Cambridge Healthtech Institute's Inaugural

Women's Health Venture and Innovation

Driving Innovation in Women's Health, MedTech, Therapeutics, Diagnostics, and Digital Health

March 23 - 24, 2026 ALL TIMES PST

In recent years, investment in women’s health has gained significant momentum—an encouraging trend that recognizes the far-reaching benefits of prioritizing women's well-being. Enhancing women's health not only improves individual quality of life but also strengthens families, communities, and economies by lowering healthcare costs and boosting productivity. CHI’s Inaugural Women’s Health Venture and Innovation meeting at HERS will spotlight the critical need to close persistent funding gaps and accelerate innovation in this historically underfunded sector. The program will showcase cutting-edge advancements in FemTech, including wearable technologies, digital biomarkers, artificial intelligence, early detection of breast cancer, and improved cardiovascular diagnostics—tools that empower women to better manage their health. This meeting brings together visionary investors, entrepreneurs, researchers, and healthcare leaders who are committed to shaping the future of women’s health. Join us as we explore the dynamic intersection of technology, investment, and care that will define the next era of health innovation for women.

Monday, March 23

7:30 amRegistration Open and Morning Coffee

PLENARY KEYNOTE SESSION

8:30 am

Organizer's Welcome Remarks

Jason Green, Senior Conference Director, Cambridge Healthtech Institute

8:35 am

Chairperson's Remarks

Jen Radin, Principal, Deloitte

8:40 am Investment & Impact: The Rise of the Women’s Healthcare Economy

Megan Scheffel, Head of Life Science and Healthcare, SVB a Division of First Citizens Bank

8:45 am PANEL DISCUSSION:

Fueling Women’s Health with Science, Technology, Capital & Care

PANEL MODERATOR:

Jen Radin, Principal, Deloitte

Women’s health has gained momentum, but we need to capitalize on it in a meaningful way to make long-term, scalable, and sustainable progress. This keynote panel brings together the key stakeholders in venture, R&D, and healthcare to provide insights into the leading opportunities and challenges facing the field, focusing specifically on:

  • Where are we in the journey of women’s health?
  • What are the key hurdles and what has worked so far to overcome them?
  • What else needs to be done?
  • How can we increase the investment in women’s health?
  • What are some of the advances in the R&D pipeline that are showing the most promise?
  • Are we exploring and exploiting all the innovations in FemTech?
  • What needs to change to shift the conversation around access and reimbursement in women’s health?
  • At what point does Women’s Health become just “health”?
  • How can we better connect and collaborate to make a difference for all women?​​
PANELISTS:

Michael Annichine, CEO, Magee-Womens Research Institute & Foundation

Cathy Friedman, Executive Venture Partner, Google Ventures

Jodi Neuhauser, CEO & Founder, 51&

Kathryn Rexrode, MD, MPH, Chief Academic Officer & Chief, Division of Women’s Health, Brigham & Women’s Hospital

9:45 amNetworking Coffee Break with Exhibit Viewing

WOMEN'S HEALTH INVESTMENT LANDSCAPE: UPDATE ON GROWTH TRENDS AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

10:25 am

Chairperson's Remarks

Mitzi Krockover, MD, CEO, Woman Centered; Producer, Beyond the Paper Gown podcast; Managing Director, Golden Seeds; Co-Founder, Femtech AZ; Professor of Practice, ASU College of Health Solutions

10:30 am

The $100B Proof: Women’s Health Was Never a Niche Market

Oriana Papin-Zoghbi, CEO, AOA Dx

Women’s health has been framed as niche and limited to reproductive care, but the data tells a different story. Drawing on AOA Dx’s analysis of 25 years of exits, this talk reveals more than $100B in realized value and 27 unicorn exits. By reframing how the sector is categorized, we uncover a mature, scalable market and what it signals for the next wave of innovation and investment in women’s health.

