Why does it still take women an average of five years to get diagnosed with a chronic health condition — and up to 12 years for endometriosis? In this episode of The New Script, Makenzie Thomas and Frances Goh sit down with Dr. Ariella Heffernan-Marks, medical doctor, award-winning researcher, and founder of Ovum, to explore how technology and data are rewriting women’s healthcare.
Ariella shares the lightbulb moment that inspired Ovum — a “blue book” for women’s health — and how she’s building the first holistic AI health assistant designed to empower women across every stage of life. She explains how Ovum integrates longitudinal health data, generates doctor-friendly summaries, and creates the largest dataset yet to address decades of bias in medical research and AI.
Beyond the tech, Ariella reflects on her journey from medical student to startup CEO, what she learned raising $1.7M in pre-seed funding, and why setting boundaries as a founder is just as important as breaking them.
You’ll also hear surprising insights from her early research, why women are more open to AI in healthcare than expected, and how Ovum is redefining women’s health from “pink and siloed” to holistic, integrated, and equitable.
🌐 Ovum: https://www.ovumhealth.com/
👩⚕️ Dr. Ariella Heffernan-Marks: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-ariella-heffernan-marks-935401120/
