Stacy London

Somi, Dr. Javaid. It is so wonderful to see you. Now, not everybody can see you, but I can see that you are wearing a fabulous red lipstick and red. And this has really become a signature of yours. I'm starting to notice. I'm starting to notice you wear red a lot. I mean, it is a power color. So tell us before we start anything, what red lipstick are you wearing?

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Somi Javaid MD (00:38.35)

It's Pat McGrath. think it's one of, uh huh, it is, it is. It lasts forever. I love it.

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Stacy London She/her (00:40.014)

is it Elson? That's my favorite red. That's my favorite red. Now, let me ask you something just about moisture before we start getting into sex and moisture and all sorts of things like that. That Elson lipstick is matte and it can be very drying. So what do we do? Particularly, I'm asking for me and all other post-menopausal women who feel that not just my skin, but my lips in particular, particular get so dry. How do I still wear matte lipstick?

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Somi Javaid MD (01:14.348)

So I, at night, put on a product called Lip Whip, now I'm gonna carry something. She makes it, I was gifted it. It is amazing. So I put that on every night, and then when I'm out and about, before I put on my lipstick, I wear a sunscreen, specifically for my lips.

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Stacy London She/her (01:32.289)

Wait, is that from Supergoop? The lip screen?

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Somi Javaid MD (01:35.79)

No, I am the girl who loves the one that smells like coconuts. I'm so bad with brands. Little Monkey, yes, yes. Yes, Sunbom. So I was down in Florida and picked it up because it felt like my lips were burning and got addicted.

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Stacy London She/her (02:10.744)

I mean, and let me tell you, those are two great secrets to start with. Two great secrets. Let me say that again. Those are two great secrets to start with because, you know, lips are important when it comes to sexual health, don't you think? actually, dear Somi, I'm talking about both. And we should talk about hydration for both of us. I just want to say, you know, you and I have known each other for a while now.

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I have had the pleasure and the honor of being able to interview you several times. And you really are, you know, I said in the introduction about you that you are revolutionary because you are really one of the first OBGYNs to talk about the sexual health implications of menopause. And you you're a leading thought leader on this, leading thought leader, you're a thought leader on this. And you're a leading thought leader also makes sense, I guess, because you're, you know, there are lots of thought leaders.

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But your mission is to close the gender gap and provide exceptional health care to all women. And you have said that with only one trained provider for every 33,000, did I get that right? Menopause patients, right? What are the biggest challenges that you face in achieving this mission? I mean, what are the strategies that are most effective in scaling your impact?

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Somi Javaid MD (03:33.442)

Yeah, so I think the biggest enemy of healthcare is time. We don't have time in rooms with patients to get adequate history. We don't have time to get the training. Because remember all of the training, the menopause sexual healthcare training was on my own time and dime. Lack of data, lack of female leadership, and lack of funding. Less than 2 % of female founders get funded. Yes.

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Stacy London She/her (04:00.258)

Isn't that awful? my God, I can't stand it. And you've mentioned so many things that I had the pleasure of talking with Jennifer Weiss-Wolfe. And it's very hard not to talk about these things and not think about the administration that we just had and the kind of excitement around women's health and the funding that was coming and what might happen now. So you're the founder of HerMD.

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Somi Javaid MD (04:09.912)

Yes.

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Stacy London She/her (04:29.154)

And I wanna talk a little bit about that because I think that if we are talking about things changing under the current administration and women having less access to any kind of medical care, right? Less bodily autonomy, How do you see her MD sort of bridging the gap between what the federal government is saying, what states are saying and how you work with patients?

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Somi Javaid MD (04:54.69)

So funny, I'm going to be talking about this on Monday at the New York Stock Exchange. But if we don't change insurance reimbursement, we are going to get nowhere. Because concierge care is wonderful for those of us who can afford it. But for the millions of individuals that can't, care is not accessible.

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Somi Javaid MD (05:20.31)

And so right now, some insurance companies reimburse for male procedures at a rate of three to one. So what does that do to doctors who treat men and women? It incentivizes them to take care of male patients. When you have 29 sexual health care medications for men, 29.

And two, for women, you know, you have got to fight for insurance reimbursement and you have to fight for more funding for clinical trials so we can have more treatment options. Otherwise, we'll never even the score.

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Stacy London She/her (06:05.016)

No, well, never even the score. mean, you the only thing that I'm so excited about is the more that you speak out, the more people have at least knowledge of what's happening to them, or at least some kind of prescriptive, you know, action items that they can take based on, you know, all of the things that you've been able to talk about.

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Somi Javaid MD (06:24.15)

So what we're doing at HerMD is we've brought imaging, phlebotomy, menopause, sexual health care, general gynecology, preventative visits, hormone therapy, all under the umbrella of insurance-based care. We have delivered it to traditionally care deserts or tier two markets, but then we've married it to telehealth. And so we have the accessibility piece, but we also have, yeah, if you need a biopsy, if you need a sonogram, if you need surgery, guess what, we can take care of you. And yes, we take Medicare, we take military insurance, you will put down your $20 copay and see the best of the best. And so we also fix the education gap. We created Heremdie University, we've published umpteen papers on our outcomes. So this is evidence-based care. And we've

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Stacy London She/her (07:13.912)

Well, I know you and I know you believe in evidence-based care. there's a, you won't even talk about something unless you're like, we don't have the evidence for it or we do. And I, you know, I really appreciate it because again, there's, you know, with the, with the rise in the menopause rush, there's so many grifters, right? I mean, I'm sure you deal with people all the time that you're like, are you serious? Yeah.

