WHY ATTEND?
The Women’s Healthy Aging Innovation Summit is the leading industry platform that connects pharma, biotech, start-ups, investors, payers, researchers, FMCGs and HCPs to accelerate innovation, investment, research, and partnerships to improve health outcomes for midlife women and beyond.
Addressing the entire spectrum of this underserved area, the Women’s Healthy Aging Innovation Summit stimulates discussions around the opportunities and challenges in areas relating to menopause, longevity, osteoporosis, cardiovascular health, sexual wellness, pelvic floor health, brain health, and preventative health measures.
Join us in 2023 as we expand these conversations and continue to serve the unmet needs of midlife women to improve outcomes.
2023 SERIES ADVISORY BOARD
Alice Zheng
Elizabeth Garner
Jamie White
Kalahn Taylor-Clark
Valerie Palmieri
Sandy Milligan
Lucy Perez
Lucy is a Senior Partner in McKinsey’s Boston office. Lucy has 15+ years of experience advising CEOs and top teams at leading pharma, biotech and life sciences companies globally on growth strategy, innovation, sustainability, and organizational transformation.
Lucy co-leads McKinsey’s ESG domain and McKinsey’s All-In DEI efforts in North America. She also sponsors the Hispanic Latino Network at McKinsey and leads our research efforts on health equity.
Dr. Neel Shah
Raymon uit de Bulten
Rachel Braun Scherl
Bethany Corbin
Anula Jayasuriya
2022 BEST IN SHOWCASE
In 2022, we introduced the ‘Best in Category’ Innovation Showcase to the Women’s Healthy Aging Innovation Summit for the first time. Covering the entire spectrum of challenges and issues faced by midlife women, our selection committee selected 1 winner from each of the following categories:
STAY TUNED TO FIND OUT ABOUT 2023’S SHOWCASE
A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO OUR 2022 SELECTION COMMITTEE
2022 SELECTION COMMITTEE
OUR 2023 SELECTION COMMITTEE WILL BE ANNOUNCED SOON!
VIEW THE 2022 AGENDA
The Women's Healthy Aging Innovation Summit 2022 provided the opportunities to:
- Learn about the unmet needs of midlife women, and the specific challenges and opportunities that lie within areas such as menopause, perimenopause, healthy aging, osteoporosis, cardiovascular health, sexual wellness, pelvic floor health, brain health, oncology, and preventative health measures.
- Understand the benefits to treating the needs of midlife women holistically and learn about what this means for innovation and investment opportunities in women's health.
- Connect with the latest consumer facing innovation, products, goods, and services, and deep dive into innovation focused on specific disease areas.
2023 Agenda coming soon!
View our agenda for the Women's Healthy Aging Innovation Summit 2022
2022 SPEAKERS
Rachel Braun Scherl
Colette Courtion
Christine Marie Mason
Alessandra Henderson
Alessandra Henderson is the Co-Founder & CEO of Elektra Health, a next-gen women's healthcare platform on a mission to smash the menopause taboo. Elektra empowers the 50M women navigating menopause in the US – and the millions more abroad – with evidence-based education, care & community. Prior to Elektra, Alessandra spent 10+ years building early stage consumer businesses from the ground up at Artsy, the MIT NYC Startup Studio, and Human Ventures. She holds a B.A. from Vanderbilt University and MBA from Sloan MIT, where she received the Martin Trust Community Fellow Award and the Patrick McGovern Entrepreneurship Award. Her work has been covered by The NY Times, Fast Company, Techcrunch, and the Financial Times.
Alice Zheng
Carolee Lee
Carolee Lee is an innovator, entrepreneur and thought leader dedicated to improving women’s health and wellbeing, and their opportunities to succeed. She was founder and CEO of Carolee Designs, one of the world’s leading accessories brands. Carolee launched WHAM (Women’s Health Access Matters), a nonprofit organization working to bring awareness and funding to women’s health research to transform women’s lives. Carolee forged a research partnership with the RAND Corporation to create The WHAM Report, the first study to analyze the economic costs, benefits and social impacts of health research that focuses specifically on women. The WHAM Report is changing the conversation around women’s health research, proving women’s health research is an economic issue we cannot afford to ignore. Through partnerships with leading advocacy groups, business leaders, researchers and economists, WHAM is using this data drive change.
