decipHER women
The first ever predictive and learning health system to support women through pregnancy and motherhood.
Our missionTransforming Women’s Health
We are on a mission to discover how hormones shape our physical & mental health so we can create healthcare that actually helps women. From puberty to menopause and everything in between, hormones form our mental health, our physical health, and run our lives – yet, the treatments with them and for them are either from the 50’s or nonexistent. decipHER women will be the first ever learning healthcare platform that leverages lab science, data science & clinical care to transform women’s health for the 21st century.
Our TheoryPrecision medicine requires us to become more holistic, not more reductionist.
We will map every part of women’s hormone (endocrine) systems. Why? Our hormone system changes in an interdependent manner and affects everything about us.
For example, hypothyroidism, or low levels of thyroid hormones, ALSO causes increased estrogen levels and decreased testosterone & progesterone levels. These additional hormone changes impact a woman’s mental health, fertility, and her likelihood of getting autoimmune thyroid eye disease!
There are also known genetics that can determine if the above patient should be prescribed levothyroxine OR levothyroxine with Cytomel.
If we know this science, why is this not how we practice healthcare?
It will be.
Currently, it takes 17 years for science to make it from a lab to your doctor’s office, and in some cases much longer than that. We are changing all that, while also generating new science.
first projectOur first mission is to map out maternal mental health.
Peripartum depression is underdiagnosed, undertreated and is costing moms their lives & their families.
Maternal Mortality
Peripartum depression (PPD) is the leading cause of maternal mortality in Hispanic and White women in the US.
Cost of Healthcare
PPD costs Medicaid, commercial payers, and the healthcare system over $7 billion annually.
Cognitive Development in Children & Adolescents
Perhaps most importantly, PPD is costing the children their chance of healthy cognitive development and emotional regulation. Studies through adolescence demonstrate significantly lower IQ and increased ADHD diagnoses in these children.
first projectOur Predictive Tool
decipHER will create a predictive tool to diagnose PPD and suggest the ideal treatment for each expectant or new mom.
We will break down the four main barriers that exist to getting women care:
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Clinical bottleneck
Our tool will remove the need for time-consuming surveys which suffer form the bias of self-reporting, and are not uniformly given.
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The mechanism(s) of PPD
is poorly misunderstood. There are several studies that point to different molecular mechanisms. Are some more right than others? We think they are all right, and that there are different biological signatures for the different clinical presentation.
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Presentations
At least 5 clinical phenotypes exist, and we think each one has a different molecular cause and therefore a different corresponding treatment.
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Stigma
When we prove mental health is as biological as diabetes, moms will not be afraid to admit their condition, and health care providers will be empowered to treat them
Our philosophyWomen are not small men.
Estrogen, progesterone & testosterone affect every cell, tissue, and organ meaningfully.
Estrogen:
Alters brain chemistry, causing or preventing depression & anxiety
Drives autoimmunity pathophsyiology
Helps determine muslce size
Protects neurons, potentially impacting Alzheimer’s
Softens arteries, preventing heart attacks and strokes
Governs bone growth, prevents osteoporosis
Affects the microbiome and vice versa
Changes symptoms of disease; and responses to treatment
Affects liver function
Regulates Insulin
Facilitates tissue growth and would healing
Hormones affect EVERYTHING.
Estrogen Governs More Than Reproduction; The Brain is Exquisitely Responsive to Hormones
Steroid hormone fluctuations contribute to brain remodeling across a woman’s life.
Slice B shows how higher levels of estrogen level during mouse estrus cycle remodels neurons
decipHER women is creating the first learning healthcare system that treats the whole woman
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You have a doctor for every body part.
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But bodies do not work in parts.
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Bodies are an interconnected ecosystem of nerves, immune cells, hormones, and organs
Precision medicine requires a holistic approach.
To understand and care for YOU, we will map out all of your ecosystems dynamically.
About the FounderAmy M. FitzPatrick
Necessity is the mother of all invention, and I am no exception. I was partially blinded by a hormone-driven autoimmune disease. Medicine did not think hormones were involved, though this disease, like most autoimmunity, afflicted women almost exclusively. It was down to me to sort the science of this autoimmune disease out for myself, so I did. Research is in progress to potentially spare others from the challenges I faced by modifying patient estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone levels.
The same autoimmune disease kicked me into early menopause. At that time hormone replacement therapy was very hard to find, expensive, and inexact. No one knew why my dwindling hormones still fluctuated like a menstrual cycle, though I had no menses. To this day, no one can explain why my progesterone levels fluctuate (and my mood & waist size with them!). Sadly, though access to care has improved a bit, the science has not.
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These medical mysteries and experience as a scientist & health care provider inspired my need to invent the definitive hormonal healthcare for women. My team & I created an entire field of research and education in immunology, and we are determined to extend our comprehensive approach into endocrinology and more. With our established history of capsizing intellectual stagnation, we aim to revolutionize women’s health.
