We had a great time hosting Buck Institute for Research on Aging Assistant Professor Jennifer Garrison on the podcast to talk about her areas of expertise: reproductive aging and neuropeptide signaling. Jennifer and Matt go over the fascinating and chronically under-researched science of menopause, misconceptions about hormone replacement therapy, and the importance of considering the endocrine function of the ovaries alongside their role in reproduction. They also chat about evolutionary questions around menopause, changes they would like to see in medical school curricula, and more.

In addition to her role at the Buck, Jennifer serves as co-founder and director of Productive Health, formerly the Global Consortium for Reproductive Longevity & Equality, and holds appointments at the University of California, San Francisco and the University of Southern California. She is also a Founding Director of the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) Woods Hole Biology of Aging (BOA) Advanced Training Course. She has received numerous awards, including a National Institutes of Health Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) for Established Investigators, a Glenn Medical Foundation Award for Research in Biological Mechanisms of Aging, an American Federation of Aging Research Junior Faculty Award, and a National Academy of Medicine Healthy Longevity Catalyst Award. Jennifer conducted postdoctoral research at Rockefeller University and received a PhD and a B.A. from the University of California, San Francisco and the University of California, Berkeley respectively.

Check out the links below for further information and/or reading about some of the things we discussed in this podcast episode. Note that we do not necessarily endorse or agree with the content of these readings, but present them as supplementary material that may deepen your understanding of the topic after you listen to our podcast. This list is in no way exhaustive, but it’s a good start!

Prof. Jennifer Garrison- "Reframing women’s health and aging"
Jennifer presented this talk in 2023 at The Longevity Summit's third annual event. In it, she provides a broad overview of the ovaries' role as pacemakers for aging and how the precocious aging of the female reproductive system affects broader aging in other tissues. She also discusses other issues such as myths and misconceptions around women's health, problematic language used to describe women's health, and whether or not menopause is a biological imperative.

Delaying Menopause: Understanding the Ovary

The You Are Not Broken podcast hosted Jennifer to talk about menopause, declines in women's ovarian function, and current work attempting to address both. The discussion also touches on the importance of highlighting ovarian function for healthy female aging, healthspan inequalities between men and women, and more.

A critique of the Women’s Health Initiative hormone therapy study

Matt and Jennifer discuss the effects of hormone therapy on all-cause mortality as well as the impact of an early study that arose from the Women's Health Initiative on perceptions of hormone therapy in this podcast episode. This paper offers several criticisms of the study's experimental design, and argues that its conclusions about the risks involved with administering hormone therapy to menopausal women should not be viewed as definitive.

No need to fear menopause hormone drugs, finds major women’s health study

This article in the Washington Post covers a Journal of the American Medical Association paper arguing that the large-scale negative reaction to a Women's Health Initiative study about the risks of hormone therapy for menopausal women was unfounded. It describes the events that led to the study being discontinued, and provides a helpful summary of a follow-up study demonstrating the safety and benefits of hormone therapy for women under 60 experiencing menopause.

'Tis but a scratch: a critical review of the Women's Health Initiative evidence associating menopausal hormone therapy with the risk of breast cancer

This is another review presenting arguments and evidence questioning the validity of the Women's Health Initiative study reporting adverse effects of hormone therapy for menopausal women.