10:45 am PANEL DISCUSSION:

Women's Health Investment Landscape: Updating Growth Trends and Funding Opportunities

PANEL MODERATOR:

Mitzi Krockover, MD, CEO, Woman Centered; Producer, Beyond the Paper Gown podcast; Managing Director, Golden Seeds; Co-Founder, Femtech AZ; Professor of Practice, ASU College of Health Solutions

Gain insights into the evolving women’s health investment landscape as experts share current funding trends, emerging market opportunities, and areas attracting investor attention. This panel will explore growth drivers, deal activity, and strategies for advancing innovation and capital flow in one of healthcare’s most dynamic and rapidly expanding sectors.

PANELISTS:

Katherine Andersen, Head of US Life Science & Healthcare, HSBC Innovation Banking

Jessica Karr, General Partner, Coyote Ventures

Eric Schaefer, Senior Director, Portfolio Strategy & Mission Investment, March of Dimes

Tracy Warren, Senior Managing Director, Go Red for Women Fund, AHA Ventures, American Heart Association

Alice Zheng, MD, Partner, Foreground Capital

11:30 am SVB Women’s Health Report Discussion and Fireside Chat with Alice Zheng  

Megan Scheffel, Head of Life Science and Healthcare, SVB a Division of First Citizens Bank

Alice Zheng, Partner, Foreground Capital

12:00 pmEnjoy Lunch on Your Own

1:30 pm

Chairperson's Remarks

Katherine Andersen, Head of US Life Science & Healthcare, HSBC Innovation Banking

1:35 pm PANEL DISCUSSION:

Building and Scaling Women’s Health Ventures: Funding, Partnerships, and Exit Pathways

PANEL MODERATOR:

Katherine Andersen, Head of US Life Science & Healthcare, HSBC Innovation Banking

Women’s health innovation is attracting growing investor and industry attention, but founders still face unique hurdles in raising capital, forming strategic alliances, and navigating exit opportunities. This discussion will bring together experienced entrepreneurs, investors, and corporate leaders to share:


  • How to position your company for early and growth-stage funding
  • Partnership strategies (e.g. pharma, payers, and health systems)
  • Practical insights on timing and structuring exits
  • Lessons learned from recent women’s health deals and case studies
  • Mistakes to avoid (equity dilution, poor alignment, regulatory risk)

This panel will provide founders and executives with pragmatic strategies to build sustainable companies and capture long-term value in women’s health.​

PANELISTS:

Trish Costello, CEO & Founder, Portfolia; CEO Emeritus, Kauffman Fellows

Seema Kumar, CEO, Cure

Oriana Papin-Zoghbi, CEO, AOA Dx

Liz Powell, Esq., MPH, Founder of Women's Health Advocates and G2G Consulting

WOMEN'S HEALTH ENTREPRENEURSHIP SUCCESS STORIES

2:15 pm

The Economics of MedTech Innovation

Tracy MacNeal, President & CEO, Materna Medical

The global landscape of women’s health continues to be marked by significant unmet needs, with progress often appearing slow and fragmented. This presentation examines the innovation cycle within the MedTech sector and its historical impact on women’s health. It then explores the evolving landscape, highlighting key strategies for securing funding, navigating reimbursement pathways, and successfully launching transformative medical devices in today’s healthcare environment.

2:25 pm

The Future of Hormone Diagnostics

Amy Beckley, PhD, Founder & CEO, Proov

Hormones constantly change across the menstrual cycle, making a single blood test non-diagnostic. To truly understand how hormonal changes affect women's health, a better diagnostic platform must be created. Proov invented the first and only FDA-cleared at-home PdG (progesterone metabolite) test in 2017. Since then, Proov's platform has expanded to measure all 4 reproductive hormones in urine. These tests are paired with pattern recognition and advanced analytics to truly understand how hormonal changes affect women's health and allow for personalized interventions to treat women quickly and effectively, even at home.