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Somi Javaid MD (07:38.242)

pseudoscience, what else do call it? Yeah, soft science, soft medicine. Yeah, and they're preying on individual's desperation or lack of accessibility. And that's where, when I work with people, I said, that gives us even more responsibility to do right by women. It's not always the quickest way, but it is the correct way to take care of humans. And if we don't take care of each other, then who, what have we got? What are we doing? What do we stand for? And so for me, there were many people that said, you should just go cash-based. Like this is a premier service offering. And I said, I can't, I can't. And it's going back to the red. So the red for two reasons, like yes, it's a power color, but went to parochial school my entire life. Mother came home from Denmark, gave me a pair of red leather shoes, and that was my way of being different. The second reason, You know, I almost lost my mom to cardiovascular disease when she was 45 and she's alive to this day, but red is the color of, you know, go red for women. And so that is my nod to my mother and the whole reason I became an advocate for women, because when you almost lose your mother when she's almost, she's only 45 years old, I'm gonna be 50 this year, And her chest pain, left arm pain, shortness of breath. That's your heart until proven otherwise.

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Stacy London She/her (09:10.68)

Can I tell you, I thought that I was having a heart attack because I had those same symptoms. I was like, is this one of those female silent heart attacks? It turns out I was having a silent panic attack, but okay. It was really, I was like, I had the tingling, I had the heart racing, I had the pain in my chest. It was so bizarre. And I was like, my God, I'm lucky I have access to people like you. I was like, I have to get this checked out right now. but the amount of women who don't even understand cardiovascular health, let alone sexual health. I mean, these are basic things.

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Somi Javaid MD (09:45.038)

And basic things and cardiovascular disease is the number one killer of women. I know there's so much education and advocacy around so many other pillars of medicine, but that's why I'm excited that we're going into February so we can talk about this. that's the way to very long answer how her MD is narrowing the gap through education, advocacy, empowerment, accessibility, and training. Remember I said the number one threat or killer to really good healthcare is time. And so we have much longer appointment times. And so when you bake that in, things we hear are, is the most seen and heard I've felt in my entire life. Because I actually got to talk to you, because when you're talking about sex, Stacey, there's no quickies at the doctor's office.

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Stacy London She/her (10:36.31)

No, that's right, not at the doctor's office, but who knows what's going on at home. Right. I hear you. And also I can imagine that it's like, must be, well, I know for a fact that, you know, there are situations that are already, I mean, we're already, you know, predisposed to think that they're stigmatized to talk about. The idea of like really letting it all hang out is sort of the expression we use here is not

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Somi Javaid MD (10:41.518)

Yes, exactly!

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Stacy London She/her (11:05.986)

that common. People have so much trouble even with doctors, right, talking about sexual health. So to A, give patients time and B, to be so empathetic and sympathetic to their situation, I think is such a huge part of it, right? We all want to be heard and seen, but particularly in medical environments that have medicine has always been sort of patriarchal to me. And I was saying this earlier that I feel like, you know, women say to me all the time, but my, gynecologist is female. She didn't tell me anything about menopause. And I'm like, it's not that she is female, it's that medicine has been taught in a patriarchal environment. So it's not like you shouldn't be shocked that she doesn't know anything. Most people didn't get the knowledge or the training that they needed.

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Somi Javaid MD (11:54.016)

Yeah, the language is so harmful to women. You we talked about that and it blames women rather than inspiring. So even the vocabulary we use in medicine, like when a woman is having struggle pushing out a baby, we call it poor maternal effort. Really? Like that's what we're going to call it?

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Stacy London She/her (12:10.122)

Yeah, exactly. It's like IBF, right? Like using words like performance and failure. I'm like, are you kidding? That's not what this is.

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Somi Javaid MD (12:18.893)

It's so sensitive and then you're blaming women. And then we were really trained in an environment where women or female patients served two purposes. One was to birth babies. So we learned all about reproduction and contraception and infertility. And the second is to serve as vehicles for male pleasure. Hence the 29 options for men. And hey, I don't want to get any haters. Like they deserve it. They struggle. They have libido. They have erectile dysfunction.

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Stacy London She/her (12:49.89)

But do they need 29?

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Somi Javaid MD (12:50.35)

And who are all these men? And I understand there are all kinds of relationships, okay? I've been practicing sexual health a long time. Nothing surprises me, but who are all these men having sex with? Women that only have two options and they don't even know about them. Hello? Yeah, so we really need to even that score as well.

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Stacy London She/her (13:12.066)

Well, let's talk a little bit about that because I know that in women's health care, you have talked about sexual health as often being dismissed as a lifestyle issue. And in your opinion, what is the most effective way to kind of shift the medical community's perspective about this issue and ensure that sexual health is treated on the same scale as heart health? How do you make that happen?

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Somi Javaid MD (13:32.674)

Right? Well, you inform people that sexual health is healthcare, bottom line. So it's another vital sign when I'm talking to someone. It's a barometer of what's going on with them. So if you think about it, most of us, when we're ill, whether it's the flu or COVID or, know, we've sprained our ankle, whatever it is, most of us aren't like, let's go have sex, right? Because we don't feel well. And so there are so many proven benefits for sexual healthcare beyond the bedroom. It promotes pelvic floor health and we don't need our pelvic floor for just sex, we need it so we're continent and we're not incontinent, right? Nobody wants that. Stronger orgasms, yes, if we have a great pelvic floor. We have more confidence, we have improved vital signs, we have better mental health, we have better relationships. And so, yes, there are people who have chosen celibate lifestyle, they don't wanna have sex, that's fine, that's not who these issues are addressing. These issues are addressing women or individuals who describe themselves as broken, undeserving, I don't deserve my partner anymore, feel lost because they have lost their sexual desire or some part of their sexual identity. And it is so distressing to them, the mental health components that go along with this. I mean, I have 30 year old patients who, refuse to go out or refuse to date if they have sexual health care issues because they're like, why bother? So once people understand, yeah, the connection, it's not an option.

