’ve already got some incredible solutions at play. Instead we chose to focus on issues that seem to remain unsolved and deserve a platform: such as gender bias in cardiology, brain health, and endometriosis. On the business side, we’re touching on the evolving investment landscape, as well as giving founders insight into best practices for commercialization and reimbursement. As we look ahead to our global expansion in 2026, expect new topics and speakers. We aim to tie our topics and agenda to the local market, and the unique perspective they hold. Our next WHH summit is scheduled for London, on March 10, 2026.
Jason Clark: Our advisory board also played a pivotal role in shaping our agenda focus for this year. Cheryl Kerr was a huge advocate for the inclusion of Fibroids on our agenda, and Dr. Mitizi Krockover ensured we focused on whole-person care when we talk about maternal and fertility care.
Anna: Ashleigh, what motivated you to join the WHH team?
For me, health has always been the great gender equalizer. If women don’t have their health, they are left behind in every aspect of life. We’ve finally started to move beyond women’s health as a feel-good, philanthropic initiative, but with that, we’ve had to work hard to convince our male counterparts - who still hold the pursestrings - that we’re worth investing in. I get the sense that men don’t feel like women’s health is a space for them: that couldn’t be further from the truth. This year, we have an all male panel speaking passionately about solving endometriosis. And, we’ve recruited our first male advisor for our UK board. We need them as curious allies, sponsors, funders, co-founders, and listeners. We can’t do it without them.
My own agenda for WHH is to be a vehicle for action - one that can help change the standard of care for women. I’ve been to far too many conferences and events where we talk about the same problems, only to reconvene months later to repeat that conversation again. Each and every one of our panelists have been briefed on this mission: our panels, fireside chats, and workshops are collaborative and solutions-first. The right way we should capitalize on this watershed moment of awareness is by seizing the opportunity to change women’s lives.
Connect with the Women’s Health Horizons team Jason Clark, Ashleigh Niziol, Holly Carruthers and Christina Shone to learn more.
Sign-up to the Women’s Health Horizons (WHH) waiting list to be the first to hear about upcoming summits and local events.
Learn more about Women’s Health Horizons (WHH).
Learn more about the Women’s Health Horizons’ Board of Advisors