2:35 pm

Swapping Science for Silence—Shifting How Society Values and Invests in Women’s Health

Sabrina Martucci Johnson, President and CEO, Daré Bioscience

Daré Bioscience is a purpose-driven health biotech company focused solely on closing the gap between promising science and real solutions in women’s health. Our targeted therapeutics are based in advanced science, backed by rigorous research and validated by peer review. From contraception to menopause, pelvic pain to fertility, vaginal health to infectious disease, we’re closing critical gaps in care using science that serves her needs.

2:45 pm

The Midi Model: Rewriting the Digital Health Playbook

Sharon Meers, Co-Founder & President, Midi Health

Women in midlife have long been underserved by traditional healthcare—and most new solutions have not fully addressed the real barriers: access, clinical efficacy, and cost. In this session, Midi Health shares how it built a new model that combines clinical rigor, consumer engagement, and deep partnerships with health system incumbents to scale high-quality menopause care nationwide. The talk will explore the strategic decisions behind Midi’s growth, what worked (and what didn’t), and how a new operating model for digital health can drive sustainable impact.

2:55 pm

When Success Means Changing the System: Lessons from Building Evvy

Priyanka Jain, Co-Founder & CEO, Evvy

Evvy is unlocking precision women’s healthcare through novel, overlooked female biomarkers—starting with the vaginal microbiome. Evvy is one of the fastest growing women’s health companies in the US—enabling us to deliver innovative, high-quality care while scaling novel R&D to unlock a new, data-driven future in women’s health. Evvy’s Vaginal Health Test is the first at-home vaginal microbiome test to use metagenomic sequencing.

3:05 pmNetworking Refreshment Break with Exhibit Viewing

3:40 pm

Chairperson's Remarks

Anula Jayasuriya, MD, PhD, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Kidron Capital

3:45 pm PANEL DISCUSSION:

Commercialization Strategies for Women's Health

PANEL MODERATOR:

Jodi Neuhauser, CEO & Founder, 51&

Explore how innovators are bringing groundbreaking women’s health solutions to market. This panel will discuss effective commercialization strategies—from navigating regulatory and reimbursement landscapes to building partnerships, securing investment, and scaling access. Hear from industry leaders driving growth, adoption, and impact across the rapidly expanding women’s health ecosystem.

PANELISTS:

Stefanie Diaz, Principal, Innovation and Venture Strategy, Catalyst by Wellstar

Eric Dy, PhD, Co-Founder & CEO, Bloomlife

Ikram Guerd, General Manager US, CMO, Aspivix

Candace Nagaraja, Managing Director and Partner, Women's Health Lead, L.E.K. Consulting

Rachel Braun Scherl, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, SPARK Solutions for Growth

4:30 pm PANEL DISCUSSION:

Women's Health Therapeutics: Innovation, Funding, and Development Strategies

PANEL MODERATOR:

Anula Jayasuriya, MD, PhD, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Kidron Capital

Examine the rapidly evolving landscape of women’s health therapeutics—from breakthrough discoveries to successful commercialization. This panel will explore innovation pipelines, investment trends, and strategic partnerships driving progress. Hear leaders discuss how targeted therapies and smart funding approaches are accelerating development and reshaping the future of women’s health.

PANELISTS:

Angelika Fretzen, PhD, MBA, COO & Technology Translation Director, Wyss Institute, Harvard University

Linda Greub, Managing Partner, Avestria Ventures

Sabrina Martucci Johnson, President and CEO, Daré Bioscience

Lea Wenger, PhD, Founder & CEO, Cyclana

5:15 pmWelcome Reception with Exhibit Viewing

6:15 pmClose of Day

Tuesday, March 24

7:45 amRegistration Open and Breakfast Available

8:00 am BREAKFAST PANEL DISCUSSION:

Capital to Commercial: The Women’s Health BIOtech Ecosystem

PANEL MODERATOR:

Michele M. Oshman, Chief Patient Advocate, Senior Vice President, Alliance Development, Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO)

Join us for a breakfast discussion with leaders across the biotechnology continuum. From raising funds to commercial launch and market access, our speakers will discuss their unique perspectives and roles in advancing women’s health.