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Stacy London She/her (15:13.806)

Right. I mean, also just the fact that we're putting more pressure on women like they don't already have, you know, there's so much inequality in health care in general. Now they're made to feel embarrassed or broken or any of the things that actually, you know, we've talked about this before. Scientific American said that between 45 and 55, it's the highest rate of depression, divorced and decreased earning potential in women. And that makes so much sense to me.

You know, particularly because of what we can experience in menopause, particularly that idea of either not wanting to be honest with your partner about, you know, losing libido, not feeling arousal, or just the fact that it's something that you wind up arguing about.

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Somi Javaid MD (15:56.974)

Right, and we would never tell a man, think about it, sorry you can't have Viagra because you need to go to counseling, which women were told if they wanted to get on sexual health medications, or sorry, your lack of erection is not gonna kill you, you gotta live with no sex, sorry. They're never told that. In fact, they're told, here's this pump, here's this implant, here are these medications, how can we help you? And so why do we do it to women?

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Stacy London She/her (16:26.71)

Well, I mean, you said something so interesting before that women are really are only seen. And I think culturally, on some level, people still believe that women are only here for making babies and male pleasure. And you see that in younger generations now, there's a real emphasis on talking about female pleasure, that we're finally starting to have conversations about like, we don't want kids or we have kids, but we actually like we want to orgasm or we want the pleasure. Why aren't we allowed to have it in the same way that men are? That men somehow deserve it more? That we can't have fun in sex? It's only some sort of mechanical biological function? So I think it's really interesting that you're talking about it this way, because I think it also, that mental health component, allows people to feel justified in asking for help allows people to feel less afraid and say, there should be some equality around pleasure. Have you seen that to be true? No.

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Somi Javaid MD (17:30.542)

Absolutely women are coming in and patients are coming in and they want to talk about their sexual health and If you talk about sexual health care nerds or those of us in in the know You talk about the domains of sexuality and what we can treat because people are like what does a sexual health doctor do? Anyways, and we talk about concerns with libido or desire arousal orgasm Satisfaction and pain and we also help individuals address problems with lubrication. there can be problems with all of those domains of sexuality and those listening, go ahead and take something called an FSFI, just type it in. It's a 19 question questionnaire. and it will tell you your scores and whether you could use some help, treatment options, whether it's an app, whether it's a localized hormone, whether it's one of the two FDA approved medications, but it will tell you which of those domains that you're struggling with and it's a data point. And I can't tell you, Stacey, lights go off when I talk to people in audiences in markets where we're not at. They take the test and then they have something to go in to their doctor's office with and say, hey, these are my issues, what are the treatment options that you're able to offer me?

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Stacy London She/her (18:47.446)

And if, what is it called? The FSS.

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Somi Javaid MD (18:49.414)

FSFI, stands for Female Sexual Function Index.

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Stacy London She/her (18:54.784)

Okay, I just want to make sure that everybody got that because that is a number one action item from the show right here. That sounds really important to me. Exactly. And, but, but it's so, I didn't even realize there was anything like that. But again, you know, when we've been talking about menopause over the years, you know, we've talked to you and so many other doctors about this idea of you only have five minutes with a patient. You are giving not only more time with the patient, but you're actually saying, Hey, there's homework you can do before you get here to help us get to your issues faster.

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Somi Javaid MD (19:01.73)

Take your FSFI.

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Stacy London She/her (19:24.76)

That's amazing. I didn't even know that was available. Has that always been a tool that we can use?

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Somi Javaid MD (19:30.89)

It's been around for a while and it's one of the validated tools and there's a secondary one as well and you're gonna, it's a brain fog moment. So, but if you look up validated sexual healthcare tools, that's the one that most of us use. Sometimes if you haven't been active recently, people are like, this is not really a great reflection of what's going on, but it addresses all those domains. It gives you a score. And it's also very validating when we start patients on a treatment modality, whether it's ADDI, Vilece, testosterone, a vaginal estrogen, a lubricant, a moisturizer, whatever, they start using an app, they can then look at their scores because sometimes, you know, some of those changes are subtle. And when they start to see that score that...data piece, I love giving women empowerment and bodily autonomy and data about their own body, right? Because they're in control and become true partners in their care. They love to measure that score and it's fun, it's progress.

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Stacy London She/her (20:25.878)

It must be so satisfying. Exactly. To see that you're getting somewhere. my gosh. I'm so excited about that information because that really isn't something that I knew. I'm going to go take the test and see. Anyway, but you have spoken at like so many events and on so many platforms, including TEDx and addressing gender disparity in sexual health care. you know, that's sort what we were just talking about this 29 to two different, you know, prescription drugs, aside from

inequity or in inequality like that, what other things, what are some of the key takeaways from the presentations that have most resonated with your audiences?

