Advancing Women’s HealthTech Innovation and Investment
The FemAging Project and Keiretsu Forum Southern California are providing a unique opportunity for founders focused on innovations/ business opportunities relevant to women ages 40+.
FemAging Tech: Innovations (e.g., software, diagnostics, devices, nutraceuticals, wearables, pharmaceuticals, clothing and other products and services) developed specifically for women ages 40+.
9:00 am to 11:00 am PDT
Schedule, Speakers and Topics, See Below
Women over the age of 40 represent a growing, diverse and economically powerful group.
Women’s health is not just about fertility. Women over the age of 40 represent a growing, diverse and economically powerful population. However, the unique health, wellness and innovation needs of 53 million U.S. women ages 40-65 have been largely ignored. This population is worried about their health, particularly in the era of COVID-19, as well as hormonal changes and its effects on their day-to-day lives.
Women over the age of 40 represent a growing, diverse and economically powerful group.
Women’s health is not just about fertility. Women over the age of 40 represent a growing, diverse and economically powerful population. However, the unique health, wellness and innovation needs of 53 million U.S. women ages 40-65 have been largely ignored. This population is worried about their health, particularly in the era of COVID-19, as well as hormonal changes and its effects on their day-to-day lives.
KEYNOTE
Kathryn “Katie” G. Shubert
President & CEO, Society of Women’s Health Research
Kathryn G. Schubert (Katie) is President and CEO of the Society for Women’s Health Research (SWHR), where she leads the organization’s efforts to promote research on sex as a biological variable and improve women’s health through science, policy and education. Prior to joining SWHR in April of 2020, Katie served as Chief Advocacy Officer at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM), where she oversaw the organization’s advocacy and communications activities.
Prior to joining SMFM, she was a Senior Vice President at CRD Associates. Her clients included patient advocacy organizations, physician organizations and coalitions, helping them achieve their public policy and communications goals through focused government relations strategy targeted at Congress and federal agencies. Her areas of expertise include Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement and quality, women’s and children’s health and public health.
Katie previously served in key staff roles for U.S. Representative Nancy Johnson (R-CT) and Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD), and brings a unique perspective of working across party lines to achieve policy goals. She currently serves as Chair of the Board of the Maternal Mental Health Leadership Alliance and as an advisor to the John E. Lewy Fund for Children’s Health. She is a past president of Women in Government Relations (WGR), the premier professional association for women in the government relations profession. She holds a Master of Public Policy degree with a concentration in health policy from The George Washington University and attended Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, Virginia, where she earned a B.A. in Political Science. She lives in Virginia with her husband, three children, and dog George.
Kathryn G. Schubert
MPP, President and Chief Executive Officer
Society for Women’s Health Research
Beyond Fertility: Exploring the Why Behind the Women’s Health Gap
Leading physicians in women’s healthcare discuss how we can push past the ignorance, fear and stigma that prevents women from living their fullest lives as they age.
MODERATOR
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Denise Pines
Immediate Past President, Medical Board of California
Denise Pines is a trusted resource for women as they pursue midlife wellness. She’s the immediate past President of the Medical Board of California. She is the co-visionary and head task master for Tea Botanics and the inspiration behind Hot Flash Tea. She is founder of WisePause (www.wisepause.com), a pro-aging health and education platform and co-founder of The FemAging Project (www.femaging.com), a research and education that helps drive global innovation focused on the health and wellness needs of women ages 40+. Denise cofounded of Women in the Room Productions who produced the award-winning film PUSHOUT: The Criminalization of Black Girls in School. She has a BS in marketing and an MBA in international trade.
