Dr. Sumbul Ahmad Desai, Vice President, Health, Apple 
Dr. Paula Johnson, President, Wellesley College
Dr. Michelle Williams, Dean of the Faculty, T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University 
Moderator: Arianna Huffington, Thrive


Brainstorm Health 2022 - Redefining A New Era For Women’s Health 

Conferences

Dr. Sumbul Ahmad Desai, Vice President, Health, Apple 
Dr. Paula Johnson, President, Wellesley College
Dr. Michelle Williams, Harvard University 



Redefining A New Era For Women’s Health 


Dr. Sumbul Ahmad Desai, Vice President, Health, Apple 
Dr. Paula Johnson, President, Wellesley College
Dr. Michelle Williams, Harvard University 


Brainstorm Health 2022 - Redefining A New Era For Women’s Health 


Thank you so much. My hall and to everything you said about women's health. We must stand the recent leak about the Supreme Court decision. Um that would reverse nearly 50 years of satellite law and that is putting women's health front and center once again. And we have an amazing panel to discuss everything. And Michelle. I want to start with you and with the big question why is women's self so under researched for so long. Well, first of all, thank you everyone. Thank you Ariana. You know this is a very important question and it's one that goes back to um our history of um are biomedical and health infrastructure, recognizing that um including women in studies, particularly clinical trials would result in either an increase in the number of samples that you'd have to study because of the the biological cycle ng that women um go through. And also there were concerns around in clinical trials. The fact that interventions might have unknown impact on the developing fetus. But those are biological reasons, not just reasons for the lack of inclusion of women in studies. and it wasn't until the 19 early 1990s that legislation was passed that required the inclusion of women and minorities in federal funded studies. And so it goes back to the misperception that the female biological system is too complicated to engage in the research process. And as a result of this, there is a dearth of fundamental information that's important in the development of therapeutics and preventive practices that um we as women are deprived of having that precise information to guide protocols and practices and the symbol you have partnered with Michelle and the Harvard School of Public Health. What are you hoping to achieve through that partnership? Or first of all thrilled to partner with Michelle and the Harvard School of Public Health. Um you know, when we think about the work that we do at Apple, really focused on empowering users to engage in their health with actionable insights and live a better day. And the reason the research was so important is that um overall goal, the fundamentals that support that goal really are science based, evidence based research and learning that support the actionable insights and the features that we develop. And then secondly, obviously privacy being fundamental and core to all the work we do and the user being in control. And the reason we did the research study and why we're so excited to work with Michelle is when we thought about doing women's health, we really started to dig into the science and understand it further. And one of the things that we learned was the studies that many of the women's health guidelines are based on, we're actually um done many years ago in very small population. And so we thought this is a real opportunity to bring our platform together with Michelle and support this really important cause of doing research and women's health and what we have been really excited about is that there's a few things that have come from doing this one. We want to bring novel science to the work that we're doing through the research. We have the opportunity to really understand women's health holistically by getting capturing information about a user about not just their cycle tracking information, but how they're sleeping, how they're moving, Which is all really important. And in addition, one of the other great things is through the platform and the reach of our platform. We're engaging more women in the study. And to Michelle's point, we really wanted to bring more people, more women into the process of the science. And, you know, as we talk about citizen research and citizen scientists bring that together with our work at Apple to drive um better understanding and actionable and scientific based insights and in relation to everything that's happened with women. We're also seeing the mental health crisis particularly affecting women and Paula last year at this conference, Karen lynch the ceo of cbs predicted that there would be a post traumatic covid disorder in relation to mental health. And now we're having this stunning data coming out about for example, one in five, as students having expressed um suicidal thoughts, how are you observing and what can we do about it? It's, you know, it's it's such a major problem and I know um first of it's wonderful to be here with with all of you and with my two, my good friend and a new colleague. But the mental health crisis is real. It is a crisis and I think it was a crisis before the pandemic. We were seeing skyrocketing rates of depression and anxiety in our young people um and starting at earlier and earlier ages. And so what you have now is an acute on a chronic insult with the pandemic. And now we're really seeing skyrocketing numbers now. This isn't, I would say an epidemic given the numbers you just shared. And I think we have to approach it. Like it's an app like it's an epidemic which is we have to gather the evidence. We have to invest in research both on treatment strategies and also on prevention and understand what it is we're dealing with when we talk about the mental health crisis, we tend to talk about it as one thing and it isn't, you know, there's a range of disorders in this age, young People from the ages of 17 to about 26 is the time when some of the more biologic uh psychological illnesses come about schizophrenia bipolar, but we're talking about those, but we also are talking about very serious depression, were also talking about a range of depression and then a range of anxiety. We haven't really invested In the studies to understand one. How do we address it? Um these various aspects in the various populations, right? We're not all monolithic, we're not all one group and also how do we prevent these devastating disorders and really treat it like it's the future. You know, it is critical for the future of our country. So we need an all out effort right now, we need better data collection. We need a data repository and we really need a focus on how we again understand this range of disorders prevent and treat. And you know, Paula, you talked about how it's affecting students. Michelle and I have worked together to look at how the mental health crisis is affecting frontline healthcare workers. And if we look at the fact that when In terms of the global workforce, 70% of healthcare workers, not just doctors, but midwives pharmacists, community workers are women. Again, this is disproportionately affecting women. So, Michelle, I know you're passionate about that and I would love for you to tell us you know what you are doing what we are doing and what more can be done. Thank you Ariana and thank you for partnering on some of this work that we're doing. First of all, I think it's really important to recognize that these last two years have been particularly hard on the status of women and girls. You know, the World Economic Forum estimates that we've lost 39 years of progress on the global gender and equity gap just in the last two years. And so there is a societal obligation and imperative for us to really look at this loss and work to build back to a place even better than where we were before. Early