Carolee is also a mentor and leader in business, philanthropic and educational organizations. She is a past Chair and Foundation Board Chair of the Committee of 200, a community of the most successful women in business, and has served as director on the board of DSW, Inc. Carolee is a founding board member of The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, where she has served since 1986. She currently sits on the Women’s Leadership Board at The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Denise Pines
Hasti Nazem
Hasti is part of the founding team of Kindra, leading product development and education. Kindra is developing innovative estrogen-free solutions targeting the top pain points of the 34+ symptoms of menopause. With nearly 10 years of experience at the intersection of life sciences, health and wellness, and consumer brand building, Hasti integrates targeted product formulation development with cutting edge technical advancements. Her deep scientific communications experience helps to empower consumers to better understand their health, and bridge gaps often overlooked in women's health. Hasti's work has been featured in has been featured in The New York Times, Forbes.com, (O) Oprah Magazine, Harper's Bazaar, Women's Health Magazine, and in healthcare public affairs and pharmaceutical trade association publications.
Jamie White
Lina Borgo
Michelle Mielke
Michelle M. Mielke, Ph.D. is Chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Prevention and Professor of Epidemiology and of Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Dr. Mielke works as a translational epidemiologist to further understanding of the etiology and epidemiology of neurodegenerative and other aging-related diseases. One focus of her research is understanding the utility of blood-based biomarkers at the population for screening and diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. Another focus of Dr. Mielke’s research is on understanding sex and gender differences in the development and progression of Alzheimer’s disease and of other aging-related conditions. She directs the Mayo Clinic Specialized Center of Research Excellence (SCORE) on Sex Differences. Dr. Mielke is co-Chair of the Sex and Gender Diversity Group for the Alzheimer’s Association Professional Interest Area. She received the John R. Raymond Mentor Award from the Women Scholars Initiative. She is the PI of several NIH-funded clinical- and epidemiological-based grants and has published over 360 manuscripts.
Missy Lavendar
Natalie Waltz Fretwell
Natalie Waltz is the founder of Tabu - a new kind of sexual wellness brand for bodies that change. Previously, Natalie was the VP of Marketing and Communications at The Chernin Group (TCG). Prior to that, she was an early employee at Collective Health, and recently served as a product advisor to Dadi. She started her career in the crisis communications practice group at Hill & Knowlton Strategies.
Peony Li
Rachel Bartholomew
Rachel Bartholomew is a 2 time entrepreneur who is now working on her second company, Hyivy Health, created after her recent fight with cervical cancer. Hyivy Health is creating a pelvic rehabilitation device for the 1 in 3 women worldwide who will experience a pelvic health complication in their lifetime. Rachel is a graduate of the University of Waterloo and has been working in various roles in the entrepreneurship ecosystem for over 10 years.
Sally Mueller
As the co-founder and CEO of Womaness, Sally is a consummate business builder specializing in retail and brand innovation. Her trend-forecasting Midas touch has benefited companies such as Target, Who What Wear and VERSED skincare, among others. She is a seasoned executive with impeccable entrepreneurial acumen. Sally spent over two decades of her career at Target Corporation, first in Apparel Merchandising and then in Marketing, helping to build the bullseye from a regional discount retailer to one of the world’s most recognized and influential global brands. She developed and implemented Target’s designer program and Design for All platform, transforming the regional discount retailer into a global phenomenon.
Sarah Foley
Asima Ahmad
Betsy Bluestone
Ines O’Donovan
Karen Drexler
Nikolina Lauc
Somi Javaid
Daisy Robinton
Dr. Daisy Robinton is passionate about elevating women’s health and challenging the status quo of female aging. She launched Oviva Therapeutics with the vision to tackle aging in women while addressing the historic gender disparity in biomedical research and healthcare. Dr. Robinton completed her PhD in Human Biology and Translational Medicine at Harvard University and landed on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for her scientific discoveries. Her writing has been published in periodicals such as Nature, Vanity Fair and NEO.LIFE. Her work as a molecular biologist, writer, public speaker, and lifestyle & fitness model, contribute to the unique lens with which she examines the intersection of science and culture.
Laura Yecies
Laura Yecies is the CEO of Bone Health Technologies, maker of OsteoBoost, the first effective and safe non-drug treatment for low bone density. Previously she was CEO of SyncThink a medical diagnostic company, Catch, which she sold to Apple and SugarSync which was acquired by J2Global. Earlier she led the Browser division at Netscape, was general manager of Yahoo Mail and VP of Marketing at Check Point. Ms. Yecies has led commercialization and product development programs that have resulted in the use by over 350m customers. She received her MBA from Harvard, has an MSFS from Georgetown and her AB in Government Magna Cum Laude from Dartmouth. She has been profiled in the NYTimes and multiple periodicals and is a prolific speaker and writer on health care and technology.