Denise Pines
Immediate Past President
Medical Board of California
SPEAKERS
Jane van Dis, MD, OB/GYN,
Assistant Professor of OB/GYN, University of Rochester
Jane van Dis, MD is an Assistant Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology at the University of Rochester. She is Co-Founder of Equity Quotient a consultancy for equity analytics both in and outside of healthcare. She co-founded OB Best Practice (in partnership with OBG Project), co-founder of Diana Consulting. She was recently Advisor and Medical Director to MavenClinic, the nation’s first unicorn digital health start-up for women’s health. She assists in the administration of the non-profit OB Mom Group – a group of 5400+ women ObGyns. She advises multiple health care startups (Modern Fertility, Bobbie, FLEX, Biorithm), advises FemTechLab in London, and is a Lead for the FemTech Fund II at Portfolia. Dr. van Dis is a national expert and speaker on equity in healthcare and she is a single mom to twins.
Follow her on Twitter @janevandis.
Jane van Dis, MD
Assistant Professor
Obstetrics & Gynecology, University of Rochester
Rachel Scherl
Vagipreneur®
Rachel Braun Scherl
Managing Partner
Co-Founder
SPARK Solutions for Growth
Shoma Datta-Thomas, MD, FACOG
Robotic GYN Surgery, Aesthetics & Wellness Specialist
Moushumi Shoma Datta – Thomas, MD is a Johns Hopkins trained board-certified gynecologist with fellowship specialization in advanced robotic surgery. She is part of a private practice in New York City and focuses on endometriosis, infertility and fibroid surgical management. She performs surgery at Weill Cornell – NY Presbyterian Hospital, ranked #1 in New York City for the past 17 years by U.S. News & World Report. Dr. Datta also founded a private boutique office practice where she practices a holistic approach for women’s wellness including bioidentical hormone therapy, acupuncture and aesthetic energy devices. Her past 15 years of clinical practice have focused on advancing best practices by incorporating new technology.
Dr. Datta completed the prestigious accelerated seven-year BS – MD joint program at The College of New Jersey and the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, one of the few of its kind in the country. Her obstetrics and gynecology residency training was at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutes. Upon graduation from residency program, she was named the Outstanding Laparoscopic Surgeon of her class by the Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons (SLS) and received the Resident Achievement Award in laparoscopic procedures from the American Association of Gynecologic Laparoscopists (AAGL).
Dr. Datta was then accepted to an AAGL fellowship in minimally invasive gynecologic surgery at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City with internationally renowned GYN laparoscopy pioneer Dr. Farr Nezhat. This was one of just 13 programs in the US at the time for this type of training at the forefront of surgical technology. Dr. Datta first worked at the St. Luke’s – Roosevelt Medical Center (now Mount Sinai West Hospital) where she served as Assistant Director of the Division of Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery. She then went on to work at her current position at Maiden Lane Medical as well as open her open boutique practice in Westchester, New York.
Dr. Datta has authored several gynecologic surgical outcome and emerging trends studies presented at national conferences and published in peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Datta has been an invited reviewer for the International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics since 2011. Her current academic interest is in surgical devices and digital health. Most recently she has taken consulting roles such as subject matter expert consultation with the Gerson Lehrman Group and Aspira Women’s Health.
Dr. Datta, her husband and their 4 girls enjoy an active family life. Their downtime on weekends consists of fitness, activities with their large extended family and the latest Marvel movies.
Shoma Datta-Thomas, MD, FACOG
Robotic GYN Surgery
Aesthetics & Wellness Specialist
Weill Cornell – NY Presbyterian Hospital
Women’s Health Investors on the FemAging Opportunity
Women’s health investors discussing the types of products and services investors will be interested in funding over the next several years.
MODERATOR
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Connie Harrell
President, Keiretsu Forum Southern California
Connie’s unique business sense and creative vision is the blueprint for her proven successes in various industries as both a serial entrepreneur with retail, telecommunications, printing, graphics and forms design, technology, Internet community development, and CEO/COO over companies in publications, telecommunications, technology with enterprise management systems, public relations, and private equity fundraising. With a belief that people and relationships are the most vital part of life, along with her pioneering attitude and an insatiable desire for new experiences, Connie supports the growth of innovative entrepreneurial opportunities.
