https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/rzwjzv/faubionfinal_-_12_5_22_856_PMakrus.mp3
EPISODE SUMMARY:
Dr. Stephanie Faubion, director of Mayo Clinic’s Center for Women’s Health and medical director for The North American Menopause Society, and Ann Garnier, seasoned healthcare leader and founder and CEO of Lisa Health, are two experienced professionals working to change the narrative surrounding women’s healthcare. In today’s episode, we sat down with Dr. Faubion and Ann to discuss the recent North American Menopause Society conference, the Midday app, HRT alternatives, and the importance of addressing health concerns after menopause.
First, we asked Dr. Faubion and Ann about the women’s health information they learned at the recent North American Menopause Society Conference. As the medical director at the North American Menopause Society and Mayo Clinic Center for Women’s Health, Dr. Faubion was able to attend the conference. She explained to us how the conference provided information on a multitude of important areas of women’s health, including cardiovascular risk, hormones, the brain, sleep, and more. During the conference, she also reviewed new 2022 Hormone Replacement Therapy position statements. The statements further affirmed that the benefit of HRT far outweighs the risks and provided updated scientific evidence to back up the claim. When asked why HRT information is difficult for women to access, Dr. Faubion said she believes it has to do with lack of education to medical providers. Despite information surrounding HRT having been available for decades, many clinicians still do not provide the data to their clients. It’s vital that women continue asking questions and having conversations about HRTs to further spread information, which is one of the main goals of The North American Menopause Society.
A new, helpful way to give and receive menopausal information is through Midday, an app founded and created by Ann Garnier through Lisa Health. After working in healthcare for decades, Ann decided to start her own company. One of the main problems she wanted to address was the lack of specialists and information regarding menopause and menopausal symptoms. Through creating Midday, she found a way to combine her passion with a technological space that helps women through a transitional stage in their life. Midday uses AI to personalize every woman’s menopause experience. It can be downloaded through the app store or accessed on midday.health, and users can choose between a quarterly subscription of $9.99/month or an annual subscription of $78. Once you enter the app, Midday helps you understand where you are in your menopause journey and tracks progression so you know what’s coming next. Hot flashes are the number one biomarker of menopause, and Midday has an algorithm that can detect hot flashes in real time to help support women while they’re symptomatic. Along with its many helpful features, Midday provides therapeutic support through holistic strategies and virtual care, including access to Mayo Clinic specialists. When asked why the Mayo Clinic chose to partner with Midday, Dr. Faubion explained how despite looking at several options, the Mayo Clinic found that their values and goals were most closely aligned with Midday. Both Midday and the Mayo Clinic had a mission to provide evidence based, quality care and education to women. The collaboration has been a great process so far, and the relationship is one the Mayo Clinic and Midday hope to continue in the future.
For women who do not want to use HRTs, there are alternative treatments available. Dr. Faubion and Ann spoke about how cognitive behavioral therapy, CBT, is a behavioral based treatment with evidence behind it that is used to address symptoms. While there are medications and prescriptions available, only Paroxetine has been approved by the FDA. All medications have the potential for side effects, so when prescribing them, clinicians want to try and use one prescription to help with both hormones and other menopause symptoms such as anxiety and depression. N3k inhibitors are a class of drugs that have been developed over the past few years that affect the brain pathway in the hypothalamus that is believed to be responsible for hot flashes. While none have made it in the market yet, one will be reviewed by the FDA next year with the potential to be approved. Some dietary modifications, such as a plant-based diet and an increase in soy, have been shown to help with hot flashes. However, supplements are not always helpful, and exercise has not been shown to be helpful with hot flashes.
Despite resources being available, such as The North American Menopause Society and Midday, not all women know about their existence. To help continue the spread of information surrounding menopause resources, Dr. Faubion and Ann emphasized the importance of using our platforms to educate others and to continue having conversations about menopause. By speaking up, we encourage others to do the same and help to spread the word to other women. Along with resources, there has also been a significant increase in brands selling menopause products. When asked for their thoughts, Dr. Faubion and Ann said that while it’s great that there is more attention being given to women and menopause symptoms, women must be careful when buying menopause products. It’s easy to be taken advantage of by companies advertising products that are not legitimate or effective, so midlife women have to become savvy consumers and do their research.
