In Episode 3, Dr. Dweck and Rachel interview Sophia Yen, CEO and co-founder of Pandia Health, a health platform with the mission is to make women’s lives easier by bringing birth control to women wherever they have the internet and a mailbox. Dr. Yen is a reproductive health specialist who continually researches the data behind birth control and has a belief in using science to customize birth control for each woman.
Dr. Yen shares the business model of Pandia Health and explains how their passion is to provide affordable and convenient birth control services to their patients. Matter of fact, the telehealth platform is only $20 per year plus the minimal cost of birth control. In addition, Pandia is a wealth of reproductive health information thanks to its quality content and informative, advertising free videos. Furthermore, Dr. Yen expands on the importance of contraception and hormones based on data and science that she has extensively studied. Learn more at https://www.pandiahealth.com/.
Watch the Interview with Pandia CEO, Sophia Yen
KEY POINTS:
- Family Planning
- Pandia’s Business Model
- Where Pandia Health is able to help patients
- How Pandia retains and attracts for telehealth services
- Where Pandia patients go for side effects or complications from the pill
- Pandia Health’s site content
- The anti-hormone, anti-contraception movement
- Data
- What’s next
QUOTES:
:03 “I think my bread and butter is people interested in planning their pregnancy and family planning.
2:48 “The financial model for Pandia Health is owning a box that goes to women’s doors every month, every three months. This is a recession proof subscription.”
3:10 “You better have your birth control under control or else you are going to have a crazy expense for the next 18 years of your life.”
5:25 “We can ship to all 50 states. If you have a prescription from your doctor in a pharmacy, tell us where it is and we can send it to a partner pharmacy…we can follow you wherever you are. If you need a prescription, we can provide that in nine states.”
6:25 “We can only legally serve you from a prescription point of view when you are legally in our state.”
7:01 “Many of our physicians on the panel are doing it to help women.”
7:30 “For now, we are going directly to the consumer.”
8:48 “For $20, you get 365 of follow up care. For big side effects, it’s 911 or your primary care physician.”
11:15 “Please check us out on YouTube. We have videos with over 260K views with no advertising. We know the questions women are asking.”
12:48 “Our demographic ranges from the 13 year old with horrible periods…to the 55 year old at the end of her fertility…to our sweet spot which is the 25 year old with pill anxiety.”
13:50 “Most of the anti-hormonal methods have a 20-30% failure rate….if you are driven by hormones in any way, these methods are not going to work for you.”
14:49 “We want everyone to know that doesn’t already know, #periodsoptional.”
15:21 “We want people to realize that by using hormones, we can approximate what is more natural.”
17:42 “If you’re not on medication, you should bleed every month until two years after your first period.”
21:09 “We’re not going to do infertility but we can tell you who is good and who is trying to make a ton of money off you.”
About Sophia Yen
Sophia Yen MD MPH is an adolescent medicine specialist and reproductive rights advocate. She graduated UCSF Medical School, did her pediatrics residency at Children’s Hospital Oakland, adolescent medicine fellowship at UCSF, MPH at UC Berkeley in Maternal and Child Health.
She is an Associate Professor at Stanford Medical School in the Division of Adolescent Medicine, Department of Pediatrics. Her research interests are: Emergency Contraception knowledge, use and practice of patients and physicians, reproductive health needs of adolescents and college students, accuracy of reproductive health websites.
Dr. Yen’s goal in life is to prevent all teen pregnancy – “No teenager should want to get pregnant. She should have higher aspirations for her teen years. and No teenager should get pregnant. If they have sex, they should have access and education to birth control.” She hopes to be the first surgeon general to say “masturbation” without being asked to resign.
Dr. Yen founded the Silver Ribbon Campaign to Trust Women in 2010. She served on the boards of the Center for Reproductive Rights, the C4 of Planned Parenthood Golden Gate and the California Abortion Rights Action League.
CONTACT SOPHIA:
https://www.pandiahealth.com/