PANELISTS:

Vanessa Belozeroff, Head, R&D Portfolio & Project Management, Organon

Sabrina Martucci Johnson, President and CEO, Daré Bioscience

LaToya Wilson, Managing Director, Global Co-Head of Inclusive & Sustainable Ventures, Morgan Stanley

8:30 amTransition to Sessions
8:35 am PANEL DISCUSSION:

Redefining Women’s Health Through MedTech

PANEL MODERATOR:

Nada O. Hanafi, MSc, MPH, Founder & Manager, MedTech Strategy Advisors, LLC; Co-Founder, MedTech Color; Co-Founder, Women’s Health Advocates

Explore how MedTech is transforming women’s health through cutting-edge devices, diagnostics, and digital solutions. This panel will highlight innovations addressing unmet needs across reproductive, maternal, and chronic care. Hear from industry leaders shaping a new era of precision, accessibility, and empowerment in women’s health technology.

PANELISTS:

Anoushka Gungadin, CEO & Managing Director, HeraMED

Colby Holtshouse, President & CEO, May Health

Tracy MacNeal, President & CEO, Materna Medical

IN PERSON ONLY ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSIONS

9:20 amTransition to Roundtable Discussions
9:30 amRoundtable Discussions

Roundtable Discussions are informal, moderated discussions, allowing participants to exchange ideas and experiences and develop future collaborations around a focused topic. Each discussion will be led by a facilitator(s) who keeps the discussion on track and the group engaged. To get the most out of this format, please come prepared to share examples from your work, be a part of a collective, problem-solving session, and participate in active idea sharing. Please visit the Roundtable Discussions page on the conference website for a complete listing of topics and descriptions.

IN-PERSON ONLY ROUNDTABLE 1: The New Wave: How AI is Driving Women’s Health Innovation

Imen Maaroufi Clark, Founder & CEO, Prickly Pear Health

IN-PERSON ONLY ROUNDTABLE 2: Rebuilding Credibility: The Currency of Trust in Women’s Health Innovation

Denise Bronner, PhD, Founder & CEO, Empactful Ventures

  • How credibility can and should be rebuilt as a core value driver for women’s health innovation
  • What measurable trust looks like in both scientific validation and investor diligence
  • How communities assess legitimacy
  • How founders and funders can co-create trust-based models that strengthen engagement, adherence, and long-term market sustainability​

IN-PERSON ONLY ROUNDTABLE 3: Actionable Strategies for Overcoming Translational Hurdles in Women’s Health Innovation

Sophia Ononye, PhD, MPH, MBA, Founder & CEO, The Sophia Consulting Firm

  • Align discovery with real unmet clinical need to avoid “interesting science” that is not adoptable or reimbursable.
  • Design early evidence for regulatory + payer credibility (endpoints, comparators, health economics signal) so validation is built in, not bolted on.
  • Build cross sector partnerships early (clinicians, payers, patient groups, industry, academia) to de risk development and speed adoption.
  • Communicate value to attract capital and collaborators while planning for scalable access and workforce integration so solutions can actually deploy in the real world.​

IN-PERSON ONLY ROUNDTABLE 4: Closing Gaps in Women's Health with Policy & Advocacy

Liz Powell, Esq., MPH, Founder of Women's Health Advocates and G2G Consulting

  • Policies impacting women's health
  • How to shape the process
  • What to expect in 2026​

10:00 amNetworking Coffee Break with Exhibit Viewing

10:35 am

Chairperson's Remarks

Ariana Chehrazi, Senior Vice President, Commercial & Healthcare Partnerships, Midi Health

10:40 am PANEL DISCUSSION:

Digital Health and AI Enabling Women's Health Innovation

PANEL MODERATOR:

Ariana Chehrazi, Senior Vice President, Commercial & Healthcare Partnerships, Midi Health

Learn how digital health and AI are accelerating breakthroughs in women’s health. This panel will examine data-driven platforms, predictive algorithms, and virtual care models that improve diagnosis, treatment, and access. Experts will discuss how technology is closing knowledge gaps and delivering more personalized, equitable care for women worldwide.