Kathryn Schubert
Anna Butterworth
Anna Butterworth is a FemTech pioneer. She has been at the epicentre of the industry for over six years - before the term was even coined. Starting her career in PR she quickly found her calling in wider creative campaign strategy and moved through cause led organisations that support marginalised communities and promote their voices.
Landing at Elvie in 2015 she was the first communications hire and quickly grew the brand across 60+ territories leading the way in FemTech marketing strategy. Since branching out to create the world's first FemTech focused creative agency Ultra Violet, she has worked with global disruptors such as Thinx, Become, Doppel, Wuka, Mooncup, Womanizer, Soho House, The Eve Appeal and more.
Monica Mallampalli
Joanna Strober
Jarrad Aguirre
Jarrad Aguirre, MD, MBA, is Head of Corporate Strategy and Advocacy at Myovant Sciences, a healthcare company focused on women's health and prostate cancer. In this role, he oversees corporate communications, patient advocacy, and digital strategy, and serves on the Executive Committee.
Prior to joining Myovant, Jarrad worked as a physician, researcher, and consultant across the spectrum of health and healthcare, including at Brigham and Women's Hospital (a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School), The Colorado Health Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Collective Health.
He graduated with honors from Yale University and University of Oxford, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar. He completed the MD/MBA at Stanford University, supported by the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Graduate Scholarship.
Lucy Perez
Lucy is a Senior Partner in McKinsey’s Boston office. Lucy has 15+ years of experience advising CEOs and top teams at leading pharma, biotech and life sciences companies globally on growth strategy, innovation, sustainability, and organizational transformation.
Lucy co-leads McKinsey’s ESG domain and McKinsey’s All-In DEI efforts in North America. She also sponsors the Hispanic Latino Network at McKinsey and leads our research efforts on health equity.
Lina Borgo
Lisa Halvorson
Delphine O’Rouke
Anula Jayasuriya
Karolynn Echols
Alicia Jackson
Dr. Alicia Jackson is the CEO and founder of Evernow, a next-gen telemedicine company focused on menopause. Dr. Jackson has a long track record of bringing to life technological advances to solve pressing challenges facing people across the globe. She is a PhD graduate of MIT; served as a policy staffer for the US Senate Energy Committee; and was the Deputy Director of the Biological Technologies Office at DARPA, the Pentagon’s principal engine for disruptive innovation. In addition to advising several early-stage start-ups, Dr. Jackson sits on the Editorial Advisory Board at TEDMED.
Tamsen Fadal
Patricia Geraghty
Patricia Geraghty MSN, FNP-BC, WHNP is a nurse practitioner with over 20 years of experience in women’s health. Ms. Geraghty is the founder of Each Woman’s Health, in Walnut Creek, CA and the editor of Each Woman’s Menopause: An Evidence Based Resource (Springer Nature 2022). Ms. Geraghty attended the University of California, Davis for undergraduate studies. After working at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda Maryland, she completed a MSN in Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner followed by a post-masters Family Nurse Practitioner credential at the University of California, San Francisco. Patricia Geraghty was Associate Professor and coordinator of the Family Nurse Practitioner program at Holy Names University in Oakland, California, and continues as clinical faculty. She speaks and publishes nationally on topics pertinent to women’s health and has served as an advisor in development of products for women from contraception to endometriosis treatment. She coordinates and provides women’s health for a free medical clinic, delivering bilingual care. She is a member of the medical advisory boards for Sharecare, Inc., HealthyWomen.org, and WomenLivingBetter.org and is a member of the North American Menopause Society, Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health and the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners.
Christian Kramme
Keren Lesham
Allison Watkins-Conti
2023 PARTNERS
GOLD PARNTER
The Craftory
Website: https://www.thecraftory.io/
Founded in early 2018 by Elio Leoni Sceti and Ernesto Schmitt. The Craftory is an $550M global investment house focused exclusively on responsible CPG brands. When we say ‘responsible CPG’ we are referring to independent businesses offering consumer packaged goods in a way that positively impacts their category, our society, and the planet. Fanworthy, innovative, category disruptive brands, founded with progressive cause by focused, obsessive, visionary freaks.
Based in London and San Francisco, we offer patient and growth stage capital (Series A and beyond), as well as strategic & operational expertise that covers industry networking, founder mentoring, branding, marketing science, innovation, and scale up. The Craftory was designed from the ground up to amplify progressive, impact-focused CPG brands: We're the incumbent shockers, the VC disruptors, a source of growth capital as revolutionary and inspired as the brands & businesses we back.
