Best Podcast Episodes to Listen to During Women’s Health Month
May is Women's Health Month. This annual observance was started by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office on Women’s Health to raise awareness about women’s health. But it’s not just about raising awareness — this month is also about empowering women to advocate for their own health. This is more important than ever, as women’s health and reproductive freedom has been under attack.
Below are some of our favorite podcast episodes covering a variety of women’s health topics from abortion to period care to breastfeeding.
Dr. Jennifer Lincoln Isn’t Afraid to Talk About Abortion
With a community of 2.8 million followers on TikTok, Dr. Jennifer Lincoln is using social media to educate and bust the (many) myths surrounding reproductive health and abortion. Dr. Lincoln is a board-certified OBGYN who is passionate about helping people understand their bodies and feel empowered to advocate for themselves. She is the author of Let's Talk About Down There: An OBGYN Answers All Your Burning Questions Without Making You Feel Embarrassed for Asking.
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Cindy Gallop is Combatting Ageism and Sexism
Ageism is the one ‘ism’ that affects all of us. We all age, if we're so lucky. So why are ageist messages in the media and workplace so pervasive? And what is the impact? In this episode, I talk with advocate Cindy Gallop who is helping build an aspirational culture around aging. After a successful career in advertising, she launched her company on the TED stage, with the goal to end ageism, increase happiness, and promote world peace. You’ll learn exactly what and how her company does in the interview.
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The Tampon Shortage, Period Poverty, and Menstrual Equity
Nearly half of girls in the U.S. have lacked access to period products, and 1 in 5 have missed school because of it. With a tampon shortage and increasing costs, the problem is worsening and forcing girls to use unhygienic and unsafe alternatives. And it doesn’t help that most states tax period products like luxury goods. In this episode, we discuss the movement for menstrual equity with Lynette Medley, the Founder & CEO of No More Secrets Mind Body Spirituality.
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Preventing Unplanned Pregnancies Through Comprehensive Sex Ed
Quality, evidence-based sex education is more important than ever. In this episode, youth sex educator Nora Gelperin dives into sex education today and why abstinence-only education has been a failed experiment. She also touches upon contraceptive access for teens, and the #FreeThePill movement to make birth control available over the counter. Nora is the director of Sexuality Education and Training at Advocates for Youth. She is also a proponent of evidence-based sex education, supported by leading professional organizations, including the AMA, ACOG, APHA, and AAP.
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Women's Health Is Not a Niche
In this special episode of The Heart of Healthcare, we talk with Julia Cheek about how women's healthcare needs are often ignored and how we can upend the paternalistic system to achieve health equity. Julia Cheek is the CEO and Founder of Everly Health, a fully integrated digital care platform.
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The Sexual Abuse to Prison Pipeline
In this episode, Dr. HaeSung Han, founder of POETIC, explains how vulnerable youth are at risk of exploitation like sexual abuse and sex trafficking. POETIC builds a pipeline out of the juvenile justice system and into intensive aftercare for girls who have been exploited and trafficked.
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Babies Eat One Thing, So Why Is It So Hard To Feed Them?
While it's easy to say "just breastfeed!" — not everyone can breastfeed for a variety of reason, and we don’t exactly make it easy for working mothers. In this episode, we talk to Dr. Leila Strickland, a biologist and co-founder of Biomilq. Biomilq is a women-owned, Bill Gates funded infant nutrition company producing cultured breastmilk in a lab.
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Eliminating Maternal Health Inequities
In this episode, Dr. Laurie Zephyrin, Heart of Healthcare Grant Challenge judge and SVP for Advancing Health Equity at the Commonwealth Fund, interviews Dr. Ndidiamaka Amutah-Onukagha from Tuft’s Center for Black Maternal Health & Reproductive Justice, the winner of our $25,000 grant challenge. Learn about how CBMHRJ is taking a new approach to eliminating maternal health inequities and improving the Black birthing experience.
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A New Standard of Care for Women
Women are the power users and the power brokers of healthcare. And as the de facto “Chief Medical Officers” of their families — making healthcare decisions for their partners, children, and parents — women control an estimated 80% of all U.S. healthcare dollars. Yet our healthcare system is failing women. The majority report experiencing gender discrimination from their providers, and feel that their concerns are taken less seriously because they’re women. It’s no surprise, then, that the healthcare system has a “loyalty crisis” with its most powerful customer, with over half of women reporting not trusting the U.S. healthcare system. In this episode, Tia Co-founder & CEO Carolyn Witte talks about trailblazing a new paradigm for women’s healthcare that treats women as whole people vs. parts or life stages.
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Fighting for Survivors of Forced Sterilization
The United States has a long—and continuing—practice of forcibly sterilizing women of color, taking away their basic human right to become a parent. It’s happening in prisons and immigration detention centers, where doctors are performing unwarranted hysterectomies and bilateral tubal ligation without proper consent. Last year, California announced it would pay out millions of dollars to living survivors of the state’s forced sterilization efforts thanks to today’s guest who co-sponsor the bill. In this episode, Laura Jimenez, Executive Director of California Latinas for Reproductive Justice, discusses the racist, classist, ableist history of forced sterilization and why it’s still happening today.
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