Hi there,

Welcome to Issue #128!

⬇️ This week’s highlights! ⬇️

Thanks for being here. Let’s keep building the future of health — together.  

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Women’s health is often described as “underfunded,” “overlooked,” or “politicized.” All of that is true. But it misses a more uncomfortable reality: women’s health is structurally unorganized in the ways Washington responds to.

Policy is not moved by moral clarity alone. It is moved by access, consistency, scale, data, and capital—deployed strategically over time. Other industries understand this. Women’s health, largely, does not.

In a conversation between Jodi Neuhauser, founder of In Women’s Health and 51&, and Ariel Gonzalez, a senior health policy strategist and lobbyist in DC with decades of experience across AARP, March of Dimes, and major healthcare organizations, one message comes through clearly: this is not a mystery system. It’s a learnable one.

If you’re building, investing in, or working inside women’s health, this isn’t abstract policy theory. These dynamics shape reimbursement timelines, regulatory risk, funding availability, and whether your company ever reaches scale.

Here are six big ideas that explain how money actually moves policy—and what women’s health must do differently to compete.

There is a persistent myth that campaign contributions directly purchase votes. In reality, money works more subtly—and more powerfully. Money buys access, time, and proximity, which is where policy influence actually begins.

Political donations, event sponsorships, and consistent financial participation get organizations into rooms they would otherwise never enter: fundraisers, small briefings, private conversations with lawmakers and senior staff. This access doesn’t guarantee outcomes, but without it, outcomes are nearly impossible.

Critically, access isn’t just about elected officials. Chiefs of staff and senior legislative aides are often the real gatekeepers. These individuals straddle politics and policy. They attend fundraisers, shape legislative priorities, advise their bosses, and decide which issues get airtime. If they don’t recognize your organization—or your issue—you effectively don’t exist.

For women’s health, the takeaway is clear: refusing to engage with money as a tool doesn’t preserve moral purity—it guarantees marginalization.

In Washington, consistency is interpreted as seriousness.

Showing up once with a compelling argument is forgettable. Showing up repeatedly—across months and years, at different events, with aligned messaging—builds credibility. Lawmakers and staffers are constantly tracking patterns: Who keeps coming back? Who speaks with one voice? Who represents a durable constituency rather than a momentary concern?

Consistency also applies to who is showing up. When multiple people from the same sector appear at different times, carrying the same core message, it reinforces that the issue is organized, not incidental.

Women’s health often appears episodically—during crises, court decisions, or funding fights—rather than as a sustained presence. This makes it easy for policymakers to deprioritize, delay, or deflect.

In Washington, repetition isn’t redundancy. It’s how priorities are set.

For women’s health leaders, this means aligning around fewer, clearer policy priorities — even when it requires setting individual agendas aside — and committing to show up year after year, not just during crises.

One of the starkest contrasts raised in the conversation is between unified industries and fragmented issue areas.

At AARP, policy discussions routinely involved tens of billions of dollars over ten-year budget windows. That scale wasn’t accidental—it reflected a unified constituency, disciplined messaging, and a shared set of policy priorities. By contrast, even well-intentioned advocacy areas like mental health or women’s health often splinter into dozens of organizations advancing partially overlapping, sometimes conflicting, asks.

The result is predictable: lawmakers get confused, staffers can’t reconcile competing narratives, and the path of least resistance is to do nothing—or to allocate symbolic funding that avoids real commitment.

Fragmentation doesn’t just weaken influence. It caps ambition. When groups fight individually, they argue for incremental dollars. When they unite, they can justify structural investment.

Washington funds industries, not silos.

Stories open doors. Data moves legislation.

Policy committees—especially those dealing with healthcare, budget, and appropriations—operate in a world of numbers: costs, savings, population impact, workforce effects, and economic consequences. Anecdotes are compelling, but without hard data, they rarely translate into bill language.