in the in the pandemic, I had reflected on the Ebola crisis and how we have disproportionately lost healthcare providers in West Africa nurses and doctors who were on the front line. And in March I called up Ariana and I said I'm really worried about what's what's coming and I don't really feel like we're watching for our healthcare workforce. And Ariana in her typical way, said, well what, what can we do together? And um that was a question that opened the opportunity for us to form a partnership with creative Artists agency. And we raised money and we said we were going to use these resources to make sure that we provided child care, healthy foods, safe place to sleep because health care providers early on were afraid to go home. And we took a whole human approach to providing, supporting and caring for the frontline work workforce. And I think that for me was a way to survive the pandemic, because the sense of purpose was real and we were making a difference. Um, but it was also for me, an interesting and important opportunity for us to realize how partnerships across sectors can have an impact with a sense of urgency, that none of us could do alone. And it's been great to see this evolved, you know, right now, looking more specifically at the mental health challenges for frontline healthcare workers and how even little micro steps can help during the day. But in the end, in order to scale all these advances symbol we need technology. And so tell us, what are some of the advances that you are working in this small startup. You're working called apples very small. Um We do work like a startup actually um you know, going back to what we're focused on again, we want to put the user at the center of their health and um particularly women and I think with women's health, it's really important to remember that you're a woman's health is more than cycles. It's everything else that impacts your health and health is really should be holistic and made up of small little steps that you do every day. That actually then amount to improvements in significant outcomes. So improving your sleep, moving around, making sure that you are taking time for moments for mindfulness breaks or moments to kind of really recharge. Um and when we think about this, we think about um the work that we're doing, we want it to be again grounded in the science, which is why we're excited to work with Michelle and team. What we've even learned just bringing it back to the research studies is that things like heart rate actually we recently introduced as part of our cycle prediction um where we can see be more accurate about cycle prediction using heart rate and that's something we learned from our research studies together. We also are getting insights on women's health in ways that um has been really enlightening and confirming some thoughts that we've all had together. And Michelle should definitely chime in here as well. But for example, those with Pcos have a higher incidence of arrhythmias and you know, it's through this research and the and the technology that we're bringing to bear when we're with you all the time. We wanna be able to learn. Um if you're a participant in the study, what other elements in your life everyday impact your health and how do we help bring that if you're participating in these studies and even for all of our users, how do we bring those learnings and an actionable way to your life every single day. And and that's really what we're focused on. But again, I think we really believe that we want to make sure we're doing it grounded in the science and that's why we're so excited to collaborate with the medical community and individuals like team Williams and her amazing team at school, I think it's great to see the emphasis on everyday habits and how they have a real impact on overall health and you know, Paula and as the president of very important women's college, you are obviously helping women launch their careers fulfill all their aspirations. But also we're looking at a real epidemic of burnout and in a way it's something that we've inherited over decades of a much a way of working where people bragged about not needing to sleep or I'll sleep when I'm dead. So how are you helping and you will be you will be a lot earlier. So how are you helping women launch ambitious career and realize I don't have to burn out in the process. It's such an important question. And you know, it relates to kind of our whole focus on mental health, which is, you know, if we look at our our schools all the way from elementary to high school, it's all focused on the checking the box in order to get to the next step, and we don't do a very good job at life preparedness. We do, we focus on the academics, but there's very little life preparedness. And so when they come to Wellesley, our job is not only to provide an outstanding education, but that education is holistic, which means that we in fact have to deprogram some of what has happened in their lives and we focus on relationship building. We focus on how to do self care and I could go on, but the idea here is really figuring out how to prepare young women for a whole life in which they are going to enter the world. Um and and I just think that that is that holistic approach needs to start quite frankly in kindergarten and needs to continue as we know into the workplace, as we think about what women are looking for and need as they move into the workplace. Yes, we're on realizing that up skilling has to include resilience, human skills. So I'd like to end on a personal note because you all have very stressful big jobs, huge responsibilities. What are you personally doing, Michelle? I want to start with you and to take care of your health. What are some of the micro steps that have helped you? Um You know, I remember going through a particularly tough period and you reminded me to breathe. Just taking a micro minute to be attentive and mindful to your breathing has been so simple, but so transformative in helping to manage all that comes at you when you're in a leadership position. And so that's my go to and then my my dog gidget the dog and conscious breathing Paula. Um I would I would probably say two quick things. One is, you know, I've been so fortunate to have a life of purpose in whether it was an accident when I was in medicine or or now and sometimes you have to remind yourself of that and just take a step back because you're caught up in all the major issues and just remember why you're there. And I would say the second is really nurturing my friendships and relationships in life. You know, our surgeon general has talked about an epidemic of loneliness and our friendships take time and through this pandemic even with with all of the intense work, I've really focused on making time for those relationships you really find symbol, I'll share three quick things. One I really do believe in staying active a little bit every day and I love doing it with my kids. So we make sure we take nightly walks and I do find that to be a really amazing outlet of well being and just spending time with them. Um the second is um a big believer in prayer and spirituality and mindfulness and I I definitely that has definitely gotten me through some hard times. And finally, I think the other part is just being honest with yourself that you can't do everything every day and what you need every day is going to change. So some days you may need some more activity, but some days you may need some more just hanging out and just being okay with the fact that you're not always going to be go go go and giving yourself the space to take it easy once in a while and just speaking about it helps everyone else recognize that it's okay to take time to take care of ourselves and put our own oxygen masks on first and now we are collecting all these micro steps and we're going to publish them. Thank you so much for this