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E202
September 08, 2026
Melinda French Gates Is Fighting to Close the Menopause Funding Gap
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In this episode of unPAUSED, Dr. Mary Claire Haver sits down with Melinda French Gates, philanthropist and founder of Pivotal Ventures, an investment and philanthropic organization focused on advancing women's health and equity, to talk about the funding and advocacy push she recently announced for women's health and menopause care. Melinda opens with the statistics driving her urgency: nearly one in three women over forty has menopause symptoms severe enough to disrupt her life, only about one in four gets treated, and fewer than a third of OB GYN training programs teach about menopause at all. She recently announced two hundred fifteen million dollars in new funding for women's health and menopause research.

The conversation traces why this happened in the first place. Dr. Haver and Melinda discuss how the Women's Health Initiative study decades ago halted meaningful research and training almost overnight, leaving an entire generation of doctors, including Dr. Haver herself, undertrained on hormone therapy and menopause care. Melinda shares her own experience seeing three doctors before getting the right care for her symptoms, despite what she calls unbelievable privilege and access to some of the best health care in the world, and describes the chronic insomnia and brain fog that made her doubt herself walking into meetings with world leaders and CEOs.

They dig into the data gap behind the underfunding, including the McKinsey finding that less than five cents of every dollar spent on medical research goes to women's health. The two also talk candidly about racial disparities in care, the confusion created for clinicians and patients by shifting reproductive health laws across states, and new research directions Melinda is funding, including work on women specific heart disease and microvascular diagnostics through an organization called Wellcome Leap.

The episode closes on a hopeful note, with both women describing midlife and menopause not as decline but as one of the most vibrant chapters of life, and Melinda offering concrete advice for listeners who want to push for change: advocate for yourself with your doctor, educate the people around you with credible information, contact your elected officials, and vote for candidates who prioritize women's health.

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Chapters

00:00:00 – Why women’s health needs a revolution
00:03:42 – Why Melinda French Gates is investing in menopause
00:09:07 – Building Pivotal Ventures around women’s health
00:10:03 – How menopause affected Melinda’s confidence and career
00:13:42 – Why women struggle to find trained menopause clinicians
00:16:23 – What went wrong with hormone therapy research
00:19:00 – A healthcare system built around men
00:21:22 – Rethinking heart disease and diagnostics for women
00:23:15 – Why women’s health needs billions more in research
00:24:28 – How policy and insurance can improve menopause care
00:28:53 – The data problem holding women’s health back
00:31:13 – Why healthcare should be determined by science
00:32:18 – Where the system fails women of color
00:36:13 – Finding growth and opportunity in midlife transitions
00:39:10 – Where women’s health research needs to go next
00:40:18 – Breaking the myth that women are simply emotional
00:43:21 – Four ways women can push for change
00:44:21 – What better menopause care should look like

About the guest

Melinda French Gates

Melinda French Gates is a philanthropist, businesswoman, and global advocate for women and girls.  

For over 25 years, Melinda has led efforts to unlock a healthier, more prosperous, more equal future. Today, she heads Pivotal, a group of organizations she founded to accelerate the pace of social progress for women and young people in the U.S. and around the world. Pivotal drives impact using high-impact investments, philanthropy, partnerships, and advocacy. Previously, Melinda founded and co-chaired the Gates Foundation, where, for more than two decades, she set the direction and priorities of the world’s largest philanthropy.  

Melinda has seen firsthand how empowered women and girls transform families, communities, and countries. In her bestselling book The Moment of Lift, she introduces readers to women whose stories have inspired her and writes about her own journey to becoming an advocate. Through her imprint, Moment of Lift Books, she amplifies other voices by publishing original nonfiction from visionaries working to unlock a more equal world for women and girls. In 2025, Melinda published a second bestselling book, The Next Day, drawing on previously untold personal stories to offer her perspective on navigating life’s big transitions. 

The second of four children, Melinda grew up in Dallas, Texas. She attended Duke University, where she received a bachelor’s degree in computer science and economics and an MBA. Melinda spent the first decade of her career developing multimedia products at Microsoft before leaving the company to focus on her family and philanthropic work.  

Melinda has three children—Jenn, Rory, and Phoebe—and lives in Seattle, Washington.