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Somi Javaid MD (21:05.71)

I think when men are in the audience, they will come up to me and say, oh my God, I think I lost my marriage because of genitourinary syndrome of menopause. I took the rejection, her saying no, as rejecting me, and it was truly that there was something anatomically wrong and no one told us there were treatment options. I think that's what blows me away is that I get to people by the point where they have lost their relationships or their loved ones because someone didn't tell them. Or I talk to a patient and they say, I literally just got divorced because I had no desire, I had no idea. And the doctor that I brought this up with, this is what he said to her. And this is the kind of stuff that has to end, is this patriarchal way of talking to women, I can't get my own wife interested. How do you expect me to help you get interested? That is what this male gynecologist said to this patient. Other patients of mine who've had sexual pain are told, you drink some wine, you'll be fine. You know what your problem is? Just drink some wine. Apparently there's FDA, you know I'm joking.

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Stacy London She/her (22:11.928)

Drink some wine? Yes, of course.

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Somi Javaid MD (22:18.392)

You know what your problem is? That's how they start the conversation. You know what your problem is? You don't drink enough vodka. If you don't put your big girl panties on, he's gonna leave you. These are statements that are still being said to women in 2025. And if that doesn't get you fired up, yeah.

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Stacy London She/her (22:35.534)

I mean, I wish I, I don't know what will, but I also am like, of course it's 2025. We have an administration that is going to be just like that. And it's like, I feel like it's groundhog day, you know, like the last, since 2016, we're sort of fighting the good fight around these kinds of colloquialisms or awful things where there's patient blaming instead of patient care.

And I think that that is absolutely astounding. That's what we go to our doctors for. And I think one of the things that certainly the kind of movement around menopause has really taught a lot of women is that they don't have to stand for that kind of treatment, that there is better treatment out there for them. There are better treatment options. And that if you feel condescended to, if you feel blamed, that is not the doctor for you. You want your doctor to care about you. You want your doctor to...help you get through the issue, not tell you it's your fault, fuck up, drink wine or vodka and I don't know, put on lingerie.

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Somi Javaid MD (23:39.85)

Exactly. So the International Society for the Study of Women's Sexual Health, ISSWSH, much like

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Stacy London She/her (23:43.886)

Okay, you know way too many initials. You know way too many acronyms for me. But go ahead, say it one more time. Ish wish.

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Somi Javaid MD (23:50.006)

I know. But but Ish wish I SS yes. Women can go there and find a provider. Like I want to give people like take home things that they can actually do. You can find a provider based on your zip code who is trained in sexual health so that you won't waste time. The thing that breaks my heart, there's a lot of things that break my heart, but you're the ninth person I'm coming to. And I think about all the women that dropped off along the journey and are not getting help, but you will find a provider who is trained in sexual health care and who will be able to diagnose you and treat you and meet you where you are, whether you want a medication, whether you want hormone, whether you want an app, a website, know, however you want, whether you need counseling, pelvic floor physical therapy. I mean, the options for patients are endless. And that is, think, why I go mad. Because when I hear, there's nothing you can do, and you know, you were told, white knuckle through it, grin and bear it.

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Stacy London She/her (24:49.792)

Exactly, use it or lose it. And I was like, what? Just what? Use it or lose it. I was like, this does not feel like helpful medical kind caring advice. And then we have talked about this a little bit, but you said that you're sort of bridging the gap really between like what's going on in the administration we don't know and the status quo of healthcare.

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Somi Javaid MD (24:54.402)

What? What?

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Stacy London She/her (25:15.842)

But let's talk a little bit, you mentioned that one piece of education. Let's talk about HerMD University, because I also think that this is quite revolutionary in terms of how you're changing healthcare from both the patient and the physician's perspective.

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Somi Javaid MD (25:32.748)

Yeah, so it's so interesting. We both established, and I love that, that I love data. I also, guidelines I sometimes have a problem with because if we wait for all guidelines, for example, we might be dead, honestly, by the time we get guidelines to catch up, right? We still have a black box warning on vaginal estrogen that has no business being there. And so that was what HerMD University did, 20 years of clinical experience with evidence-based data and papers that have been published, put it together and basically made a playbook for providers in women's health so that they can treat advanced gynecology, menopause and sexual health care. went one step further. We then took our outcomes and published them, peer reviewed. We presented it at ASCO, which is the big oncology conference, NAMS, or Menopause Society, Ishwish, and showed that our outcomes smashed the status quo because status quo hasn't served anyone. Has it served you? It hasn't served me. And so, and then I was able to take that knowledge and that data and take it back to the insurance companies and say, hey, you need to pay us better so that we can serve more patients. And so that's what HerMD University did. It served patients, it improved outcomes, and it trained providers.

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Stacy London She/her (26:56.758)

And how did you, like when did you realize that was something you were gonna need to do? That just having the her MD locations was not going to be enough?

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Somi Javaid MD (27:04.718)

Well, that's when our dear friend and my sister and co-founder, Kamel Caruso, got involved. And so she, obviously we have the shared story of our mother and she was consulting with me and bringing like hundreds of people to the door of her MD in 35 states and three countries. And she is like a sponge. And so she was like, I wanna learn what you do and how you do it. And she said, Somi, you're onto something, your approach, the way you do things. And I said, listen, I didn't invent gynecology, I didn't invent menopause. And she's like, no, neither did Stanley Kaplan. but it's the way that you put it together and you execute it. She's like, I love my gynecologist, but trust me, I am not coming out to hang out with my gyno after hours and this room is packed and you have women coming from how many states? And so she, because she came from a marketing educational background, she had worked with Kaplan and a couple of these other companies. And so she said, we need to package this, you need to put it in a digital format, videos, we need to capture what you do. And every single provider at HerMD has gone through that. And it's even the basics. We're not taught sensitivity training. Like don't have your hand on the door when you're talking about sex. How about letting a patient stay dressed until they meet you because they're gonna talk to you about their innermost concerns. How about not taking your computer into the room? I mean, basics, basics. Make eye contact with the patient. So things like that that I was never taught, but that people who watched me were like, this is what we need to replicate. Yeah.