Finally, we asked Dr. Faubion and Ann their thoughts about addressing health concerns that occur after menopause. They spoke to us about how women should be offered preventative care and treatments a lot earlier than they are. Symptoms do not immediately stop once menopause is over. There are increased cardiovascular risks after menopause, so it’s important for women to see doctors that listen to them and continue to treat symptoms during and after menopause.
Dr. Stephanie Faubion
As a clinician who has practiced in the Women’s Health Clinic at Mayo Clinic for over 10 years and has evaluated and treated women with menopausal, hormonal and sexual health concerns, Stephanie S. Faubion, M.D. has a broad interest in women’s health. Dr. Faubion’s research encompasses sex-and-gender-based differences in disease, menopause, hormone therapy, healthy aging, and sexual health and dysfunction in women.
In her roles as the Penny and Bill George Director for Mayo Clinic’s Center for Women’s Health and medical director for The North American Menopause Society, Dr. Faubion is acutely aware of the need to improve the evidence base for medical practice. Her role in the research community is guided by the need to develop research strategies that will improve the clinical practice. Thus, research questions come directly from the clinical dilemmas faced every day in medical practice.
In order to expand an evidence-based practice, Dr. Faubion’s research group has developed a clinical database: the Data Registry on Experiences of Aging, Menopause and Sexuality (DREAMS). This database, developed in 2005, already has extensive longitudinal data with over 7,000 patients and has facilitated multiple research projects. In this context, Dr. Faubion has encouraged and directed strong research collaborations with established clinical and basic science researchers within the institution.
Ann Garnier
Ann Garnier, founder and CEO of Lisa Health, is a seasoned healthcare leader, helping to create, launch, and scale innovative tech companies and products that have improved patient outcomes and access to care. At Lisa Health, Ann leads the team to enhance the wellbeing of midlife women starting with the menopause transition. She is passionate about women’s health and advancing research beyond pregnancy and fertility to reduce the serious and costly health risks that women face as they age and help them celebrate the start of something great. Prior to Lisa Health, Ann was COO at CarePayment, Senior Vice President, Marketing and Operations at RelayHealth (McKesson), and Vice President, Strategy and Marketing for Paradigm Health (Alere/Optum). Ann sits on the advisory boards for FemTech Collective and the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association Bay Area chapter. She is also a CSweetener mentor and an ambassador for AnnieCannons.
In this episode, we discuss…
- [0:01] Bossa Bars
- [0:43] Guest Introduction
- [5:15] Start of Interview
- [5:47] The North American Menopause Society Conference
- [10:43] Midday
- [17:23] HRT and HRT Alternatives
- [24:54] Become Menopause Clothing
- [27:35] Helping Spread the Word About Menopause Resources
- [30:58] The Rise of Menopause Brands
- [36:25] Addressing Issues After Menopause
- [39:50] Closing Thoughts
- [42:01] Outro
Useful Resources:
The Mayo Clinic I [https://www.mayoclinic.org]
Midday I [https://midday.health/]
Midday’s LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/midday-health/]
Midday’s Facebook I [https://www.facebook.com/middayhealth]
Midday’s Instagram I [https://www.secure.instagram.com/midday.health/]
Midday’s Twitter I [https://mobile.twitter.com/MiddayHealth]
Dr. Faubion’s LinkedIn I [https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-faubion-254307103/]
Dr. Faubion’s Twitter I [https://twitter.com/stephfaubionmd?lang=en]
Ann’s LinkedIn I [https://www.linkedin.com/in/anngarnier/]
TRY BOSSA BARS FOR MENOPAUSE AND USE CODE “HOTCOOL10” FOR 10% OFF AT https://bossabars.com/ !
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Mail I [[email protected]]
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Facebook I [https://www.facebook.com/hotflashescooltopics]
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