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E201
September 01, 2026
Testosterone Is Not a Male Hormone: Levels, Dosing, and What It Does During Menopause
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In this episode of unPAUSED, Dr. Mary Claire Haver sits down with Dr. Mohit Khera, a board certified urologist and professor at Baylor College of Medicine, where he directs the Laboratory for Andrology Research at the McNair Medical Institute. Dr. Khera specializes in sexual dysfunction and has spent nearly two decades researching testosterone therapy, focusing much of his career on closing the gap in research, training, and treatment access for women.

Dr. Khera lays out the biology behind the episode title: testosterone is not a male hormone. Women actually produce more testosterone than estrogen, with receptors for it throughout the brain, heart, bone, and muscle, yet not a single FDA approved testosterone product exists for women in the United States. He walks through the history of three failed attempts to bring one to market, the funding gap between men's and women's sexual health research, and why testosterone deficiency in women is so often dismissed, misdiagnosed as depression, or treated with antidepressants that make the underlying problem worse.

The conversation covers the practical details women and clinicians both need around hormone therapy: how to test testosterone levels correctly, why timing and fasting matter, what SHBG is and how oral contraceptives can permanently elevate it, and the real differences between creams, injections, and pellets for dosing. Dr. Khera is direct about the risks of super physiologic dosing and unmonitored compounding, while making the case that properly dosed testosterone can meaningfully improve libido, mood, cognition, muscle mass, and bone density during perimenopause and menopause.

They also discuss the couple's dimension of hormonal health, the so-called hormonally dangerous decade between 50 and 60 when both partners' hormones can decline at once, and why Dr. Khera insists on evaluating partners together. Dr. Khera closes with practical advice for women: ask your doctor to test your testosterone levels, know what the normal ranges are, and don't accept dismissal if your concerns aren't taken seriously.

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Chapters

00:00:00 – Why testosterone in women is still misunderstood
00:04:17 – How Dr. Mohit Khera entered female sexual medicine
00:05:44 – The medical training gap around sexual dysfunction
00:08:39 – What female sexual dysfunction actually means
00:10:03 – What testosterone does in the female body
00:13:29 – Why women’s testosterone research is underfunded
00:17:05 – What low testosterone can look like
00:20:24 – How to test testosterone accurately
00:22:36 – Why SHBG matters
00:30:32 – What testosterone levels actually mean
00:33:25 – Why there is no FDA-approved testosterone for women
00:37:11 – Creams, injections and pellets explained
00:42:00 – Why absorption changes the dose
00:43:42 – How to evaluate a compounding pharmacy
00:46:21 – The risks of supraphysiologic dosing
00:46:58 – Testosterone side effects and reversibility
00:48:28 – Testosterone, bone density and frailty

About the guest

Dr. Mohit Khera

Dr. Khera earned his undergraduate degree at Vanderbilt University. He subsequently earned his Masters Degree in Business Administration and his Masters Degree in Public Health from Boston University. He received his Medical Degree from The University of Texas Medical School at San Antonio and completed his Urology residency training in the Scott Department of Urology at Baylor College of Medicine. At Baylor, he completed a one-year general surgery internship and then went on to complete a five-year residency program in Urology. After completing his Urology residency, he went on to complete a one-year fellowship in Male Reproductive Medicine and Surgery at Baylor. Currently he is a Professor in the Scott Department of Urology at Baylor College of Medicine, and he holds the F. Brantley Scott Chair in Urology. Dr. Khera also serves as the Director of the Laboratory for Andrology Research, the Medical Director of the Scott Department of Urology, and the Associate Program Director of the Baylor Infertility and Sexual Medicine Fellowship Program. He is also the past president of the Sexual Medicine Society of North America. 

In addition to his basic science research, he has initiated numerous FDA approved clinical trials.  His basic science and clinic experiences have allowed him to thus far give over 400 lectures at scientific meetings throughout the world, publish over 190 articles in peer reviewed journals, complete 15 book chapters, and edit and write two books all in the fields of Sexual Medicine and Men’s Health. In addition, he served as a panel member on the American Urologic Association Erectile Dysfunction Guidelines and the Peyronie’s Disease Guidelines. He currently serves as the Asssociate Editor for Urology Practice and for the Journal of Urology Urologic Survey.  

Dr. Khera freely shares his time and knowledge with the general public. He has been voted several times as one of Houston’s Best Doctors by Health and Sport Fitness Magazine and by Houstonia Magazine and is a frequent guest on such TV programs as Fox News’ “Ask the Doctor.” He has also been a guest on numerous podcasts such as the Dr. Gabrielle Lyon Show, Megyn Kelly Show, The Drive with Peter Attia and Diary of a CEO with Steven Bartlett.