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Stacy London She/her (28:52.076)

Well, and I mean, isn't it crazy? I've just heard this so much lately, but like, that's just basic empathy. It's kindness, right? These are things that we should be able to expect from another, especially in a medical environment. And yet it hasn't happened until now. I mean, it really is the first time, especially when talking about sexual health and menopause, two things that are

very difficult to talk about regardless, right? I just in general, even though we are seeing more and more people talk about it, I would still argue that in 2025, the average person doesn't really know. Like even with all of this information that is out there, they still don't know or don't think it applies to them or not sure how it applies to them or when it's gonna happen. There's so many people that I meet that are still in the dark.

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Somi Javaid MD (29:41.228)

Stacey, I feel like you and I have done this how many times and we're doing it on our own, like everywhere. And I feel like I sometimes get tired of hearing myself. like, my God, I'm saying the same thing over and over again. And I literally was just in Minnesota and hearing that hormones are dangerous. It's not for me. I was offered antidepressants. And I was just like, yes, the average individual still does not have the access nor the educational materials that they need. There is so much work to be done. Now we've made some headway. Okay, so when the Factor documentary came out, 1.8, yes, 1.8 % of women who were candidates for hormones were on hormones. We're up to 4%. We've almost, woohoo! And 10 years ago, less than 20 % of providers were trained in this area. up to 31%. So, we are making headway. I think the surgeon in me is not fast enough. And that's why I find myself saying yes a lot to lot of stages. But.

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Stacy London She/her (30:47.938)

But I also think that's incredibly important, right? mean, even those small differences, those numbers are going in the right direction, not the wrong one. And I'm totally with you. I'm like, why can't it be done right now? How hard can it be? Why is there all this red tape? And all of the things that I'm sure you deal with on a daily basis, it's still progress, right? I do, you know, I really do, I take a great, I have great faith in that ability for us to change the conversation. I thought it was gonna be a lot easier. And to realize, you know, even when we were at Canyon Ranch together, those women, I mean, first of all, they all wanna be you when they grow up and, you know, they want their kids to be you and they wanted to, everybody should dress like you for Halloween. Those women were...so taken with everything that you had to tell them because they'd never heard that kind of discussion on sexual health. One, as a normalized conversation to have, and two, as like a fun self-discovery conversation to have. You let women in that room feel like they, you gave them permission to ask all the weird questions and to ask all the funny questions and not to feel like it was the end of the world or to feel broken. And I,

One, think, know, A, that's just commendable. But two, to be able to do that in so many different ways that you don't have to be in the room, right? That your influence goes far beyond you being in person on a stage now that you have her MD and her MD at university is what I think is actually going to shift the conversation. Because the people who won't be able to get to you or before, you know, hormones are covered by insurance or things that would really affect how much somebody can spend, they're getting all the information they need to make the choices that they need to make. That seems very important.

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Somi Javaid MD (32:48.994)

That and that was my goal was to expand it beyond Cincinnati and beyond the locations and to break that. I didn't want to hear again. Well, the biggest barrier is education. Okay, well, let's fix that. And that I can fix. I could only fix the time piece at HerMD, but let's fix the education. And so that was very nice to do. And then obviously the direct to consumer events, like educating patients and consumers is just as important because I want them to get the most out of their doctor's visit, whether it's with her MD or not, whatever provider they go see, they should be seen, heard, and offered evidence-based options for their sexual health. There are two medications for low libido. There are...for orgasm issues, there are options for arousal, there are options for sexual pain, and so no one should ever be told they have to grin and bear it, live with it, or lose a job or relationship or their mental health over lack of optionality. That to me will drive me bananas.

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Stacy London She/her (33:55.296)

Yeah. even if there's more optionality, I think, than people realize. mean, you just listed a whole bunch of things that I didn't even know were available. And I also noticed that there, even the way that you were just talking about how the average doctor may talk down to a patient, I know that you've been involved in campaigns like renaming revolution, which tackles the subtle sexist language surrounding women's health. And I think what specific language or terminology shifts do you think are needed to better address the destigmatization and discussion of female sexual health? During menopause, in clinical settings, in general conversation, what are the slight shifts that we can start to make? Like I remember, I think I had this conversation with you when we were talking about the subtlety of language and its effect, because it was 2015 or 2016, it was when Hillary was running, they would say Trump commanded and Hillary Clinton complained or whined using language that made her sound like a child or difficult or, and everything else made, I don't even like to say his name. So 45 slash 47 is, disgusting language has always used disgusting language around women and sexual, anything. So, you know, I'm curious about how you got involved in that and what are the most efficacious ways for us to be mindful with our language.

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Somi Javaid MD (35:28.93)

Yeah, so that was a campaign I did with Peanut and I did it with a linguist and a therapist and then they wanted a doctor and they had seen me speak on the TEDx stage about gender disparity and they said, we love your mission, we love what you're doing, we love the fact that you're accessible, will you work on this with us? And I said, absolutely. And I will tell you, Stacey, it was mind blowing for me because even things that I had used in my daily language, like infertility, found that that was very distressing. I'm like, that's a diagnostic code, that's a billing code that we use, it's in our medical software. But, you and I struggled with fertility issues myself. so learning that myself, so I had to be in a very vulnerable space, being willing to accept even the language that I had used because I was brought up in that medical environment. But I think some of the worst ones were geriatric pregnancy, advanced maternal age, incompetent cervix, incompetent cervix.

