Endometriosis affects as many women as diabetes. Diabetes research gets $1 billion a year from NIH. Endometriosis gets $28 million. That kind of gap doesn't exist because people are against women's health research, it exists because it hasn't been made a priority.

In this episode, Dr. Adam Brown and Dr. Lara Zibners sit down with Kathryn Schubert, President & CEO of the Society for Women's Health Research, to unpack why the women's health funding gap persists, how policy actually gets shaped behind the scenes in Washington, and what it's going to take to close the gap for good.

Kathryn shares her journey from Capitol Hill scheduler to registered lobbyist to leading one of the longest-standing organizations fighting for women's health equity. Along the way, we get into the real role lobbyists play in healthcare policy (it's not what you think), how advocates tailor their message to move lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, the history of excluding women from clinical trials — and the assumptions that made it seem reasonable at the time, navigating women's health advocacy in a politically charged environment, and why the private sector is finally waking up to women's health as a market opportunity.

This conversation will change how you think about where health policy comes from and who's actually moving it forward.

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