Removing the Stigma on Women's Health: A Conversation with Diverse Female Founders

Topics that used to be whispered about, like menstruation, menopause, mental health, sexual wellness, fertility, and maternal health are now at the forefront of conversations about women's health. There is an opportunity here to further promote open dialogue so women, particularly women of color, feel comfortable discussing their issues and seeking treatment. Join MedTech Color in collaboration with the Collaborative Community for an open dialogue with past Pitch Competition Medtech Founders discussing their latest updates in women's health innovation.

Moderator:

Jamie White serves as the Government Affairs Manager and Women’s Health Director at G2G Consulting. Previously, she acted as the Health Science Strategy and Relations Lead, and Health Science Policy Analyst at the NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH). In this position, she provided strategic guidance and consulted with leadership concerning policy and programmatic challenges in science, health, and the biomedical workforce that were of significance to the agency. In addition, Jamie conducted a wide range of staff functions involving strategy, visioning, and process planning, as well as created and maintained external and internal partnerships through strategic engagement. She has expertise in multiple disciplines, including global women’s health innovation, sex, gender, and intersectionality, instrumentation analysis, analytical chemistry, behavioral neuroendocrinology, bioethics, and policy, among a few others. She has published in several peer-reviewed journals. Recently, she served as the co-chair of the Innovation Equity Forum that was responsible for the development of the Women’s Health Innovation Opportunity Map 2023. Also in 2023, Jamie was named one of the 200 Trailblazing Leaders in Women’s Health and FemTech, received a First in Femtech Award, and her third NIH Director’s Award.

Panelists:

Dara Cook, the Founder and CEO of Expect Fitness, brings over 20 years of experience creating world-class content and businesses from her career at MTV. Expect Fitness, Inc. saves lives and slashes healthcare costs with the most cost effective weapon against maternal mortality and complications: pre and postnatal fitness. Expect is streaming fitness crafted by an MTV vet and an Emmy-winner, designed for engagement with unmatched workout variety, diversity, and behavioral science principles–and the only platform approved by OB-GYNs. Named one of the Most Influential Minorities in Cable, Cook was Head Creative of the Video Music Awards, brand manager of Wild ‘N Out, and Senior Vice President who launched MTV’s podcast and touring businesses. Cook graduated cum laude at age 20 from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and was the first black Joseph Wharton and Ben Franklin Scholar in the University's history. After winning grant funding for Expect through Wharton's Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program, Cook went on to complete the General Management Program at Harvard Business School, where her presentation for Expect won the strategy competition. She is currently a Visiting Entrepreneur at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.

Debbie Dickinson, Esq. is the Co-Founder and CEO of Thermaband, Inc. a fem-tech company, backed by  Google and featured in Forbes and Cosmopolitan, which she founded with her daughter. Thermaband  aims to reframe midlife and empower women to control their thermal health and wellness naturally, by utilizing award-winning science and technology. Debbie is an attorney, advocate, and entrepreneur.  She's also a married mom of four incredibly compassionate and talented kids. She is passionate about  women's health, wellness and rebranding menopause as a natural and empowering stage of a woman's  life through her tech solution and multigenerational sisterhood community. Debbie received her B.A. in  Accounting (summa cum laude) from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania  and her J.D. from Harvard Law School. She has over 30 years industry experience as a Benefits  corporate executive at Johnson & Johnson, and an attorney practicing Employee Benefits law at Fisher &  Phillips, LLP. She also lectured in the Wharton MBA Program as an Adjunct Professor and is a serial entrepreneur. Debbie is passionate about issues involving access to higher education and matters  affecting abused, neglected and disabled children.

Jennifer "Jaki" Johnson is the Founder and CEO of WellMiss – a Techstars-backed company, where she is building the first trauma-informed digital clinic to provide holistic and integrative trauma care to women. Developed from her own lived experience, WellMiss was created to provide a whole-person health approach in one place to care for trauma’s impact on the heart, mind, body, and soul. Jaki holds a BA from Spelman College, an MS from Columbia University, and a certification in Women’s Entrepreneurship from Cornell University. Jaki spent nearly five years in the medical industry, working in various clinical and administrative roles. A fun fact about Jaki is that she has traveled to 30+ countries and she is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.