\u201cThis is an ideas trust just waiting to be unleashed,\u201d said MECCA founder Jo Horgan.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And it could not have started at a more critical time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While Australia is a world leader in health research and innovation, investment in solutions for women falls short.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In 2020, McKinsey found that only 1 per cent <\/a>of health research and innovation around the world went towards conditions specific to women (excepting oncology).\u00a0<\/p>\n Investment in all-women founding teams has also gone backwards with just 2 per cent of VC funding going towards these ventures last year, according to the latest State of Startup Funding <\/a>report.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cGender equality they\u2019re saying is going to take over a 100 years to get to,\u201d said Horgan.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s up to us to try and find ways to play our part in changing that.\u201d<\/p>\n Women\u2019s Agenda founder Angela Priestley also noted that now was the optimal time to enact this change with momentum building around women\u2019s issues across the government and private sectors.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe are at a pivotal moment in Australia,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe are at a time when women\u2019s health is getting a lot more attention.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are seeing state and federal governments funding various commitments across women\u2019s health.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere have been great wins but we have so much more to do.\u201d<\/p>\n Embedding a gender lens in health research and funding\u00a0<\/p>\n During the discussion, a number of women raised what recent research has made clear: too often real symptoms are dismissed, undermined and not listened to by healthcare professionals meant to notice.\u00a0<\/p>\n Victoria\u2019s inquiry into women\u2019s pain<\/a> found an overwhelming majority of women who sought assistance for pain were dismissed by their doctors.\u00a0<\/p>\n June Health<\/a> founder Grace Toombs who launched her company to empower women with at-home testing kits for reproductive issues, said the pain she suffered was ignored by clinicians for years.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m one of the one in seven Australian women who have endometriosis,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cI tell you what, it was a bloody hard journey to get that diagnosis.\u201d<\/p>\n Djirra<\/a> Director Karen Bryant shared a similar experience with doctors almost missing endometrial cancer.<\/p>\n \u201cIt took me nearly four months to get my doctor of 19 years to listen to what my symptoms were,\u201d said Bryant.<\/p>\n \u201cDoctors and GPs are not listening enough.\u201d<\/p>\n These experiences spotlight how critical it is for women to be prioritised in health research and funding.\u00a0<\/p>\n Giant Leap<\/a> partner Rachel Yang said innovators, researchers and founders building health solutions for women are not working on \u2018niche\u2019 ideas and investors across government and private capital cannot afford to keep ignoring them.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re really proud that around 60 per cent of our portfolio is run by women,\u201d Yang said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s not because it\u2019s charity, it\u2019s because women present outsized opportunities for commercial return.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you don\u2019t back them, you\u2019re leaving value on the table.\u201d<\/p>\n Venture capital firms like Giant Leap<\/a> and Scale Investors<\/a> are actively working to shift the stats.\u00a0<\/p>\n Scale Investors General Partner Roo Harris said women-led startups in the health space are an untapped opportunity.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe were very keen to plug the gender investment gap but I\u2019m more and more excited about the gender innovation gap and the extraordinary gold mine that we\u2019re sitting on if we actually fund women who are injecting their lived experience into innovation,\u201d said Harris.\u00a0<\/p>\n Strengthening the women-led health innovation ecosystem\u00a0<\/p>\n The roundtable was made up of a phenomenal group of innovators and disruptors building technologies that could revolutionise healthcare for women.\u00a0<\/p>\n Associate Professor Helen Frazer, for example, the recipient of the inaugural MECCA prize for Healthcare Technology Innovation, is a pioneer in using AI technology to improve cancer screening and detect breast cancer early in women.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m a radiologist, a breast cancer clinician and an AI researcher,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWith a very talented team of researchers, I\u2019ve been developing AI algorithms for early detection of breast cancer on mammograms, now in trials in BreastScreen Victoria.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, the opportunity is even bigger.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe two main causes of premature deaths of women in this country are breast cancer and cardiovascular disease.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have shown AI models can also predict future risk of both breast cancer and cardiovascular disease from the mammogram alone. So if we can focus on just those two areas, with AI and data capabilities, we can potentially solve or reduce 20 per cent of all premature deaths of women in our country and that would be game\u2011changing.<\/p>\n \u201cBut movement in healthcare is very slow and local capability needs to be better supported.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The broader ecosystem health tech innovators like Frazer operate in needs to be structured in a way that better validates their work, recognises the urgency of what they are trying to achieve and brings investment in.\u00a0<\/p>\n A number of strong suggestions were made around this including calls for a gender lens in grant funding, procurement processes and other investment circles.