Women’s midlife health is at an inflection point.
The science is advancing, but care has not kept pace.
The Institute Advancing Women’s Health (InAWH) unites global experts to move evidence into practice.
We translate peer-reviewed science into care pathways, education, and tools that redefine midlife care worldwide.
Transforming
women’s midlife health
A decades-old gap can be closed — now
Women’s midlife health represents half of every woman’s life, yet it has remained fragmented, underfunded, and inconsistently addressed in research and clinical care.
The knowledge exists.
The systems have not caught up.
More than one billion women are now postmenopausal
Most clinicians receive limited training in midlife care
Women spend 25% more of their lives in poor health than men
About InAWH
The primary constraint in women’s midlife health is no longer a lack of science alone. It is the failure to move evidence into practice - quickly, consistently, and at scale.
The Institute Advancing Women’s Health (InAWH) exists to shorten the distance between discovery and delivery. We turn credible, evidence-informed science into tools clinicians can use now: practical frameworks, care models, training pathways, and implementation-ready guidance that work in real-world settings.
Our focus is practice change. Our measure of success is better care, earlier intervention, and healthier years for women in midlife and beyond.
InAWH is designed to convert today’s momentum into measurable improvements in care.
InAWH is a global catalyst working to make evidence-based, cross-disciplinary midlife care the global standard. InAWH will meet the rising demand by uniting leading organizations and experts to develop science-based solutions that make credible women’s midlife health knowledge accessible to all.
Vision, Mission, Guiding Principles
A world where every woman has access to holistic, integrated midlife care that supports her dignity, vitality, and well-being.
Our Vision
Our Mission
To close the global gap between what science knows about women’s midlife health and how care is delivered.
Guiding Principles
Evidence-Based and Evidence-Informed
We are grounded in rigorous, credible, and evidence-informed science.
Multi-Disciplinary
We integrate insights from multiple clinical disciplines to address the interconnected nature of women’s health in midlife.
Informed by Women
We ground our work in women’s lived experiences to ensure relevance and meaningful impact.
Global and Diverse
We value perspectives across cultures, disciplines, and health systems.
Collaborative
We work with professional societies, health systems, and existing organizations to strengthen the broader ecosystem.
Impact-Focused
We prioritize work that leads to meaningful improvements in clinical practice, standards of care, and health outcomes.
Our People
InAWH is building a global team of leaders in medicine, research, and women’s health working to transform midlife care.
Board of Directors
Connie Collingsworth
Board Chair, Former COO of the Gates Foundation
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Connie Collingsworth is a globally recognized governance and social-impact leader with deep experience across the corporate, philanthropic, and investment sectors. She previously served as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Legal Officer of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, overseeing global operations, including technology, HR, legal, and risk, for the world’s largest private family foundation. Her leadership supported an enterprise with more than $75 billion in assets, multiple international offices, and related affiliated entities.
Connie currently serves on the board of Banner Corporation, where she chairs the Governance & Nominating Committee. She is an Independent Director of the National Philanthropic Trust and the Washington Research Foundation, a Board Advisor to Planet First Partners and serves as an advisor to Ocugen and LoudCapital. She also teaches “CEO and Board Leadership” as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Washington Foster School of Business.
She brings to InAWH extensive expertise in governance, organizational design, risk management, and mission-driven strategy, along with a long-standing commitment to advancing women’s health globally. Connie holds an LL.M. from the University of Exeter, a J.D. from the University of Nebraska, and a B.A. from Andrews University.
Dr. Annalisa Jenkins
Honorary Professor Medicine St Mary University
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Dr. Annalisa Jenkins, M.B.B.S., F.R.C.P., is an internationally recognized leader dedicated to harnessing the power of data to unlock insights and improve outcomes in healthcare around the globe. Throughout a 30-year career spanning clinical medicine, biotechnology, and leadership across industry and the public sector, she has focused on connecting people and organizations with the capacity to translate leading science into groundbreaking products that support healthy aging and human flourishing.
Dr. Jenkins graduated in Medicine from the University of London and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians London. After service as a medical officer in the British Royal Navy during the Gulf Conflict, she held senior positions at Merck Serono and Bristol Myers Squibb, and later served as CEO of Dimension Therapeutics, taking the company public on NASDAQ and through acquisition. Returning to the UK, she has cultivated roles across Genomics England, The King's Fund, the British Heart Foundation, and chairs YouBelong, a leading mental health charity.