PANELISTS:

Mark Amouzgar, Co-Founder & CEO, March Health

Lauren Cantor Wright, Principal, Yosemite

Chevon Rariy, MD, Chief Clinical Innovation Officer, Visana Health

FEMTECH INNOVATION SHOWCASE

11:20 am

Bloomlife: Redesigning Maternal Care Delivery for High-Risk Pregnancies

Eric Dy, PhD, Co-Founder & CEO, Bloomlife

Over the past several decades there has been a significant increase in the rates of high-risk pregnancies requiring greater clinical care. At the same time, we have a growing shortage of maternal-healthcare providers, creating barriers to care for women throughout the US. There is an urgent need to redesign care delivery to ensure the highest-risk patients get access to care to improve birth outcomes. Bloomlife is designing the future of maternal-care delivery through the most advanced combination of technology, data science, and clinical expertise.  

11:30 am

Digital Twins and Multi-Agent AI in Women’s Health: Detect Earlier, Treat Smarter

Mark Amouzgar, Co-Founder & CEO, March Health

11:40 am

A Retrospective, Claims-Based Evaluation of Total Cost of Care at Visana Health, a Virtual Women’s Health Clinic

Chevon Rariy, MD, Chief Clinical Innovation Officer, Visana Health

We conducted a retrospective, propensity score–matched cohort study using commercial claims data to evaluate the effectiveness of Visana Health, a comprehensive virtual women’s health care and navigation model (600 participants; 2,941 controls). Over six months, enrollment was associated with a $3,429 reduction in total allowed costs per member (P=0.02), driven by decreased facility, professional, and gynecologic spending, alongside reduced inpatient and emergency department utilization. Results support integrated virtual women’s care as an effective model for improving outcomes while lowering total cost of care.

11:50 am

Do You Have the Audacity to Prove the Experts Wrong?

Robert Bunn, CEO & Founder, Ultrasound AI

Preterm birth drives infant morbidity, yet current tools rarely warn early enough. In this talk, Robert Bunn, founder of Ultrasound AI, shows how prenatal ultrasound becomes a predictive signal with AI to estimate delivery timing and flag preterm risk weeks earlier. The approach requires no new equipment or workflow, enabling low-cost deployment. Bunn outlines the concept, clinical validation plan, and partnerships needed to translate prediction into prevention.

12:00 pm

Company Spotlight: Ananya Health

Anu Parvatiyar, CEO, Ananya Health

Ananya Health is a medical device company building a platform to freeze and destroy abnormal tissue before it becomes cervical cancer. By removing the need for consumable cryogen, the platform delivers standard-of-care outcomes at a fraction of the cost of traditional cryoablation and enables providers at all levels of care to treat precancerous lesions. The Ananya Health team has five decades of medical device experience from concept to commercialization, and the company is backed by top investors, including YCombinator, NIH, EHA Impact Ventures, and BrightEdge Ventures, the investment arm of the American Cancer Society.

12:10 pm

Afterthought to Architecture: Women’s Health Is Powering the Future Healthcare Economy

Lisa Marceau, MPH, Founder & CEO, Joyuus; Founder & President, Alpha Millennial Health

Women’s health has been ignored or narrowly defined as reproductive health. That framing is being challenged, and women are driving the change. Women’s health represents the most powerful platform for predictive, longitudinal, and integrated healthcare innovation. This talk reframes women’s health as infrastructure connecting market forces, emerging technology, and the healthcare economy. Attendees will gain perspective on where value is being created in healthcare, and why women are driving it.

