Women's health: from ignored to tipping point to "of course"
This is a masterclass from Maryann Selfe about how consistent, leveraged, incremental changes and partnering build to a tipping point that gets us where passion alone cannot.
Fortunately for us, Maryann Umoren Selfe is passionate about women’s health—specifically closing the funding gap in women’s health and building communities where impact and innovation meet.
For many of us seasoned women’s health warriors, the fight has been long and hard for every inch of gain. We’re still fighting: there’s plenty left to do when less than 10% of annual NIH research dollars have been spent on women’s health1—which now, of course, is “DEI,” versus a mandate to address the well-documented, under-funded health needs of more than half2 of the US population.
In the past, data was really hard to come by, in large part because of the lack of research. With little data, but the lives of the women we care about at risk, we depended on passion and tenacity. By affinity and often by training, we’ve been fierce advocates.
As I read Maryann’s post, I thought back to an article I saw years ago written by a childbirth instructor. The title of the article was, “What do we do when there’s nothing left to fight for?” She was serious. Her identity was the fight.
The problem, of course, is that passion breeds resistance.
With data, the question could be turned around. Instead of passion solely about how women will benefit, we’d have the opportunity to examine “who else—in power—could this benefit?” For much of women’s health in the past—from babies and infertility to midlife and female cancers and sensitive death—that often felt like a dead end.
It isn’t now.
In “Why Menopause Care Is the New Fertility: A Strategic Shift Investors Are Missing,” Maryann lays out what happens when you ask that question and layer it with data, economics and societal trends, and partner with those who benefit from healthy women. At a time when unemployment has been historically low, a falling birth rate isn’t churning out new, young replacement workers, women are 57% of the workforce, and the emergence of new generations who expect equity, an answer surfaces: employers benefit from women being well and supported to stay healthy.
And that turns everything upside down.
Like IVF before it, midlife health is becoming reimbursed, part of workplace benefits, and investable.
Who woulda thought?
It often takes someone from outside clinical healthcare to bring a focus to what’s happening around us and help us take advantage of it, to put context around how changes we have difficulty seeing any one month or year can lead to a tipping point among those who have the money and power to move what we want forward.
Take a journey in Maryann’s post through how IVF went from ‘too expensive to even consider reimbursement’ to infertility benefits now being offered by half of large U.S. employers, and how midlife care went from being overlooked to a recognized global market projected to exceed $24B by 2030, with growing clinical platforms, payor-backed care, and integrated service delivery.
I’m a Japanophile, having had wonderful business experiences in women’s health in Japan. (In the past, again…who woulda thought?) As I read Maryann’s post, I thought of something I saw recently that I’m sitting with myself right now; I’ve been at this a while. Shoshin, meaning "beginner's mind" in Japanese, is a Zen Buddhist concept encouraging an open, curious, and receptive attitude, even when one is already experienced. It's about approaching situations with the fresh perspective of a beginner, free from preconceived notions and judgments, and from the rigidity that can come from expertise and experience. (That one hurts. ;) )
Join me in celebrating business discovering what we’ve been preaching for years and using these learnings to tackle the next frontiers in women’s health. Now, more than ever, the world has discovered DC isn’t the only opinion in the world. We need to learn all we can from healthcare leaders like Maryann to take full advantage of that.
In 2023, the NIH spent a total of $47.7 billion funding research. Less that 10% of that—$4.6B—went to women’s health.
In normal times, women always slightly outnumber men. In 2025, the US is projected to be 50.4% female.