In the field of women’s health, medical advancement has focused on birth control and fertility treatments, even though women spend several years and an average of $20,000 in trial-and-error treatments, doctor’s visits, and products trying to get the right diagnosis and treatment for menopause.
Co-founders Arfa Rehman and Scott Gorman saw the need for guidance and support during menopause, and together they launched Caria (formerly called Clio) — a personalised guide to help users understand menopausal changes and manage their symptoms.
“There is a lack of education about menopause and its treatments in the medical community, as only 20 percent of ob-gyn residency programs in the US have a formal menopause curriculum,”
says Rehman, who is also CEO of Caria.
“As a result, many medical professionals don’t have the training to diagnose and treat menopausal symptoms, often leaving women with insufficient options and support.”
In a survey conducted by the Female Founders Fund, 78 percent of respondents indicated that menopause interferes with their lives, and 23 percent of respondents indicated that menopause had either “a great deal” or “completely debilitating” impact on their lives.
To combat this, Caria implements an AI-powered assistant that women can chat with in order to uncover the meaning of their symptoms and where they might be in their menopause journey.
This will ultimately expand Caria’s intelligence to curate personalised health insights and recommendations about nutrition, wellness, and fitness, so that women are empowered to navigate menopause with solutions tailored to their unique profiles and preferences.
Developed with experts specialising in women’s health, Caria provides evidence-based approaches for managing menopause, including cognitive behavioural therapy, hypnotherapy, nutritional therapy, mindfulness, and fitness.
It also delivers tailored programs for each stage of menopause — pre-menopause, peri-menopause, natural menopause, or post-menopause — and curated goals. Caria recently launched a premium subscription for unlimited access to expert-created programs for symptom management.
In the coming months, Caria is partnering with the University of Illinois at Chicago to study the app’s efficacy in relieving symptoms of menopause. From current user surveys, 85 percent of women report improvement in symptoms after using Caria.