We’re here to help you grow from scrappy rebel upstart to sustainable leader, able to withstand shifting markets and intense competition … to lead your category to new standards of impact and performance, without selling out or compromising quality.
EVENT PARTNER
Watkins-Conti Products Inc
Website: http://www.watkinscontiproducts.com/
Watkins Conti Products, Inc. is a Female founded and owned, Platform Women’s Healthcare company and product design firm that is focused on the creation of innovative and affordable consumer medical devices.
The company’s flagship product is a non-invasive solution for stress incontinence in women. The problem impacts and estimated ONE in THREE women globally. The disruptive, patented product offers multiple recurring revenue streams. Watkins-Conti has additional products in the pipeline to improve the consumer experience, specifically for health related issues that women face that are often seen as shameful or taboo.
2022 Platinum Partner
Bayer
Website: https://www.bayer.com/en/
Bayer is a recognized leader in the area of women’s healthcare, with a long-standing commitment to delivering science for a better life by advancing a portfolio of innovative treatments. Bayer offers a wide range of effective short- and long-acting birth control methods as well as therapies for menopause management and gynecological diseases. Bayer is also focusing on innovative options to address the unmet medical needs of women worldwide. Today, Bayer’s research and development efforts focus on finding new treatment options for menopause as well as gynecological diseases and includes several compounds in various stages of pre-clinical and clinical development. Together, these projects reflect the company’s approach to research, which prioritizes targets and pathways with the potential to alter the way that gynecological diseases are treated. Additionally, Bayer intends to provide 100 million women in low-and-middle income countries by 2030 with access to family planning by funding multi-stakeholder aid programs and by ensuring the supply of affordable modern contraceptives. This is part of the comprehensive sustainability measures and commitments from 2020 onwards and in line with the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations.
2022 KNOWLEDGE PARTNER
McKinsey and Company
Website: https://www.mckinsey.com/
There was a time when economic growth, sustainability, and inclusion were seen as trade-offs, but leaders today need to achieve all three. This new paradigm of growth will be more sustainable, driving innovation while reducing environmental impact. It will also be more inclusive, creating access to opportunities for people worldwide.
This is not an easy task, but McKinsey & Company's ambition is to help organizations and their leaders make it a reality. They combine bold strategies and transformative technologies to help organizations innovate more sustainably, achieve lasting gains in performance, and build workforces that will thrive for this generation and the next.
2022 Gold Partner
HerMD
Physician-founded, patient-forward, and mission-driven, HerMD is revolutionizing the future of women’s healthcare through an integrated, evidence-based model. At HerMD we are redefining women’s health by combining medical care (gynecology, menopause, sexual health, mental health) with aesthetic services to treat the whole woman.
We are hyper-focused on on the underserved specialties of menopause and sexual health and we have created a highly patient-centric experience in a beautiful, modern, and comfortable space. HerMD centers provide a safe, welcoming space for women to discuss all their health care needs - shame and stigma free. HerMD patients can access providers of medical care and ancillary wellness services under a single roof, as well as a virtual care platform that helps patients access care from across the country.
HerMD is a female-led organization, founded by a leading women’s health physician in 2015, and backed by Jazz Venture Partners, a leading venture firm focused on companies that extend the boundaries of human performance. HerMD is currently operating out of two clinics in Cincinnati, OH and Crescent Springs, KY and also offers virtual care services.
Belmar Pharmacy
Website: https://www.belmarpharmasolutions.com/
Belmar Pharmacy has been compounding in the hormone therapy space for nearly 40 years. Our core competency is compounded medications, concentrating on hormone replacement for women in all stages of menopause. Our goal is better patient outcomes, through compounding, and effective communication between the practice, pharmacist, and patient. We have evolved to include education for patients and prescribers, and consultation services for practices on topics ranging from dosing to business development. We excel in our educational mission primarily due to our relationship with the Hormonal Health Institute. The Hormonal Health Institute, founded by Linda Williams and Angela DeRosa, DO, MBA, CPE in 2018, is a natural outgrowth of a personal passion for women’s health and making sure all people have access to the best hormonal healthcare. This passion was fueled by Dr. DeRosa’s personal story and by thousands of interactions with clinicians and patients looking for a better pathway to aging.
2022 Event Partner
Astellas
Website: https://www.astellas.com/us/
“Astellas is committed to turning innovative science into medical solutions that bring value and hope to patients and their families. Keeping our focus on addressing unmet medical needs and conducting our business with ethics and integrity enables us to improve the health of people throughout the U.S. and around the world.”