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Stacy London She/her (36:31.554)

I mean, it's a great name for a band, but I don't see where it has any place in medical health.

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Somi Javaid MD (36:40.738)

You are dealing with issues that are so personal and if someone's so vulnerable and they may already be sad or distressed or anxious and then you're putting that in their chart and they don't understand that I didn't come up with that nomenclature, right? I'm trying to get your visit covered. So I'm trying to pick a code that works. so those are like poor maternal effort. I mean, the list went on and on and on. And I love the way they approached the campaign is they really took information from individuals and patients and said, what has happened to you? What's the most offensive thing that's ever happened to you? And I had newscasters reaching out to me saying, my God, this was said to me and this was said to me, aside from the horrific phrases. And so they made it into an actionable item. They made it into a downloadable that people could take in. I do believe some of the verbiage in medicine was changed because of it. We still have to eradicate a lot of it. But it definitely was a conversation piece that women could take into their doctor's offices.

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Stacy London She/her (37:48.812)

I mean, again, I think that the subtlety around that is that I think that most people are dealing, you know, I would guess with what you just said, some sort of sadness or shame, they're already coming in with a feeling and then they feel like they're being judged. I mean, it's just the worst situation to be in when you do want to handle something that is sensitive to you. So, you know, all of those things, the language, the not holding the door, the direct eye contact, those are easy things for doctors to do and those are easy things to make your patient calmer. I mean, that to me is incredibly important. I never even thought about those things. And now I'm like, it does make a difference. Like my doctor's office, I sit down in her office before the exam. She likes to say hello. She likes to hear, you know, since my last visit, what's going on. And then we go into the physical. And to me, just that little bit of kindness that little bit of interest in, what does her like picture look like at the moment before I like check her blood pressure and I check all those things, really is actually her way of like making sure that everything's okay before we go back to do all the testing. And I think it makes a huge difference. I find it so appealing and I don't put off doctor's appointments and I don't put off screenings when I find, like I have a woman who, when I ask for her whenever I go to get a mammogram because she's the first person that takes it slow and doesn't make me feel anxious and doesn't make me feel nauseous or anything. She's so soothing. And I really feel like those are the people that we need in medical care, again, who are not overworked, who have a good niche that they can actually expand into more clinical knowledge. That's the way we want our medical community to work.

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Somi Javaid MD (39:44.884)

Yeah, but you know, no one trains us. I never got sensitivity training. I never got any of that. You get HIPAA training, you get surgical training, you get pharmacy training, know, on drugs, on disease states, and that is it. And I remember, I learn from my patients as much as I do the teaching and from people in the space. I'm a sponge as well. I love learning. I'm a forever student. It's like why I love traveling. But one of my most interesting reviews was about a surgery that I did, and it was a particularly difficult surgery. But what the woman commented on and what she remembers the most is she is the surgeon who sat and held my feet. I was like rubbing her foot. I made sure it was okay with her as she was falling asleep because oftentimes the way you fall asleep is the way you wake up. And I never wanted my patients to wake up, you know, so I always had it quiet and soothing. And I knew this patient well, and she was nervous about the surgery. And so I was rubbing her foot. She's like, what surgeon rubs your feet as you're falling asleep to calm you down? And I was just like, but Stacey, came now, no one taught me that. But that's what I taught other providers is read the cues, make the patient comfortable and the interaction is so much better. I compare it to, listen, when I walk into a dark dingy dressing room, I am not gonna buy the dress. But if the lighting and the room is pretty and it makes me feel good, then that salesperson is gonna have a much better encounter with me, right? Because I feel good, I feel comfortable. So same thing. That's why her MD centers are beautiful. That's why the doctors and the providers are kind and engaged because.. we are gonna get a better interaction with you, you're gonna feel better, you're gonna be more likely to stay like, look, you said you seek out that person who does your mammography. You could see anybody. And so those are the things that were very, very important to me because I wanted providers and patients to be happy.

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Stacy London She/her (41:36.14)

Yes, exactly. Because it's so interesting to me. I calling it her MD is also kind of just genius. because I feel like in past medical training, it was dissociate because you can't afford to care about your patients if you're treating your patients. And I actually think that has been the wrong way to handle medicine. It's not like you're just there to fix a problem. You're there to work with the person. And you even said it before, the kinder and sort of more empathetic and you are, the more a patient feels seen and heard, you're gonna work together on their progress. And that kind of synchronicity is not what sort of patriarchal medicine has taught us to believe really about, right?

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Somi Javaid MD (42:28.876)

No, they trained it out of me. They tried to train it out of me. They told me I wasn't arrogant enough and that I had to have this. I'm like, listen, I'm a scientist, I'm a surgeon. I can be kind, but they wanted... Yes, and I was told how to wear my hair.

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Stacy London She/her (42:41.43)

And not all heroes wear capes. This is my yes, exactly.

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Somi Javaid MD (42:47.886)

I was chastised once for coming out of a delivery with a ponytail. I mean, things fly during labor, okay? I mean, things happen. I don't want my hair in that and you have to, know, sometimes you don't have time to put that surgical hat on. And so there was a concern that I appeared to, this was two decades ago or maybe, but I appeared too young and that scared patients. But that's not what the patient said. That's what my male boss told me. He's like, I don't want you wearing a ponytail on labor and delivery anymore. And I was like, do you want to pay for my hair to get blown out then afterwards? Because all of the stuff that's gonna, you know, be put in my hair during a delivery. I was like, I wear ponytail for comfort and for safety and yeah, to be clean.

