Normalizing Stigmatized Health Issues — featuring Melissa Waters of hims & hers
The Beat
English - May 15, 2020 15:14 - 24 minutes - 23.2 MBMedicine Health & Fitness Mental Health Homepage Download Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
A lot of people are hesitant to reach out to a doctor for help. And when the issue they face is a stigmatized one like hair loss, birth control or erectile dysfunction, they’re even less likely to engage. So, how can we normalize conversations around care for these very common health concerns?
Melissa Waters is the Chief Marketing Officer at Hims & Hers, a health and wellness startup out of San Francisco that seeks to eliminate stigmas and make it easier for people to access care and treatment for the conditions that impact their daily lives. Melissa brings 15-plus years of experience building top brands to her role in leading all marketing and communications for the company. Prior to Hims & Hers, Melissa served as Lyft’s VP of Marketing and Pandora’s VP of Brand and Product Marketing.
On this episode of HLTH Matters, Melissa joins Dr. Kuku to explain how Hims & Hers provides care in stigmatized categories like erectile dysfunction and sexual wellness. She shares Hims & Hers’ ambitions around normalizing these stigmatized issues, democratizing access to care, providing price transparency and delivering a high-quality experience. Listen in for insight on Hims & Hers’ stand on access to contraception as a human right and learn how the platform is building trust and credibility with consumers.
Topics Covered
How Hims & Hers empowers consumers to be part of a solution How Hims & Hers provides care in stigmatized categoriesHow Melissa thinks about digital as strictly a delivery systemDemocratizing access to care + normalizing stigmatized issuesHims & Hers’ aim to provide price transparency + quality experienceThe number of Hims & Hers clients seeing a doctor for the first timeHims & Hers’ formidable Chief Medical Officer and his teamHims & Hers’ stand on access to contraception as a human rightThe need for more research dollars devoted to women’s healthHow Hims & Hers is moving slowly to ensure safety + build trust
Connect with Melissa Waters
Connect with HLTH & Dr. Kuku
Resources
The Innovator’s Prescription: A Disruptive Solution for Health Care
by Clayton M. Christensen, Jerome H. Grossman and Jason Hwang