<\/p>\n There was also a push for investors to avoid teams led entirely by men and to place more focus on ventures working on health conditions specific to women.<\/p>\n Larger funding bodies like the Medical Research Future Fund<\/a>, the National Health and Medical Research Council<\/a> and superannuation funds can play a role in all of this and help tilt the ecosystem.\u00a0<\/p>\n Greater collaboration and knowledge sharing could also accelerate women-led ventures as they navigate regulation, contracts and AI advancements.\u00a0<\/p>\n During the discussion, the idea of a coalition for multidisciplinary stakeholders in the health tech space was raised where expertise could be shared and collaboration fostered.<\/p>\n This would prevent women operating in silos and solving the same problems.<\/p>\n The Karman Project <\/a>co-founder Hannah Ashford, who works on international diplomacy efforts for outer space, said it could help bring together women in a powerful way.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s important that such conversations continue, and I wonder whether we can form some type of coalition to build on the multidisciplinary expertise we see around this table \u2013 from communications to funding to cutting-edge research,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe should avoid duplicating existing efforts, so we don\u2019t necessarily need to create yet another council to advocate to the government, but I do think we have collective power and synergies in this room that we can leverage.\u201d<\/p>\n Protecting sovereign IP in Australia around women\u2019s health\u00a0<\/p>\n Many of the founders in the room on Thursday night are on the frontlines of AI development building tools in clinician scribing, diagnostics, data platforms and specific healthcare like menstrual support.\u00a0<\/p>\n Among them was Ovum AI<\/a> founder Dr Ariella Heffernan-Marks who has been developing what will essentially be a lifetime health assistant<\/a> for women providing them with a tool that integrates wearable data, symptom tracking, nutrition, exercise and reproductive health data into one one longitudinal memory system.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re building toward the largest proprietary dataset in women\u2019s health to help close the gender health gap,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cAlready, we\u2019re seeing strong momentum with over 50,000 health insights collected from women aged 15 to 84, and 83 per cent choosing to contribute their data to research.\u201d<\/p>\n Chloe Shorten, a non-executive director in health and superannuation with expertise in AI governance for public good, said women\u2019s health is no longer a \u201cniche\u201d sector.\u00a0<\/p>\n In fact, it is being redefined as \u201chealth for 51 per cent of the population\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n In line with this shift, Shorten said there should be mandatory reporting on women\u2019s health investment, expenditure and data.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cUnderstand that while we have a data gap, we will always have a diagnosis gap,\u201d Shorten said.<\/p>\n \u201cSo let\u2019s have a public data drive and make sure the conditions of trust in that process are firmly in place so we can transform healthcare into a service that meets growing and changing demands.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have some of the richest health data in the world so it must be handled with care.<\/p>\n \u201cThe whole health system has to protect privacy and trust, because evidence shows health privacy leaks actually stop patients returning to hospitals.\u201d<\/p>\n With rapid advancements in AI, founders are increasingly able to develop new tools and apps without needing to be a software engineer.\u00a0<\/p>\n It presents an exciting opportunity but one with risks.\u00a0<\/p>\n When other nations like the US lead the charge with big tech, the data of users in Australia can be exposed at any time.\u00a0<\/p>\n Australia is a leader in health research and as a matter of urgency should be looking to strengthen its sovereignty around AI models and data.<\/p>\n Investing in health tech pioneers like Frazer would not only make Australia a leader for women\u2019s health innovation, but it would help create a stronger foundation for the sovereignty and protection of our data.\u00a0<\/p>\n Building proprietary models that Australia trains and develops with women in mind could offer a powerful alternative to models coming out of places like China or Silicon Valley.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOntario did a great study all over Canada and they found every time there is a data leak, it\u2019s immutable,\u201d said Shorten.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce it\u2019s gone you cannot get it back and so digital innovation relies on everyone to collect and use data for AI responsibly.<\/p>\n \u201cTrust and consent builds up your relationship with your consumers.\u201d<\/p>\n Work together, make noise and drive change\u00a0<\/p>\n Complex systems are hard to shift but if the roundtable dinner proved anything this week, it\u2019s that collaboration, activism and perseverance can shift the dial.\u00a0<\/p>\n Opportunities for women to connect like this and have their voices heard by policy makers in government and other key stakeholders is critical.\u00a0<\/p>\n Because the onus for change cannot land entirely on the shoulders of women working against the tide to transform systems and break down barriers.\u00a0<\/p>\n For Australia to be a world leader in women\u2019s health innovation, investment is needed from everywhere including private equity, venture capital and procurement opportunities for women.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The solutions female founders are working on need to be recognised for the real value they are creating and we cannot afford to overlook women innovators who are mid to late-career.\u00a0<\/p>\n As entrepreneur and journalist Madeleine Hanger Grummet so brilliantly put it: \u201cWe need more women at the top and at the table where decisions are made\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Healthcare for women has long been underfunded, overlooked and undervalued \u2013 and the impacts of this have 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