Watkins-Conti Products Inc
Website: http://www.watkinscontiproducts.com/
Watkins Conti Products, Inc. is a Female founded and owned, Platform Women’s Healthcare company and product design firm that is focused on the creation of innovative and affordable consumer medical devices.
The company’s flagship product is a non-invasive solution for stress incontinence in women. The problem impacts and estimated ONE in THREE women globally. The disruptive, patented product offers multiple recurring revenue streams. Watkins-Conti has additional products in the pipeline to improve the consumer experience, specifically for health related issues that women face that are often seen as shameful or taboo.
Exponent
Website: https://www.exponent.com/
Exponent’s Life Sciences team applies an unparalleled combination of industry-specific knowledge, specialized expertise, and an interdisciplinary approach to a broad range of scientific, regulatory, and business issues. Our scientists leverage decades of experience in pharmacoepidemiology, toxicology, industrial hygiene, health services research, health economics and outcomes research, regulatory sciences, statistics and data sciences, biomedical engineering, and other technical fields. We specialize in providing rapid evaluations, comprehensive analyses, and rigorous advice for complex issues.
HelloGina powered by HelloBetter
Website: https://www.helloginahealth.com/
Designed by a team of experts in sexual and mental health, HelloGina is a guided program designed to help people with vaginas overcome unwanted pain during sexual intercourse and make space for pleasure. The program combines cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) elements with pelvic floor exercises and step-by-step dilator training. HelloGina is based on the latest scientific findings and was adapted from the first and only digital intervention for the treatment of Genito-pelvic pain or penetration disorder (GPPPD). In Germany, ‘HelloBetter Vaginismus Plus’ is reimbursed as a prescription digital therapeutic (DTx) and was shown to effectively reduce penetrative pain and anxiety in vaginismus patients in two randomized controlled trials (RCTs).
HelloGina was designed by HelloBetter, a global pioneer in digital mental health research. HelloBetter offers scientifically validated DTx for a broad range of mental health disorders including chronic pain, insomnia, and burnout. Founded in 2015, they have the strongest evidence base measured by the number of RCTs published in peer-reviewed journals globally (33+ RCTs). Their programs are among the most effective in the industry when compared with digital health competitors, and their effect sizes are on par with traditional face-to-face psychotherapy.
2022 Event & Start-Up Partner
Thermaband
Backed by Google and Blue Collective VC, Thermaband, Inc. is a connected menopause care ecosystem that delivers thermal relief interventions and data-driven digital health insights. The Founders (Debbie and Markea Dickinson) are a mother/daughter duo from Wharton, Harvard and Yale, with consumer goods, supply chain, benefits and legal expertise. The Zone is a patent-protected smart bracelet that provides automated heating and cooling sensations for thermal relief on demand for the modern woman. The device was incubated at Yale and co-created with a community of over 60,000 women, scientists, engineers and menopausal experts. Thermaband has been featured in Forbes, Cosmopolitan, CBS and NPR.
2022 Media Partners
FemTech Focus
Website: www.femtechfocus.org
Femtech Focus is a 501c3 non-profit entity empowering the femtech industry through increased awareness of femtech in the tech world, providing resources to femtech founders, and creating opportunities to support femtech startups through exposure, networking, and access to capital.
How we are contributing to women's health space:
Femtech Focus has a popular podcast with thousands of listeners around the world. This supports our efforts to increase awareness of the femtech industry.
Femtech Focus is launching a femtech accelerator this Fall. Follow our social pages and subscribe to our newsletter to know when applications open!
@FemtechFocus - Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Linkedin
Ultraviolet
Website: https://www.ultraviolet.agency/
Founded by FemTech veteran Anna Butterworth and futures expert Rhiannon Jones, Ultra Violet Futures addresses the burgeoning market currently ignored by traditional trends agencies. As one of the fastest growing areas of innovation it's vital to have a dedicated collective focused on mapping the forthcoming changes and developments to better align product developers, trading teams and marketeers with the needs of the future consumer.
Ultra Violet Futures is uniquely placed to combine intimate industry knowledge, contacts and experience to provide insightful and, most importantly, accurate forecasts within the now thriving field. Working with us gives you a unique perspective in the future of your consumer allowing your business to not only envisage but define the future of this category
Springboard
Website: https://sb.co
Springboard’s mission is to accelerate the growth of entrepreneurial companies led by women through access to essential resources and a global community of experts. We are a leading network of influencers, investors and innovators dedicated to building high-growth companies led by women who are transforming industries in technology and life science.
Woman Centered
Website: https://www.beyondthepapergown.com/
We engage, educate, and inspire a community of women to achieve optimal health and well-being and to effect meaningful change on the systems that impact women's health.
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