How startup accelerator Health 10X is transforming the landscape for women’s healthcare

Women’s health is underinvestigated, underinvested, and undervalued in Australia and beyond.

Conditions such as cardiovascular diseases, osteoarthritis, cancers, strokes and autoimmune diseases can often present differently in women than in men. Across a spectrum of diseases, women are diagnosed on average four years later than men, are more likely to have symptoms dismissed by doctors, experience adverse drug reactions, and succumb to cardiovascular diseases. Progress towards adequate representation and analysis of women in medical research remains slow.

Gender bias impacts nearly every step of the healthcare value chain, from women’s historic underrepresentation in clinical research to the quality of health services women receive. The startup ecosystem has begun normalising and addressing women’s health challenges and, unsurprisingly, many female founders are at the forefront of this wave of femtech.

UNSW Founders has a proud history of supporting and empowering entrepreneurial women. In fact, 45% of founders who participate in UNSW Founders’ entrepreneurship programs identify as female, surpassing the national average of approximately 22.3%.

Founders New Wave is a dedicated program at UNSW for female founders that provides tailored support for participants at the beginning stage of their entrepreneurial journey, helping them to upskill and launch their startups. Health 10x, Australia’s leading university-based health-focused accelerator program, has supported seven women’s health startups through commercialisation support and mentorship, and invested in two.

Since its inception in 2019, the Health 10x Accelerator, a collaborative initiative by UNSW Founders and The George Institute for Global Health, has supported over 150 startups and invested in 27, showcasing the best and brightest health and medical innovators across Australia.

In 2023, Australian Medical Angels, the nation’s largest syndicate of clinician angel investors, and Virtus Health, a world-leading provider of assistive reproductive services, partnered with UNSW Founders. Virtus Health supports women’s health startups selected for Health 10x through additional commercialisation support, clinical expertise and funding at the accelerator stage. With comprehensive support from key partners and a focus on unmet medical needs, the Health 10x Accelerator is ideally positioned to support female founders and startups dedicated to women’s health.

“I started Amelia after realising the current R&D in vaginal health was woeful. I have lived experience with vaginal infections and wanted to create a business that supported women’s health at a moment of vulnerability. I loved the connections to people who could genuinely help us scale up, and all my new founder friends,” said Catherine Slogrove, the visionary founder of Amelia, reflecting on her journey with Health 10x in 2023.

Across the UNSW ecosystem, women are at the forefront of innovation in women’s health research and practice.

Dr Rebecca Deans, from UNSW’s School of Clinical Medicine and Health, Discipline of Women’s Health, led the first uterus transplant in Australia at the Royal Hospital for Women in January 2023 after a successful clinical trial.

Researcher Cecilia Ng, from the Division of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at UNSW’s School of Clinical Medicine, is responsible for establishing and managing the National Endometriosis Clinical and Scientific Trials (NECST) Registry, a coordinated clinical database that collects and tracks diagnostic, treatment, and quality of life data for people with endometriosis to analyse and explore its impact.

Associate professor Cheryl Carcel from The George Institute is driving research on sex and gender differences, with a focus on acute stroke care in low-resource settings and developing policies encouraging disaggregation of data by sex.

Health 10x Accelerator startups focusing on women’s health additionally have the benefit of the expertise and support from Virtus Health, a global leader in women’s reproductive health. Virtus Health is currently driving a study of more than 30,000 eggs collected at Melbourne IVF clinics over 10 years, which has revealed similar pregnancy success rates for frozen and thawed eggs as for fresh eggs. Frozen and thawed eggs show survival rates of 92% with fertilisation rates around 65%, similar to the fertilisation rate when using fresh eggs. The study results are being presented at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) Congress, one of the world’s largest fertility research conferences.

Much-needed changes are finally beginning to take place within the women’s health space, as emergent technology helps provide services beyond traditional institutions and structures. The evolution is far from over, however, and programs such as the Health 10x Accelerator and New Wave are vital in ensuring this new era of technology continues to support meeting the needs of women in Australia and globally.

If you want to help shape the future of femtech and make a lasting impact on women’s health, then join UNSW’s Health 10x program! Whether you are an aspiring startup founder ready to bring your innovative ideas to life, a seasoned professional eager to mentor emerging talents, a dynamic speaker who can inspire and educate, or an investor looking to drive meaningful change, your contribution is crucial.

This is your chance to be part of a movement that is transforming the landscape of women’s healthcare. Connect with UNSW Founders today and start making a difference.

Dr Parisa Glass is the director of innovation and enterprise for The George Institute for Global Health, and Cydonie Greenaway is the program manager for Health 10X within the innovation and enterprise at The George Institute for Global Health. Eléonore Cluzel and Dr Joseph Po are program managers at Health 10X.

This article was first published by Women’s Agenda.