Organizations like AARP invest heavily in surveys, listening sessions, economic modeling, and constituent data collection. They don’t just say “this matters to our members.” They show how many people are affected, in which districts, at what cost, and over what time horizon.

Women’s health advocacy often relies on emotional resonance without pairing it with rigorous evidence infrastructure. This leaves policymakers without the tools they need to justify action internally.

If women’s health wants policy wins, it must invest in evidence generation as a strategic asset, not an afterthought.

Coalitions are one of the most effective ways to scale influence in Washington. By joining forces, organizations multiply their reach, amplify their messaging, and share the costs of advocacy infrastructure.

But coalitions only work when participants are willing to compromise. That often means narrowing priorities to the overlap that can move forward together, rather than insisting on a full wish list.

Successful coalitions coordinate messaging, advocacy strategy, grassroots outreach, and communications. Some are informal and ad hoc; others are formal, staffed, and funded. The most effective ones behave like organizations in their own right.

Despite the number of women’s health groups operating today, there is no widely recognized, authoritative coalition seen by policymakers as the voice of women’s health. Until that changes, influence will remain diffuse.

Unity doesn’t require unanimity—but it does require discipline.

In federal policymaking, stopping something is structurally easier than creating something new. A single senator can place a hold. A committee can decline to schedule a hearing. A provision can be stripped quietly.

Playing offense—passing new legislation—requires far more: policy design, cost estimates, bill sponsors, committee referrals, hearings, votes in both chambers, and often years of sustained effort.

Women’s health frequently finds itself in reactive defense mode, mobilizing late to stop harmful policies while lacking the infrastructure to proactively advance transformative ones.

Both offense and defense require resources, strategy, and presence. Money doesn’t guarantee success—but it fuels the sustained engagement required to win.

The system that governs healthcare policy in the U.S. is complex, imperfect, and often frustrating. But it is not unknowable.

This is why platforms like In Women’s Health and 51& focus not just on awareness, but on organizing people, data, and dollars into durable leverage.

Other sectors—from crypto to AI to aging advocacy—have learned how to organize capital, data, and people to shape outcomes. Women’s health now faces a choice: continue operating as a collection of fragmented causes, or build the coordinated power required to compete at scale.

The need has never been clearer. The time has never been more urgent.

The question is no longer whether women’s health deserves power — but whether it is willing to organize to claim it.

Hey In Women’s Health community — if you’ve been waiting for the ‘right moment’ to make your next move, this note is for you.

One of the hardest truths about careers in women’s health is this: most people don’t get stuck because they lack talent or commitment. They get stuck because they wait for clarity instead of creating it.

I see it constantly — smart, capable people accumulating experience but not momentum. Learning more, doing more, yet staying largely invisible in the moments that matter.

What I’ve learned is that clarity doesn’t arrive first. Movement does.

The In Women’s Health Career Mastermind exists for people who are done waiting for the “right time” and ready to actively shape how they show up in the field. It’s not about motivation — it’s about positioning, momentum, and real-world action alongside others who are equally serious.

This next cohort begins TODAY and will stay intentionally small, so the work stays practical and honest. We have only 2 seats left!

Anyone who joins before the noon ET start time is entered into a drawing for a private 45-minute strategy session with me. Chosen by a digital random picker.

If you’ve felt that quiet pull to stop preparing and start moving, this may be the moment to listen.

I’m here. We’re here. And you don’t have to figure it out alone.

— Jodi

First Live Session Begins Today at 12pm ET!

Collab‑a‑Palooza 2026 is a dynamic virtual event hosted by the Perinatal Resource Collaborative (PRC) designed to bring perinatal professionals together to connect deeply, collaborate intentionally, and build practical skills for meaningful impact in maternal and perinatal care. With experiential workshops, structured networking, hands‑on learning, collaborative think tanks, continuing education opportunities, and interactive exhibitions, this event empowers professionals to grow their expertise and expand their community.

