FemTech Founder, Brittany Barreto: Innovations in Women’s Health Care
Women’s health has often been overlooked or misunderstood, with de facto medical training based on male bodies. A lack of understanding and data has caused this field to be left behind, with little progress made in improving treatments or approaches.
Brittany Barreto, a Raleigh resident, is a women’s health advocate and the founder of Femtech approach and FemHealth Insights. She recently started a “Tech Talk” column for Healthy Women on the subject of innovations in women’s health care. Barreto aims to bring attention to the struggles of women’s health, particularly related to menopause, depression, and anxiety, and encourage women to talk about their health issues with each other and their doctors.
Understanding Hormone Replacement Therapy
Barreto highlighted the recent discontinuation of a long-term study of Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) in 2022 by the Women’s Health Initiative due to the adverse effects outweighing its benefits. However, the media coverage portraying HRT as a villain has led to a significant decline in prescriptions, causing women to suffer more from the symptoms of menopause.
Barreto clarified that the study on HRT presented fewer corrupt practices than the vaccine-autism connection, but a lack of data and understanding of women’s health caused misinterpretation. Women show very different symptoms and respond to medicine differently from men, and doctors receive little to no education about menopause or other women’s health issues.
Apps for Menopause and Migraine Treatments
Barreto highlighted an app in her column that facilitates virtual support groups and provides access to women who have been through the process of menopause, encouraging community and mental support that can be hard to find. The column also covers several apps that can be used to find telehealth support systems and to track symptoms in various ways, including through biometric monitoring.
Moreover, Barreto’s upcoming column will look at migraine treatments, and her company, FemHealth Insights, plans to release software to provide data on new FemTech startups soon.
Find a Community
Part of the tragedy of menopause is how little it is talked about, not only in the medical community but also among women. Women are often isolated, feeling different, broken, or weird, with a loss of the hormones they once depended on. Small steps, such as talking about menopause and finding virtual support communities, can help women significantly in the process.
The Importance of Women’s Healthcare Innovations
With healthcare transforming and technology advancing rapidly, the need to focus on women’s health care has become essential. Women’s health needs to be better understood, researched, and treated to prevent and cure diseases and conditions that affect women uniquely.
Barreto’s column is a small but important step towards better understanding and treating women’s health issues. She has used a tech platform to reach her audience and inform them about the current advances in women’s healthcare. She aims to encourage more women to speak out about their health issues, bring attention to the importance of funding women’s healthcare research, and promote and support new FemTech startups.
Summary
Women’s healthcare has often been overlooked or misunderstood due to a lack of data and understanding of women’s health issues. Brittany Barreto, a women’s health advocate and the founder of Femtech approach and FemHealth Insights, highlights the need to talk about menopause, depression, anxiety, and other issues that affect women uniquely. Her “Tech Talk” column sheds light on recent advances in women’s healthcare, including several apps that facilitate virtual support communities and telehealth support systems. Barreto also aims to bring attention to the importance of funding women’s healthcare research, promote and support new FemTech startups, and encourage more women to speak out about their health issues.
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RALEIGH- In 2022, a long term study by the Women’s Health Initiative examining the use of Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) was discontinued after the team determined that “adverse effects outweigh and outnumber the benefits.” The media jumped on the news and HRT became a villain. Once the most frequently prescribed menopause treatment in the United States, prescriptions plummeted.
“It’s literally like the vaccine and autism all over again. But you know, it’s the Women’s Health version.”
Britany Barreto, a Raleigh resident, is a women’s health advocate and founder of Femtech approach and FemHealth Insights.
“[The] The study that was done was less corrupt in terms of the vaccine-autism connection,” Barreto clarified. “They saw that connection to breast cancer and other gynecological cancers that weren’t necessarily there. They weren’t bad players, but it was just a lack of understanding of women’s health and a lack of data.”
Women’s health has often been overlooked or misunderstood. Women show very different symptoms and respond to medicine very differently from men, but despite this, de facto medical training is based on male bodies. As Barreto pointed out, doctors receive, on average, only 4 hours of menopause education throughout their entire medical training. According to a recent New York Times article20% of residents have not had a single lecture on the topic of menopause.
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women’s health column
Barreto is a busy woman, but she recently found time to start a new project. She is now writing a “Tech Talk” Column for healthy women on the subject of innovations in women’s health care. Your topic of the first column: menopause.
As her column points out, much of the struggles of menopausal women go beyond the physical symptoms. Depression and anxiety are top concerns for women as they experience the physical and mental changes that this transition brings.
“[We’re] just like teenagers when we get new doses of hormones. We are emotional teenagers, right? That’s what menopause is, but it’s the other way around. It’s the loss of your hormones that you always used to depend on. And unfortunately, it’s not a gradual decline. Sometimes women can still get their period. They won’t get their period for six months thinking ‘okay, I’m really in menopause now’, and then they get their period, then they have the estrogen influx, the LH influx and progesterone influx. So it really is kind of a roller coaster.”
find a community
Part of the tragedy of menopause is how little it is talked about, not only in the medical community but also among women.
“People don’t talk about it, so they don’t necessarily know what to expect. And then they’re also dealing with the trauma of their bodies and their brains not working the way they expected,” Baretto said. “It’s the feeling of isolation. ‘I’m different. I’m broken. I’m the weird one.’”
Her column on menopause highlights an app that facilitates virtual support groups, encourages the community, and provides access to women who have been through the process.
“[As women,] it is in our biology to seek community and trust community. In many cultures, gathering menopausal women is part of the culture, right? They are seen in some cultures as the wisest human beings to be trusted, supported and respected. We don’t do a very good job with that America.”
FemTech Revolution: FemTech Focus Co-Founder Brittany Barreto Leads the Charge in the Triangle
The menopause column also includes several apps that can be used to find telehealth support systems and to track symptoms in various ways, including through biometric monitoring.
Barreto has many more ideas and support to share. TO Recent Tech Talk column covers home diagnostic tools; next month’s column will look at migraine treatments. His company, FemHealth Insights, is also planning an upcoming software release to provide data on new FemTech startups.
FACT CHART – Brittany Barreto
Education
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine
- BA in Biology; minors in Public Health and French, Drew University
companies
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FemTech thought leader in Raleigh advocates for better women’s healthcare
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