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Stacy London She/her (43:34.157)

Yeah. And also I don't love the fact that you're sort of damned if you do, damned if you don't. If you look too young in that situation, it's a problem. And then if you look too old, you apparently can't pivot or go for a new career. The rules that were sort of brought up with are so stupid. And again, I think this is sort of this patriarchal framework that we all grew up with, that we're like finally sort of rebelling against. Everybody sees this, you know, that this kind of...kind of infusion of kindness and compassion and empathy goes hand in hand with good medicine. It's not the opposite.

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Somi Javaid MD (44:14.002)

Hand in hand and how are you going to expect women to talk to you about their biggest fears, about problems in the bedroom, about problems with their partner, about problems with their mental health, about job performance, all their biggest fears, right? And potentially losing the things that are most important to them. They feel like they're losing their minds. They feel like they're losing their sexuality. They feel like they're losing their partners. And so if you don't open the door with kindness and empathy, you're going to get nowhere in the conversation. And, you know, I've had friends tell me, that was going on for years but I didn't bother because it wasn't the environment where I could talk about my struggles with my sexuality. Yeah.

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Stacy London She/her (44:50.806)

I mean, it's heartbreaking to me. It really is because I feel like, you know, now that there is more available and now that there are doctors like you in the world and now 35 her MD locations, I want to make sure I heard that right.

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Somi Javaid MD (45:02.542)

No, no, no, no. The women came from 35 states.

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Stacy London She/her (45:05.262)

Oh, 35, say it, five, okay, I was like, because I said the last time I saw you, I was like, there weren't 35, I was like, you have been busy.

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Somi Javaid MD (45:13.182)

No, we have a hospital partnership that we'll be announcing soon, so there'll be a lot more and hopefully we'll be fundraising this year and expanding our footprint. But you know, VC, we'll see. Yes, that is the goal.

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Stacy London She/her (45:25.324)

Listen, I know, but I really, now I think this is a different stage for you. You've already been able to raise a great deal of money because your idea was brilliant to begin with. But I also think that, again, I really believe at least during this administration, we need to gather as a community to support each other. We need to find women VCs to be supporting these, you know, like women founded… companies that are actually in service of female physiology. We don't have enough research data, any of that stuff. And you're literally kind of giving us a roadmap to where we could be if we just kind of followed suit. That's money to me. That's money.

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Somi Javaid MD (46:07.886)

You're a mind reader. I don't know if you're reading energy or what. So just today I launched my new newsletter called The Disruptor and it's all about innovation. Thank you. A podcast is soon to follow by the same name, Disrupt Her. And I am writing a book. The proposal's already done and it's getting, I can do it with a broken heart.

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Stacy London She/her (46:32.846)

Do we have a title?

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Somi Javaid MD (46:38.59)

Mm-hmm. Yes, a nod to Taylor Yes, but that is how you know, everyone is like, how can I get in that 2 %? Dr. Javade? How do I get to be and I was like, you need to know all the things like with just like we don't tell people about pregnancy and like what happens and I was like you need to know all the things so really it is a book about going from this person who almost lost her mother and going through infertility and perimenopause and now going into menopause myself, becoming a provider and then really becoming an entrepreneur and then an advocate and how that happened weaved with stories and passion project, yeah.

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Stacy London She/her (47:16.12)

So, my God, I mean, this is really gonna be, yeah, like a memoir. And I also think, again, it's a roadmap in the way in which there has been this new shift and real popularity in the way that we talk about menopause, right? I mean, it's taken a long time to get here, but there are real changes happening. And I know I have one last question for you because I was looking at it.

I'm just going to ask this question right out instead of trying to lead into it. you tell me, because we've talked a little bit about some of this, but given your work emphasizes the importance of evidence-based sexual health care, how do you integrate the latest research findings in your approach to managing sexual health? Definitely concerns during menopause. And what are some of the key advancements that you find particularly promising?

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Somi Javaid MD (48:08.812)

So I make sure that I go to all the latest conferences and then I have keywords on my computer so that I get pinged anytime there is new data. And then if there's not...

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Stacy London She/her (48:20.984)

How do you track of all of it?

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Somi Javaid MD (48:25.816)

I have a team that kind of helps me out and says, have you read this article? So we want your take on this. What do you think about this? And then because I advise FDA, pharma companies, device companies, direct to consumer companies, I am gifted lots and lots of research. And they're like, what do you think of this? What do you think of this? We want you to digest this. Sometimes, you know, we talked about guidelines. So there's evidence. There's a difference between evidence and FDA approved medications. There are two major medical societies that support testosterone use in women, for example, but yet we have no FDA approved testosterone only treatment option in the United States. You and I both make testosterone, but there is not an FDA approved option for us, okay? So we compound. So I compound when there is data. And then I further that action by collecting data and then publishing that data so that others can learn from what worked and what didn't work. And then those patients are informed, you know, that they're part of a clinical trial or that retrospectively will be collecting the data. And so they know that they're part of that. And so that's how I do it. And a very honest conversation, say, hey,

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I would recommend testosterone. There's no FDA approved treatment option for women in this country, but we can compound it. We can give you a male formulation at 10th of the dose. So staying on top of all of the research coming out, going to those conferences with world leaders, because we all get together and we share knowledge, and then turning that into an actionable item of how do I take all that information and put it into the operations of her MD and train the physicians and providers.