Connie Harrell
President
Keirestu Forum Southern California
SPEAKER
Jesse Draper
Halogen Ventures
What Does Agile Innovation Look Like in the FemAging Era?
Discussion with innovation, product development and design specialists on how to develop products and services for women 40+ and their strategies and tactics for innovating successfully in the FemAging era.
MODERATOR
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Fard Johnmar
Founder and President, Enspektos, LLC
Fard has extensive experience in digital health innovation development, commercialization, marketing, research, diffusion, implementation and related areas and has worked with a range of leading health organizations and well-funded startups.
His extensive client list includes Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, Roche, Sanofi, Humana, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and the United Kingdom and Canadian governments.
Fard is also co-author of the number one global bestseller, ePatient 2015: 15 Surprising Trends Changing Healthcare.
Fard Johnmar
Founder and President
Enspektos, LLC
SPEAKER
Sreekar Kothamachu
Founder & CEO, Nesa Medtech
Sreekar Kothamachu, Founder & CEO of Nesa Medtech, A women’s health company that develops scarless micro invasive technology to treat uterine fibroids. Nesa Medtech has been recognized final 4 by Medtech Innovator Asia Pacific & also as one of winner as Mass Medic Ignite, Boston.
Prior to this Sreekar worked at R&D divisions at Siemens & Philips developing cutting edge imaging systems leading multi-disciplinary team from India & Israel.
Sreekar is also trained in Stanford Biodesign engineering process to identify clinical unmet needs & has keen interest in democratization of healthcare through technology.
Sreekar Kothamachu
Founder & CEO
Nesa Medtech
Heather Ritchie
VP, Product & Marketing, Embr Labs
Heather Ritchie (VP Product & Marketing at Embr Labs) has 15 years of experience defining and bringing business and consumer digital and technology solutions to market. She has spent her career in healthcare and wellness, holding a variety of roles in health technology, biopharma consulting, payer, and biopharma companies, and even state government. She held senior product management roles at WebMD Health Services, Anthem, Eliza (an HMS Company), and Real Endpoints prior to joining Embr Labs in June 2019. Heather has a BA in Biochemical Sciences from Harvard University and MS in Healthcare Management from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Heather Ritchie
VP, Product & Marketing
EMBR Labs
MODERATOR
Denise Pines, Immediate Past President, Medical Board of California
Women’s health investors discussing the types of products and services investors will be interested in funding over the next several years.
MODERATOR
Connie Harrell, President, Keiretsu Forum Southern
Discussion with innovation, product development and design specialists on how to develop products and services for women 40+ and their strategies and tactics for innovating successfully in the FemAging era.
MODERATOR
Fard Johnmar, Founder and President, Enspektos, LLC
SPEAKERS
Lyndsey Harper (Founder & CEO), Rosy Wellness
Holly Rockweiler (CEO), Madorra
FemAging Fast Pitch Innovators
FemAging Innovators given 5 minutes to present their product/service and market success.
JUDGES
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De’Havia Stewart
Early Stage Investor Softbank Opportunity Fund
De’Havia Stewart is a part of the early-stage investment team at Softbank’s Opportunity Fund, which is a fund dedicated to investing into founders that identify as Black, Latino/a, and or Native American.
Prior to venture capital, Stewart worked in strategy consulting at Accenture, in which she assisted Fortune 500 companies with developing their strategic vision across Retail, CPG, Financial Services, and Media & Telecom. In addition to client work, during this role, she was also able to assist startups through Accenture Ventures, with a focus on pairing startups with Fortune 500 companies for corporate innovation.”
De'Havia Stewar
SB Opportunity Fund
Maria Velissaris
Founding Partner, SteelSky Ventures
Maria Velissaris is a serial entrepreneur and venture capitalist. She is the Founding Partner of SteelSky Ventures. SteelSky Ventures invests in companies that improve access, care, and outcomes in women’s healthcare. Their innovative approach allows the team to invest across the spectrum of women’s health indications and in technology infrastructure that supports new and innovative care delivery models. Current fund investments include: 23andMe, Zipline, Lark, Motivo, Origin, Twentyeight Health, OnCall.
