What are the real pain points in women’s health right now - and where is the future taking us? That was the focus of a live roundtable (watch above!) I co-hosted with Women’s Health Horizons (WHH) to set the stage for their inaugural Boston event in October (you can grab tickets for that here!).
Our panel brought together clinical, entrepreneurial, and advocacy perspectives:
Dr. Lara Zibners, Co-Founder, Calla Lily Clinical Care
Dr. Sophia Yen, CEO & Co-Founder, Pandia Health
Anna O’Sullivan, Founder, FutureFemHealth
Moderated by Ashleigh Niziol, WHH
Across 60 minutes, we explored five themes:
🔹 Beyond “bikini medicine.” Fertility and cycle tracking apps have dominated early FemTech, and cardiovascular disease, brain health, and chronic conditions remain largely underserved. As Dr Lara Zibners said, “We’re still digging ourselves out of the hole left when women weren’t included in research.” I pointed out that investment dollars often follow media and cultural attention - such has been the case with menopause which is emerging as a ‘hot’ area. And, while there is some ‘fatigue’ with bikini medicine as the focus for women’s health we also can’t forget it as we expand to other important areas too.
🔹 Funding bottlenecks. Laura Minquini described the “Valley of Death” where science-backed solutions get stuck: too scientific for FemTech funds, too “niche” for biotech VCs. Meanwhile digital apps continue to dominate FemTech because they’re cheaper to build. It’s why AthenaBIO exists to direct capital into translational research. Dr. Sophia Yen added that founders often have to get creative just to stay alive: “I’ll take money in any way, shape, or form — but we need more vehicles that actually match the realities of building in women’s health.” She pointed to models like Catacap, which lets donors back women’s health startups via a tax-deductible vehicle. And a major takeaway was that until there are more big exits to “prove” the category of women’s health, these kinds of alternative streams remain critical.
🔹 Menopause and longevity. We all agreed that the conversation on menopause has gone mainstream, but as Dr Sophia Yen reminded us, “only 29% of OB-GYN programs include menopause training.” Products flood Instagram, from supplements to “menopause chocolate,” but few address ovarian aging itself. Longevity reframes midlife health as aspirational - but only if equity and access are built in.
🔹 Censorship as a systemic barrier. From pregnancy pillows to period products, we shared examples of advertising bans on major platforms. As I argued, this isn’t just about visibility - it creates “distribution risk” that directly affects funding. (PS - find out more about the work we’re doing on this issue at CensHERship)
This was one of the most candid discussions on women’s health I’ve been part of and full of insights for anyone tracking the $1 trillion women’s health opportunity.
📺 Watch the full webinar above to hear the panel in their own words.
Do these takeaways resonate? What are you seeing in the landscape right now? Let me know in the comments below!
