Elena Rueda, Dama Health: mapping the female genome and personalised contraceptive health 🧬👩‍⚕️

Elena Rueda is the CEO and Co-Founder of Dama Health.

900 million people around the world use contraception, yet 80% of women report experiencing side effects that decrease their quality of life, and on average women try 4 different contraceptive methods before finding the right fit!

Pretty shocking right! Elena explains why the lack of data and research in this field combined with pressures on the NHS, results in a very poor patient experience and can lead to serious side effects in women including depression, blood clots and heavy bleeding.

Dama Health are fixing this broken system by applying personalised and precision medicine to contraceptive health. Their screening test identifies patient biomarkers and personal preferences, to enable better decision making between patient and clinician. They are also conduct genetic research studies to better understand how different genes react to different contraceptive methods.  

Highlights:

  • 02.06: Elena’s career journey and being her friend’s contraception guru
  • 08.34: The reasons people take contraception
  • 11.13: Different forms of contraception
  • 13.08: The current routes (and challenges) in being prescribed contraceptives
  • 15.34: The side effects of taking the wrong form of contraception
  • 17.44: The challenges prescribers face
  • 24.40: Dama Health and their work
  • 37.15: Dama’s genetic research studies
  • 46.30: Getting the right funding for R&D heavy startups
  • 57.51: Meeting Davina McCall and being on Channel 4’s recent documentary  


Our Host:
Craig Turner. Founder of Confido Talent, a business that helps Tech For Good startups to scale their product, design and engineering teams.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigturner7/ / www.confidotalent.com / craig@confidotalent.com

Our Guest:
Elena Rueda, CEO and Co-Founder of Dama Health.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/elena-r-14335187/ / https://damahealth.com/
Channel 4 documentary: https://www.channel4.com/programmes/davina-mccalls-pill-revolution (Elena/Dama Health snippet 36.58-40.06).

Our Sponsor:
Jobs For Good. The only job platform to find the best jobs in sustainability, impact and much more.
www.jobsforgood.io / https://bit.ly/3wjwJa0

Our Producer:
Jabriel Al-Suhaimi. Jabriel is a podcast aficionado, editing and producing podcasts for many, including himself.
https://www.jabrielalsuhaimi.com/ / https://twitter.com/jabealsuhaimi