Company: Vira Health
Website: https://www.vira.health/
About Andrea, Rebecca & Vira Health
Andrea Berchowitz and Dr Rebecca Love founded Vira Health in 2020, with a vision to bring to market high-quality, personalised menopause treatment, that accessible to all women. The company’s mission is to extend healthy life expectancy for women by reducing the prevalence of later life conditions, such as osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and dementia. The first product is Stella, a personalised app for menopause relief.
Menopause is one of many areas of women’s health that has historically been overlooked in the workplace. A study by Vodafone across five countries found that 60% of women dealing with menopausal symptoms said it impacted their work. Supporting women going through menopause is one of the most urgent issues that needs to be addressed to increase gender diversity on boards and senior management teams, but it is neglected.
When Andrea worked as a strategy consultant in boardrooms around the world, she noticed the obvious gap in female leadership. Realising that menopause was rarely brought up to explain this gap, even though it impacts women in their 50s (i.e., when they are earning at their highest potential), Andrea sought to bring awareness to the issue. Last year, Andrea presented a TED Talk on “The Link Between Menopause and Gender Inequality At Work”, which has 1.6m views.
Rebecca holds a PhD in Medical Sciences from the University of Cambridge and has extensive experience in chronic diseases, as a trained behavioural epidemiologist. She has worked with the Mayor of London, the World Health Organisation and UNICEF advisory.
Andrea and Rebecca plan to expand the suite of products, to provide treatment and support in other areas of women’s health.
