Ep. 12 – “It’s Getting Hot in Here: Menopause, the Women’s Health Initiative, and hormone therapy” with Dr. Garnet Anderson and Cindy Pearson

Episode 12 dives into the world of menopause. With special guests, Garnet Anderson PhD and Cindy Pearson, Pharmanipulation explores the evidence from and controversies about menopausal hormone therapy. Dr. Garnet Anderson is a biostatistician and clinical trialist at the Fred Hutchison Cancer Research Center and is one of the Principal Investigators of the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI), a set of federally-funded, long-term studies of the effects of menopausal hormone therapy on chronic disease risks in postmenopausal women. Cindy Pearson is a women’s health activist who served as the executive director of the National Women’s Health Network for 25 years. Cindy led the Network’s efforts to expand access to health care and to improve research on women’s health.

Additional Resources

Manson JE, et al. The Women's Health InitiativeRandomized Trials and Clinical Practice: A Review. JAMA. 2024 May 28;331(20):1748-1760. doi: 10.1001/jama.2024.6542.

Hickey M, et al. Normalising menopause. BMJ. 2022 Jun 15;377:e069369. doi: 10.1136/bmj-2021-069369. PMID: 35705221.

Series on Menopause from The Lancet: published in March 2024, this series of articles and perspectives considers how we can empower women as they age and transition through menopause.

SWAN Fact Sheets: these fact sheets summarize the results of the Study of Women'sHealth Across the Nation (SWAN). SWAN is the only multi-ethnic long-term natural history of women before, during, and after menopause. They outline the major findings from SWAN on bone health, memory and cognition, hot flashes,sleep, depression, urinary incontinence, sexual functioning, and vaginal health.