12:20 pm

Healthy Aging Begins in Pregnancy: AI-Based Precision Diagnostics for the Modern Mother

Rashmi Raghavendra, CEO, Dionysus Healthcare

Maternal health is at an inflection point. Birth rates among women over 40 have risen nearly 200% in the past three decades, while Millennials and Gen Z enter pregnancy with historically high anxiety and stress, Dionysus Healthcare is building AI-driven epigenetic platforms to predict maternal mental health risk before symptoms appear and quantify pregnancy related biologic aging and resilience, positioning pregnancy as the future gateway to longevity medicine.

12:30 pmEnjoy Lunch on Your Own

1:45 pmNetworking Refreshment Break with Exhibit Viewing

2:00 pm

Chairperson's Remarks

Mara G. Aspinall, Partner, Illumina Ventures; Professor of Practice, Arizona State University

2:05 pm PANEL DISCUSSION:

Innovation in Menopause and Aging Care

PANEL MODERATOR:

Claire Gill, Founder & President, National Menopause Foundation

The landscape of women's midlife health is undergoing a revolutionary transformation. This panel will delve into the evolving funding ecosystem for women's health innovations and address systemic barriers and opportunities across multiple sectors. With over one billion women globally expected to be in menopause by 2030, this session explores the potential to transform how society supports women during this critical life transition and beyond.

PANELISTS:

Rachel Butler, President, Catalytic Impact Foundation

Maria Gonzalez Blanch, Managing Partner, Crescent Ridge VC

Mindy Goldman, Chief Clinical Officer, Midi Health

Tarul Kode, PharmD, Vice President, Partnerships & Alliance Management, Persephoni Bio; Board Member, Advisor & Investor, Springboard Healthcare and Technology Council

Jayne Morgan, MD, Vice President, Hello Heart

DIAGNOSTICS INNOVATION SHOWCASE

2:55 pm PANEL DISCUSSION:

Redefining Women's Health: Diagnostics, Data & Disruption

PANEL MODERATOR:

Mara G. Aspinall, Partner, Illumina Ventures; Professor of Practice, Arizona State University

Diagnostics are rewriting the rules of engagement in women’s health from cancer screening to period tracking and everything in between. This provocative panel dives into the technologies transforming how we detect, monitor, and manage conditions across the lifespan—from reproductive health to chronic disease. We’ll explore how at-home testing and digital tools are unlocking earlier insights, enabling data-driven care, and powering a new generation of women-centered solutions. Whether you're building, investing in, or scaling diagnostic innovation, this session offers a front-row seat to what’s next.

PANELISTS:

Sofiat Akinola, Director, Health Policy and External Affairs, Roche Diagnostics Solutions

Farideh Bischoff, PhD, CMO, Global Head of Diagnostics, Heranova Lifesciences, Inc.

Steve Gardner, PhD, CEO and Co-Founder, PrecisionLife

Neha Kumar, Global Commercial Precision Medicine Strategy, Johnson & Johnson

3:35 pm

Ending the Diagnostic Odyssey: AI-Enabled Mechanostics to Predict, Treat, and Prevent Complex Diseases Affecting Women’s Health

Steve Gardner, PhD, CEO and Co-Founder, PrecisionLife

Women with chronic, under-researched diseases such as endometriosis face a diagnostic and therapeutic landscape that is delayed, invasive, and often ineffective. PrecisionLife is transforming this paradigm. Our proprietary combinatorial analytics and AI platform has uncovered previously invisible patterns of genetic risk and disease mechanisms across large-scale population data. We’ve used these insights to develop a new class of diagnostic tools called mechanostics – non-invasive, highly predictive tests that identify underlying drivers.

3:45 pm

Continuous Hormone Monitor Empowering Women's Health

Uroš Kuzmanovic, PhD, CEO & Founder, BioSens8

BioSens8 is engineering a live data stream of our health state. Sensing a multitude of biomarkers continuously and in real-time with novel wearables will open the door to health ownership, personalized medicine, and proactive, data-driven decisions. One of BioSens8's first products is a continuous hormone monitor for female sex hormones designed to empower women with unprecedented insight and control over their health.

3:55 pmClose of Conference





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