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Stacy London She/her (50:02.126)

And it's funny, you I was also thinking about the fact that you were talking about even the place is pretty, that the environment and the actual experience of going to HerMD is putting you in a different mind state when you get there, right? I mean, like before anybody says anything to you. And I really do think that it's so interesting that, you know, world leaders are finally getting together to share practices. I think it's so funny how if watch any old documentary about serial killers, like nobody knew what anybody else was doing, because no town was looking outside of its own town. And we realized that now what? In 2025, there are going to be a billion people in menopause. That's what? That's a big part of this world.

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Somi Javaid MD (50:47.2)

It's huge. and then the other part of your question, see, perimenopausal brain fog, was what am I most excited about? Femtech and innovation, and what do I mean by that? So right now there's like two apps that I absolutely love that help with sexual health and they have data to prove it. One is Rosie. It's written erotica, but it's also head-to-toe information about women's healthcare conditions. There's master classes, I taught one on orgasm, but these stories, so you can choose how nice or naughty you want them to be, but they help with those domains of sexuality. And so that's for a woman who's like, listen, I'm not ready for a product yet. I'm not ready for a medication yet. I just want something. There's another one if you're like, I don't like to read or I can't find my trifocals, which I now have. There is one, Dipsy, it's audio erotica, which has been proven to be beneficial. There's a great company called Aria. Have you heard of them?

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Stacy London She/her (51:43.464)

No, and I haven't, I think I've heard of Rosie or what's the, what was it? Dipsy was the second one? Dipsy. Well, wait, you said Rosie and then what's the one, that's audio? it is. Okay, you keep saying Dipsy and I'm like, no, which one is it? I thought, I thought there was a third.

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Somi Javaid MD (51:48.098)

Dipsy. So yeah, Aria is the third. So Aria is the third, yes. And then Aria is like a concierge service. Makes it sound much fancier than it is because it's very affordable. But you fill out a questionnaire and it sends you scenes that are fitting for your lifestyle and what you choose. And then it sends you a kit that has items in it that will aid with enacting that scene so that sexual health can be, yep. So I'm a talker, I will just say this, and no, I do not work for the company. It left this very verbose doctor speechless.

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Stacy London She/her (52:31.022)

Woo!

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Somi Javaid MD (52:46.83)

Stacey, listen, there's a lot of pressure.

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Stacy London She/her (52:47.054)

Babe, I know there's a ton of pressure, I get it. It is on you. But that is our second real action item and it has three parts. Rosie, you can read Aratica. Dipsey, you can hear stories told to you. And then Aria, you fill out a form and you can act it out. Now, those are things that I had no idea existed. And I think I know one actress posted about either Rosie or Dipsy because it's her voice. So it must be Dipsy. But she was saying that it was about erotica. And I remember thinking like, my God, that feels like it's a territory we haven't really covered yet. And yet these are therapeutic tools in sexual health. That's so exciting.

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Somi Javaid MD (53:37.919)

That and vibrators, like you talked about tools. So two years ago, there was a major study that was presented at a conference on vibrators and how they help with pelvic floor health and some of those domains of sexuality. And so now there's smart vibrators that are teaching us way beyond the Masters and Johnson's model of orgasm. And we're learning all kinds of things about the female orgasm and how it can be different. For example, there was a soccer player who was concussed and was using this smart vibrator and they saw that while she was concussed, her orgasms were completely different because remember our biggest sex organ is our brain. We are the only sex that has a organ solely dedicated to pleasure. That's what I wanted to say earlier, right? So why we deny female pleasure, no idea. We have the organ, over 8,000 nerve endings. So, you knew it. You got me on a Friday, Stacy.

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Stacy London She/her (54:40.96)

I know, and I'm sorry, it is worth saying. We do have that pleasure organ. Come on, people. Pay attention.

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Somi Javaid MD (54:53.966)

Despite that though, always say our biggest sex organ is our brain. so I love promoting things that help brain health and help us with our neurotransmitters in our brain that promote sexual health and sexual functioning. But we're learning from vibrators. Who would have ever thought? Yeah. Yeah. So those...

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Stacy London She/her (55:10.945)

Wow. never thought, mean, smart vibrators, that would not have been on my top 10 of the innovations that would come out of the 21st century.

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Somi Javaid MD (55:20.992)

Yeah, but you know what I love about those is that people can do it in the comfort of their own homes, these apps, this concierge service. And so they can opt what they want to get involved in, whether they want the medication, whether they want therapy, whether they want counseling, or whether they want to try one of these cool femtech innovations. But I love, because when people are like, what's femtech anyways? And I was like, it's modern medicine, evidence-based in the hands of the patient. That's why it's scary to people.

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Stacy London She/her (55:50.21)

That's fantastic and also fantastic information. Dr. Javade, so great. I want to thank you so much for your time. This was so educational. We have real takeaway here. And then if we wanted to find more information on you, where is best place to find you?

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Somi Javaid MD (56:22.72)

I am on Instagram, I am on LinkedIn, DrSomi.com in addition to HerMD.com, and now the new newsletter, Disruptor.

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Stacy London She/her (56:34.274)

Disrupt Her. my God, I'm so excited about the newsletter. And then, and I can't wait for the book. The book is gonna be amazing.

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Somi Javaid MD (56:40.926)

I am so excited for the book too. Yes. Thank you.

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Stacy London She/her (56:43.4)

I am thrilled for you. I'm thrilled for all of us, actually. We all benefit from your wisdom. So thank you so much.

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Somi Javaid MD (56:49.122)

Thank you. Thank you for having me. This was a blast, you promised, and I have laughed so much, yes.