144: Here for Her Health: How Listening to Women Fuels Women’s Health Innovation

In the Ladies' Room with Dr. Donnica

So here’s a novel concept: a new pharmaceutical company focused on women’s health has launched with the strategy of actually LISTENING to women! Their strategy is to put women at the center of everything they do—and not just their customers. 70% of their Board of Directors—including the Chairman of the Board—are women.

Another company leader, Organon’s Head of Research & Development, Dr. Sandra Milligan is our guest today. We have a broad agenda planned including talking about how she got here--& why she went to both medical and law school first. We’re also going to discuss Organon’s “Here for Her Health” campaign & how you can share your voice; why a new kind of women’s health pharmaceutical company is needed now; How our understanding and appreciation of wellness/healthcare has evolved in a near post-COVID world; and her perspective on Innovation in women’s health – the current state of it and what’s needed. And because we’re both women physicians of a certain age, we’re going to discuss our own experiences with menopause, as well as some other women’s health topics that remain overlooked, misunderstood, & undertreated ranging from post partum hemorrhage to endometriosis.

Before joining Organon, Dr. Milligan served as Merck’s senior vice president and head of global regulatory affairs and clinical safety. Previously, she served as vice president of product development regulatory for Genentech, and prior to that, she was at Amgen for 10 years in positions across legal and regulatory affairs functions. She also proudly served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps for 7 years.

Dr. Milligan has also served on the Board of Directors of the Drug Information Association (DIA) for several years, as well as serving as their Board Chairman. She is a graduate of both George Washington University School of Medicine and Georgetown University Law Center.