Conference Presentation, Fireside Chat, Panel
Catalyzing Capital, Innovation, and Impact to Advance Women's Health | Global Conference 2026
- Anticipated surges in demand for menopause, life-course health, osteoporosis, hair loss, immune disease, and fall prevention support as the baby boomer population ages, with most turning 65 within five years, creating readiness challenges for Medicare and healthcare systems lacking specific knowledge.
- California aims to reduce maternal mortality by 50% by the end of December through cross-collaborative partnerships, while simultaneously serving as a national and global testbed for diverse women's health pilots due to its independent data sets.
- The White House women's health initiative plans to mainstream into philanthropy, industry, and media with monthly travel and advocacy throughout the current year, alongside a broader movement emphasizing prevention, education, and evidence-based information to counter unverified sources.
- Merck's "Merck Impact Ventures" will deploy capital via a double bottom-line strategy starting with a $500,000 grant to the Milken Health Catalytic Fund, while also investing in Mammo Test to scale digital breast cancer and cardiovascular screening for underserved populations, having already screened 600,000 women since 2020.
- The investment gap between a women's health opportunity estimated at $200 billion to over $1 trillion in the next 20 years and current capital flows will be addressed by shifting focus to scalable solutions such as point-of-care ultrasound in Africa and AI-driven diagnostics requiring diversified data inputs.
- Merck's "Merck for Mothers" program, launched 14 years ago, has catalyzed an additional $150 million in partner funding, and global patient navigation programs funded through City Cancer Challenge are being scaled, exemplified by a Rwanda investment that reduced diagnosis-to-treatment time from 82 to 28 days.
- Patient-initiated surveys like "PRIMA" will be promoted to identify cardiovascular risks, particularly relevant as one in three women in California and one in two globally face unintended pregnancies, with pregnancy serving as a "check engine light" indicating up to a 60 to 70% lifetime risk of cardiovascular disease if complications arise.
- Modern Fertility and successor ventures will focus on perimenopause and menopause care for the one-third of women's lives spent post-menopause, addressing siloed care models across cardiovascular, metabolic, GI, and musculoskeletal health.
- The Milken Institute Women's Healthcare Network, comprising 170 organizations, will launch working groups focused on coverage, reimbursement, regulatory issues, and employer culture to close funding gaps and align endpoints.
- A shift is required from male-centric standards of care, historically designed for 40-to-50-year-old white men, to models studying women's unique biology, hormonal fluctuations, and life stages.
- Employers are expected to evolve workplace culture to support the entire female life course, moving beyond fertility and oncology coverage to ensure women feel safe accessing services.
- Artificial intelligence algorithms for health queries require diversification of data inputs to include female-specific data, people of color, rural and urban populations, and sex identification to move beyond generic male-oriented questions.
- Future wealth held by women living longer lives is expected to be directed into women's health, driving a permanent shift in energy and cross-sector collaboration among fitness studios and non-healthcare boardrooms.