We’re proud that our founder, Jodi Neuhauser, is speaking at the event — sharing insights on innovation, community building, and professional impact in the perinatal space.

🎟 Register now: https://prc.vfairs.com
💡 Use code COLLAB26 for 15% off your registration.

Whether you’re seeking new connections, evidence‑based strategies, or skills you can use right away, Collab‑a‑Palooza 2026 is your platform to learn, collaborate, and take your work to the next level.

Although women make up more than half of the global population, their health needs have often been overlooked. From gaps in clinical research to underdiagnosed conditions and insufficient funding for female-specific care, addressing these disparities is both an urgent priority and a major opportunity for impact. Join us at HERS to:

Track the Shift from Investment to Research to Results in Women’s Health
From next-gen diagnostics and AI-powered screening tools to targeted therapies, new drug targets and patient-centric wearables, you will explore cutting-edge research and real-world solutions designed to close clinical gaps and improve outcomes across the women’s health continuum.

Connect Across the Ecosystem
Meet investors, entrepreneurs, scientists, healthcare leaders, clinicians, and advocates who are driving change across the women’s health landscape. Whether you’re developing a new drug, building a startup, funding the future, or implementing change on the front lines, HERS is the place to build lasting connections.

Demystify the Funding & Commercialization Landscape
Get candid insights from scientists-turned-founders, venture capitalists, innovators, and market access strategists on what it takes to bring women’s health solutions to market from navigating reimbursement hurdles to seizing growth opportunities in a rapidly evolving investment climate.

Drive the Future of Women’s Health
Join the movement to correct decades of underinvestment and underrepresentation in women’s health. You will walk away with actionable insights and a clearer path to scale your work and impact. Furthermore, you will connect with changemakers across science, business, and policy to explore bold solutions in diagnostics, therapeutics, and healthcare delivery.

See the full agenda and register here.

🔍 Why Women’s Health Is Suddenly Everywhere — and Why It Matters

This week Forbes published a powerful piece showing that women’s health is no longer quietly overlooked — it’s becoming a central focus of research, investment, and public conversation in ways that are actually reshaping care, innovation, and policy. From new data challenging long-standing stigma to breakthrough tools that turn lived experience into evidence, this article makes clear that the narrative around women’s health is shifting — and fast.

This matters for all of us in the In Women’s Health Community: the louder the conversation, the more policymakers and investors take notice — and the more pressure builds for real change. Read it here:
👉 Women’s Health Is No Longer Quiet — And That’s Changing Everything

📆 Upcoming In Women’s Health Events

International:

FP&A Senior Associate, SWORD Health, Porto, Portugal.

Inventory Control Specialist, ByHeart (Parenthood, Series C), Portland, OR.

Executive Assistant to the Co-Founders, ByHeart (Parenthood, Series C), New York, NY, $140K - $160K.

Managing Counsel, Regulatory, Hims & Hers (Digital Health, Public), United States · Remote, $240K -- $265K.

Director of Compliance, SWORD Health (Speciality Care, Series D), United States.

Staff Software Engineer, Health, Babylist (Parenting, Series C), United States, $218,956 - $262,778.

CA- Oncology Pathology Assist, Natera (Lab Testing, Public), San Carlos, CA, $1---$1/hr.

CA- Clinical Oncology Specialist, Cutaneous (Mid-Atlantic), Natera (Lab Testing, Public), New York, NY, $133,300---$199,900.

FL- Clinical Laboratory Technologist - Bacteriology, Invitae, Tampa, FL.

Staff Biostatistician, Natera (Lab Testing, Public), United States · Remote, $164K—$205K.

Admissions Inquiry Representative, Equip (Speciality Care, Series B), United States · Remote, $21 – $24/hr.

Note: This newsletter is for informational purposes only. For any legal questions or issues, please consult outside legal counsel. Any opinions expressed in this newsletter are solely my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer. I cannot guarantee the credibility of the sources or job listings I share. It's advisable to do your own research before engaging with them.

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