Women in Health Innovation Spotlight: Dr. Sophia Yen
Sophia Yen, MD, MPH, is the co-founder and Chief Medical Officer of Pandia Health, the only women-founded, women-led, physician-founded, and physician-led birth control and menopause asynchronous telemedicine and medication delivery service in the United States. The idea for Pandia Health came after Dr. Yen spent time researching the reasons why women didn’t take birth control and found accessibility to be a key issue. Pandia Health has served thousands of patients across the U.S., aiming to make reproductive healthcare more accessible, convenient, and stigma-free.
Dr. Yen graduated from MIT with a BS in Biology, with an MD from UCSF, and a Master of Public Health in Child and Maternal Health from UC Berkeley. She did her pediatrics residency at Children's Hospital Oakland and completed her three-year Adolescent Medicine Fellowship at UCSF.
1. What led you to develop a career in women’s health? Why are you so passionate about it?
As a sexually active teenager who wanted to be a doctor someday, I couldn’t afford to get pregnant during high school, college, medical school, residency, or fellowship. So, I needed access to comprehensive sexuality education and confidential reproductive health care. I realized that every teen pregnancy is a lost opportunity for a young woman. It could've been prevented. You can have sex, just don’t get pregnant and don’t get diseases. We have so many good birth control options, plus condoms to double-protect!
This personal experience led me to found Pandia Health with a team that thoroughly understands women’s reproductive needs.
2. As both a successful physician and entrepreneur, how do you find a balance between practicing medicine and keeping up with the demands of running Pandia Health?
I am a clinical Associate Professor at Stanford Medical School in the Division of Adolescent Medicine and the Department of Pediatrics. I used to work in the Teen and Young Adult clinic and the Weight clinic, but I cut it down to just the weight clinic because that is what fit my startup schedule best. I am paid only for the days I work, which is 3 days/week. So, after founding Pandia Health and when Pandia Health took off, I cut down to 1 clinic per week, and the rest (including weekends) were reserved for Pandia Health.
To grow my company and share it with those around me, I remembered to always be selling. Always be sharing your company with whoever is in front of you. I knew that everyone knew someone with a uterus, and Pandia health didn’t have to be a separate corner of my life. This is what it takes to be an entrepreneur. I have to live in my business.
3. Pandia Health’s accessibility across the United States makes it a good option for women looking to get birth control. Is there anything in the plans to expand Pandia Health’s reach into more underserved populations of women and other parts of the world?
There are many underserved populations in the US, and we are trying to serve them by making our services affordable. We only charge $35 a year to use our expert birth control doctors with unlimited follow-up questions about birth control. It’s ~$420/yr to use our expert menopause doctors.
We bring expert birth control and menopause care to you wherever you have internet and a mailbox. We can prescribe in 15 states, and we can deliver to all 50. We encourage birth control and menopause tourism. If you are passing through or visiting one of the states we can prescribe in, fill out a questionnaire, pay while you are in the state, and one of our in-state doctors can prescribe the medication for you. Then, our pharmacy can deliver to all 50 states. The 15 states we work with are AZ/CA/CO/FL/GA/IL/MI/MN/NV/NY/OH/OR/PA/TX/WY. In the U.S. you have to be licensed in every state that you want to practice in, so therefore we’ve only been able to expand to these 15 states so far. These licensing laws were created before the internet existed and should be changed. All U.S. doctors take a national exam and should practice medicine the same in each state.
There are some states that forbid doctors to prescribe solely on asynchronous visit, and much of Pandia Health is asynchronous. Our birth control and prescriptions are safe and can be done over the counter, according to the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the same could be said for menopause hormonal treatment which is 1/10 the strength of birth control pills. Pandia Health’s asynchronous methods are safe, especially because some women are more comfortable answering these sensitive questions asynchronously rather than in person or over the phone. However, due to certain state laws we have not been able to expand across the U.S. and similar laws have kept us from expanding internationally.
4. A goal of yours is to prevent teenage pregnancy through increased contraception access and comprehensive sex education in schools. How do you think sex education can help break the stigmas young people face when asking for help, and how do you plan on reaching the youth?
We need to educate people that 70% of people using the “birth control pill” are also using it for other reasons, such as acne, painful periods, heavy periods, Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), endometriosis, and more.
Also, preventing unplanned pregnancy is something every parent should want. It is known that 13% of high school freshmen have had heterosexual intercourse, and this number goes up 10% each year in high school. By senior year, about 57% of students will have had sex. To us, it’s a matter of whether they will be protected against sexually transmitted infections and pregnancy or not.
Pandia Health provides FREE education on YouTube, Instagram lives, FBlives, and on our website about the birth control pill, patch, ring, and menopause.
5. What excites you about today’s healthcare systems and technology? Is there anything you hope innovation will bring about in the near future?
Technology will allow us to provide better care with fewer side effects and is ideally customized. However, all races/ethnicities and women must be represented. Did you know that women were NOT required to be in National Institutes of Health (NIH) studies until 1993? And even then, they didn’t require that women were in 50% of all studies, where possible or relevant.
6. As a mother to daughters, what is one piece of advice you’d want them to remember as they grow older?
Get your birth control under control. Assume everyone has a sexually transmitted infection and use condoms all the time. You’re beautiful and can accomplish anything you work hard towards.
7. What do you wish people knew about menopause?
The estrogen-only arm of the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) study showed a lower risk of breast cancer and death from it. Vaginal estrogen, used to treat symptoms like dryness of discomfort, is safe for most-even breast cancer surviviors- because only a small amount is actually absorbed into the body. Estrogen may also support heart health, brain function, and bone strength. However, the FDA currently only approves it for treating hot flashes, night sweats, vaginal symptoms, and for helping reduce the risk of osteoporosis—not for treating osteoporosis itself.
The best treatment for perimenopause is to “take over the system” with the birth control pill or vaginal ring and then at 52 or so, see if you are in menopause and switch to HRT/MHT/MT to help. In the perimenopause stage, your hormones go up and down like a roller coaster. We want to calm them down. Birth control takes over your hormones and makes them smooth. If you are in menopause, HRT, hormone replacement therapy, can help manage symptoms.
Final Note:
Only ~13% of companies have a woman founder in the US. Please consider investing in women-founded companies and buying from women-founded companies (all things being equal), and check out catacap.org for a tax-deductible investing option.