Maria obtained a B.S. in Information Systems from Wake Forest University and an MBA in Finance and Entrepreneurship from the Stern School of Business at New York University.
Maria Velissaris
Steel Sky Ventures
Ananya Chandra
Managing Partner, Innopact
Ananya is Managing Partner of Innopact – an early-stage investor in high-impact technology startups across emerging markets. She also leads Women Prosperity Lab, a startup ecosystem enabler backing the future of womentech.
Previously, Ananya co-headed Accelerating Growth of New India’s Innovations (AGNIi), the flagship innovation initiative of the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India. Here, she collaborated with key national and international stakeholders to promote commercialization and scale-up of innovative technologies across India.
Prior to AGNIi, Ananya has been an entrepreneur. She was co- founder and COO of Just Move, an award-winning health-tech startup with marquee investors, that she led to exit in 2016. Ananya has also led the expansion of India’s largest womentech startup, Sheroes, into Southeast Asia.
Ananya started her career with international law firm Clifford Chance LLP in London, with stints in Singapore and Abu Dhabi. Ananya is an alumni of HEC Paris (Msc. In Innovation and Entrepreneurship), Stanford University’s Institute for Innovation in Developing Economies and National Law School, Bangalore (B.A., LL.B) and has lived and worked in 8 countries.
Ananya Chandra
Managing Partner, Innopact
Sasha Spellman
Director, AARP Innovation Labs
Sasha Spellman is the Director of Startup Collaboration at AARP Innovation Labs. AARP’s inaugural innovation lab is the Hatchery – a 10,000+ square foot structure in the heart of Washington DC, where breakthrough innovation is fostered, incubated and accelerated. In this role, Sasha is responsible for developing the AgeTech Collaborative™ which is the home to the AgeTech ecosystem bringing startups, forward-thinking investors, enlightened industry leaders and creative testbeds together to innovate and introduce smart solutions into the $8 trillion economy fueled by people age 50 and over.
Prior to AARP, Sasha was at Consumer Technology Association where she fostered entrepreneurship and growth of small business by managing the startup program at CES called Eureka Park. She helped grow investment of early-stage startups from 100 startups at CES 2012 to over 1200 startups at CES 2020.
Sasha Spellman
AARP Innovation Labs
Ankita Vashistha
Saha Fund
Alice Zheng, MD, MBA, MPH
Consultant, McKinsey & Company
Alice has been a women’s health enthusiast throughout her career spanning global health, clinical medicine and the private sector. She is also passionate personally, having experienced the patient perspective many times herself.
Alice is currently a management consultant at McKinsey & Company, where she advises clients across the pharmaceutical, health services and global health sectors. Alice also leads the internal knowledge center on women’s health.
Previously, Alice’s passion to improve lives for the underserved led her to work in East Africa and Asia in reproductive health and family planning with a variety of international and grassroots nonprofits. As a clinician, she focused on women’s health globally and published articles and case studies examining healthcare in low-income countries.
Alice holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and MD from the University of Michigan Medical School, where she was a Dean’s Merit Scholar. She also graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Michigan with a BS/MPH dual degree in Biochemistry and Global Public Health. She completed post-graduate medical training in internal medicine with Mount Sinai St. Luke’s and Mount Sinai West.
Alice currently lives in San Francisco with her husband, daughter and dog. In her spare time, Alice enjoys dancing, group fitness and talking to anyone who will listen about women’s health and FemTech.
Alice Zheng
Rhia Ventures
Kate Brodock
Founding Partner, W Fund and CEO of 2.0
Kate Brodock is Founding Partner of the W Fund and CEO of Women 2.0, one of largest global brands focused on gender and inclusion in startups. She’s been active in the tech startup ecosystem for 15+ years, and has played a central leadership role in representation in the sector, having led a global organization of 60+ chapters focused on women in entrepreneurship as its President. She’s also an EIR at LaunchNY, and a long-time mentor for Techstars.