Operating at the intersection of technology, innovation, and healthcare delivery, Dr. Jenkins builds and connects global ecosystems—across private, public, non-profit, and government sectors—aligned toward advancing better futures in mental health, women’s health, cancer, cardio-metabolic disease, and global health. As a board member and investor for multiple companies and funds, and Honorary Professor at St. Mary's University, London, she is a champion for data-driven leadership, diversity, and purpose-driven innovation.
Anna Samuelsson
Partner and Managing Director, Factory Capital
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Anna Samuelsson, Partner and Managing Director, Factory Capital is a global investment and strategy leader with more than 20 years of experience across investment banking, strategy, technology, and company management, including roles with Goldman Sachs and other firms. Her career spans CEO and director positions, corporate development, and scaling digital ventures, with extensive experience entering and managing markets across EMEA, the United States, and APAC.
Anna serves as Partner and Managing Director at Factory Capital, a global investment firm focused on Healthcare, Education, Lifestyle and Technology sectors. She leads the global women’s health practice, identifies investments and works with founder-led businesses and executive teams to scale across the global footprint and strengthen leadership, drive growth, and transform companies into investment-grade assets. A firm focus on value creation is a hallmark of Factory Capital’s approach to building and scaling high-impact enterprises.
Anna brings to InAWH deep business and cross-sector experience, global perspective, and a strong commitment to advancing innovative solutions that improve health and opportunity across diverse markets.
Medical Advisory Board
Dr. Barbara Gulanski, MD, MPH
Endocrinologist and Board-Certified Internist, Department of Veteran Affairs
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Barbara Gulanski, MD, MPH is an endocrinologist and board-certified internist with over 40 years of clinical experience and 30 years of clinical research experience, both in the academia and pharmaceutical industry, including multiple randomized controlled trials, mechanistic studies, and observational studies. She continues as a member of the Clinical Epidemiology Research Center (CERC) at VA Connecticut Healthcare System.
In addition to patient care and clinical research, her work spans education, clinical research infrastructure, and institutional service—anchored by long-standing appointments at Yale University School of Medicine, Yale-New Haven Hospital, and the VA Connecticut Healthcare System.
She has served in multiple clinical and educational leadership roles including, among others, Section Chief for Endocrinology at VA Connecticut, Interim Director for the Yale Bone Center, Associate Chief for Education for Yale Endocrinology and Chair of the Yale Endocrinology Diversity Task Force, reflecting her engagement with community, equity and the professional climate within the division.
Dr. Gulanski has also held leadership positions in clinical research operations, management and infrastructure. She served as Assistant Director of the Yale General Clinical Research Center (GCRC) and later as Director of Clinical Research Units and Evaluation Systems for the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation. Her national engagement during this period included service on the National Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) Evaluation Committee and the National CTSA Participant and Clinical Interaction Steering Committee, reflecting a broader influence on clinical and translational research systems. She also served as Associate Director of the Yale Diabetes Research Center Translational Research Core and engaged directly in patient safety and clinical investigation leadership through roles such as membership in the Joint Commission’s Center for Transforming Healthcare “Safe Insulin Project” and participation in data safety monitoring boards.
Dr. John Eden, MB, BS, MD, RCOG, RANZCOG, CREI
Gynaecologist and Reproductive Endocrinologist, Conjoint Professor, School of Women and Children’s Health, UNSW
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Dr John Eden (MB BS MD RCOG RANZCOG CREI) is a reproductive endocrinologist and gynaecologist. He is a Conjoint Professor in the Department of Women and Children’s Health, Royal Hospital for Women (UNSW). He is a Visiting Medical Officer (senior consultant) at the Royal Hospital for Women, Sydney, where he is Head of the Menopause Unit. He is a member of the Breast Cancer MDT at Prince of Wales Hospital Randwick. He also worked in the Moree aboriginal health service for ten years. John is on the executive committee and co-chair of the NSW Health (ACI) Menopause Hub project and has sat on numerous state and federal government committees. His research and clinical interests include managing menopause after breast cancer, early menopause, hormones and mood disorders, cultural aspects of menopause, PMDD and hormonal migraine. He has published over 150 scientific articles and book chapters.