A Stronger Push for Women’s Health Is Needed in Medtech

New York – MD&M East kicked off with a bang on Monday morning with a keynote from Marissa Fayer, a veteran of the medtech industry.   

Fayer, founder and CEO of HERhealthEQ, and CEO of DeepLook, gave a call to action for the industry to include more women at all levels.

She has previously served as an executive at Hologic, Olympus (formerly ACMI), Maquet-Getting (formerly Atrium Medical), Providien Medical, and Accumed Innovative Technologies.

Fayer’s HERhealthEQ partners with medical device manufacturers and hospitals to secure new or refurbished equipment and works with local hospitals, officials, and NGOs to put that technology to use. Thus far, the nonprofit has equipped communities in nine countries, including Ukraine and India. HERhealthEQ has the goal of impacting the lives of one million women by 2026.

Fayer noted the size of the medical device market for women was teeming with possibility.

The women’s health devices market is projected to grow from $35.63 billion in 2021 to $62.61 billion in 2028 at a CAGR of 8.4% in the forecast period, according to a report from fortunebusinessinsights.com.

“One thing we need to talk through, especially at medical device conferences is that these pieces of equipment should be designed by women for women,” Fayer told the audience. “Your design teams should include women.”

She added, “Be sure that you’re inclusive in including women in your design teams to design products for a woman. This is not just to have them on the testing side, but to have them be a part of the design.”

The moment was surreal for Fayer who has been in the industry for more than 20 years.

“This is a full circle moment for me,” Fayer said. “My first tradeshow, 22 years ago, was this show.”