The Hotflash inc podcast 193: Funding menopause and midlife women's health with Maryann Selfe
This episode of the Hotflash inc Podcast is hosted by Ann Marie McQueen, journalist and founder of the world’s only reader-supported, research-based platform covering all aspects of perimenopause, menopause, and the midlife transition.
This week's guest is Maryann Selfe, the Zurich-based private banking expert turned women's health investment advocate. After 25 years advising ultra-high-net-worth clients, Maryann became laser-focused on the lack of funding flowing into women’s health – and she’s doing something about it.
Maryann is the founder of Femme Health Alliance, editor of the widely-read Substack The Billion Dollar Blind Spot and author of the forthcoming book of the same name. In this conversation, she breaks down how midlife women represent an invisible economic powerhouse, how both capital markets and healthcare systems are failing to meet our needs – and how that is slowly changing.
Fact check
- Major firms like JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley have introduced menopause-friendly workplace policies, including flexible work and education.
- A 2025 Nature Cardiovascular Research study found women achieved heart health benefits with about half the weekly exercise men required — with even greater mortality reductions, including among those with existing heart disease.
- The $10.7B invested in women’s health in 2024 includes conditions that disproportionately affect women, according to SVB’s 2025 Innovation in Women’s Health report.
- Blackstone and TPG’s acquisition of women’s health med-tech leader Hologic is expected to close in early 2026.
Thank you to our Hotflash inc Summit gold sponsor:
MenoLabs – Use code HOTFLASH for 20% off https://menolabs.com
Highlights include:
- Why so little capital flows into women’s health
- What she means when she says midlife women are “an invisible economy”
- Insomnia trials were done mostly on men
- Women’s health isn’t a trend
- Why this isn’t just “women’s health”
- The missed opportunity in progesterone research
- Why financial return and impact can (and must) coexist
Engage with Maryann Selfe
- The Billion Dollar Blind Spot by Femme Health Ventures Alliance on Substack
- LinkedIn: Maryann Selfe
- IG Femme Health Ventures Alliance
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