Kate has spoken at and been featured in 100s of places, including SXSWi, Web Summit, Collision Conference, Fast Company, Techcrunch, MSNBC, IBM, TechCrunch and Al Jazeera America.
She has a BA from the University of Rochester, an MBA from Emory University and an MA from the Fletcher School at Tufts University. She’s a very non-professional (but adventurous!) athlete and musician, loves a good meal with bubbly, craft beer and friends, and lives with her husband, a startup-web-developer-turned-beer-guy on a hops farm in Upstate, NY and their two boys.
Kate Brodock
Founding Partner, W Fund
Stephanie Cherrin
Porsche Ventures
Linda Greub
Co-founder, Avestria Ventures
Amy Coveny
Quake ventures
Amy Coveny has extensive experience building revenue, products, and market strategies for startup companies. Since the beginning of her career at the newly-launched Fox News Channel, she has contributed to six acquisitions, three IPOs, and two early-stage fundraising cycles. During her tenure as the Global Head of Audio for Rubicon Project, she worked with Spotify to extend programmatic audio to international audiences. Her years as Vice President of Catch5 saw her develop a video content syndication model in the health and wellness space in order to customize brand experience. Amy has been an adviser to Quake Capital since the launch of its accelerator program in 2017, providing market insights and tips to companies including eSports One, DataGran, and Frenzy.
With experience in media, AdTech, emerging technology, and sales globally, Amy has played an instrumental part in a variety of successful ventures. Consistently ahead of the curve, she knows what it takes for startups to reach and exceed their goals.
As Managing Partner of the New York office, Amy focuses her efforts on growing and expanding Quake’s Accelerator program, investor network, and fundraising efforts.
With experience in media, AdTech, emerging technology, and sales globally, Amy has played an instrumental part in a variety of successful ventures. Consistently ahead of the curve, she knows what it takes for startups to reach–and exceed–their goals.
As Managing Partner of the New York office, Amy focuses her efforts on growing and expanding Quake’s Accelerator program, investor network, and fundraising strategy.
Amy Coveny
Quake Ventures
Madhuri Vegaraju
Sr. Software Architect, MCG Health, Part of the Hearst Healthcare Network
Madhuri Vegaraju is a startup advisor and software engineer with over 15 years of experience building healthcare applications and managing high-performing talent by innovating creative solutions with a focus on implementing highly available, scalable, and distributed services to achieve organizational objectives. She’s currently a Senior Solutions Architect at MCG Health, a Hearst-owned business that provides healthcare solutions and informed care strategies to help move patients toward health most efficiently. Madhuri speaks extensively on application architecture and for enterprises. Madhuri serves as a Scout for HearstLab, where she focuses on investing in and supporting women-led startups. As an “intrapreneur,” she’s currently pursuing a new business to improve health outcomes for people with food insecurity after winning the AI Solutions Design Contest 2030 for United Nations. She is also dedicated to serving her community, producing videos to help with fundraising and evangelizing others to support Sophia’s Way, a local women’s shelter. She also founded Seventh Hill Entertainment, a production house based in Seattle whose mission is to champion local talent.
Madhuri Vegaraju
Sr. Software Architect, MCG Health
JUDGES
Adrianna Samaniego, Female Founder’s Fund
Alice Zheng, McKinsey Silicon Valley Office, Leads Women’s Health
Maria Velissaris, Steel Sky Ventures
Faz Bashi, Portfolia, Portfolia
FemAging Fast Pitch Applicant Criteria !
- Business solutions must serve women ages 40+
- Company may operate in any industry, with the exception of nonprofits
- Must participate in the Fast Pitch Event on May 20th
- Early-stage plans are welcome (need to show some indication of customer interest, such as customer sign-ups, LOI’s, etc.)
