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Menopause Mindfulness: Exploring Menopause’s Effect on Health and Well-Being
October 26, 2021 @ 11:00 am - 12:15 pm EDT

Menopause is a natural life stage that all women will encounter after a certain age. Despite its known associations with increased health risk for cardiovascular disease, stroke, osteoporosis, and other health conditions, employers, policymakers, and the general public have a very limited understanding of the impacts of the menopause transition on women’s health. Moreover, research has documented a lack of discussion surrounding menopause, including what to expect, how women communicate about their experience, and social and workplace support needs.
In recognition of World Menopause Awareness Month, the Society for Women’s Health Research hosted the congressional briefing, “Menopause Mindfulness: Exploring Menopause’s Effect on Health and Well-Being,” on October 26, 2021. During this briefing, panelists shared information about menopause, including current research gaps, the health risks for women during this life stage, and the stigma often associated with menopause and aging.
Read a summary blog about the event here.
This event is part of the SWHR Menopause Mindfulness series:
- Calls for Research Funding and Addressing Stigma Related to Menopause Congressional Briefing (October 26, 2021)
- Embracing the Change of My Midlife (February 16, 2022)
- A Personal Toolkit for Menopause Preparedness (July 14, 2022)
- Understanding the Many Paths to Menopause (August 11, 2022)
- Living Your Best Work-Life through the Menopause Transition (September 8, 2022)
Panelists

Claire Gill
Claire Gill
Claire Gill joined the Bone Health and Osteoporosis Foundation in January 2013, after a 20+ year career in Public Relations and Marketing for national nonprofit organizations and public relations firms with Fortune 500 clients. During her tenure at BHOF, she has served in various roles, including Chief Marketing Officer, Chief Mission Officer, and Interim CEO, prior to assuming the full-time CEO role in May 2020.
Claire has led all of BHOF’s consumer and professional education programs. She created and launched BHOF’s “Break Free from Osteoporosis” campaign, which generated hundreds of millions of media impressions from 2013-2016. As chief Mission Officer, Claire created the Healthy Bones, Build Them for LifeTM Patient Registry, a first for the osteoporosis industry. She also helped to launch the National Bone Health Policy Institute and created the Coalition to Strengthen Bone Health, consisting of 14 leading aging, caregiver and bone health patient organizations. The Bone Health and Osteoporosis Foundation (BHOF) was previously named the National Osteoporosis Foundation (NOF), and changed its name in October of 2021.
In September 2019, Claire founded and launched the National Menopause Foundation to bring about a positive change in how people perceive and experience health at midlife. She now serves as Founder and board member.
Claire is native of New York and graduated from Syracuse University. She now resides in Lorton, VA, with her husband and daughter.

Pauline M. Maki, PhD
Pauline M. Maki, PhD
Dr. Pauline M. Maki leads a program of NIH-funded research on women, cognition, mood, and dementia, with a particular focus on the menopause. She uses multiple methods including clinical trials of hormonal and non-hormonal treatments for menopausal symptoms, cohort studies of the natural history of cognition and brain function across the menopausal transition, and neuroimaging studies. She also serves as Senior Director of Research at the UIC Center for Research on Women and Gender.
Dr. Maki is Past President of the North American Menopause Society (NAMS),Current Trustee of the International Menopause Society, Chair of the Society for Women’s Health Research Interdisciplinary Network on Alzheimer’s Disease, and Immediate Past Head of the Neurocognitive Working Group of the Women’s Interagency HIV Study.

Arianna Sholes-Douglas, MD, FACOG
Arianna Sholes-Douglas, MD, FACOG
Arianna Sholes-Douglas, MD, FACOG is the founder and medical director of Tula Wellness and Aesthetics. She has practiced medicine for 30 years and is board certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology and Maternal-Fetal Medicine. She earned her undergraduate degree at Washington University in St. Louis and her medical degree at Meharry Medical College. Her residency and maternal-fetal medicine fellowship were completed at Martin Luther King Medical Center and UCLA Medical Center, respectively. As a graduate of the University of Arizona’s Integrative Medicine Fellowship, founded by Dr. Andrew Weil, Dr. Arianna combines her extensive knowledge in women’s health with the field of integrative medicine. She is the best-selling author of The Menopause Myth: What you mother, doctor and friends haven’t shared about menopause. Dr. Arianna has dedicated much of her career to helping women through the stages of life that are largely neglected by most of the medical community: menopause and perimenopause. She is a passionate leader and a visionary in the field of sexual health and uses state of the art technology to treat women of all ages with sexual dysfunction.
In addition to writing a best-selling book, she has made numerous media appearances on the Discovery Health Channel and served as the “Woman’s Doctor” on Baltimore’s NBC news affiliate. Her contributions are published in USA Today, Huffington Post, Prevention, Cosmopolitan, Fit Pregnancy, Good Housekeeping, and Essence Magazine. Recent awards include Southern Arizona’s Woman of Impact Award (2020), Inside Tucson’s Business Women of Influence Award: Business Owner of the Year (2020), and Inside Tucson Business’s Outstanding Women’s Health Provider (2016).