Lulu Ge is Giving Women’s Health The Attention it Deserves
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Did you know that only 4% of healthcare research and development goes to funding women-specific issues? I want to contextualize this statistic before we go any further because this blog aims to inspire, not to divide. This 4% refers to issues that affect women only, and do not include research into issues that affect both men and women. So, why only 4%? According to senior executives at some of the largest billion dollar pharmaceutical companies, it’s a simple answer. Women’s issues are “niche” or “lifestyle,” and returns on investment are much higher in other categories.
I was genuinely dumbfounded when I learned this from an interviewForbes did with Lulu Ge, the founder of Elix Healing. It’s no secret that progression in women’s health has taken a back seat in Western medicine, but those statistics are still jarring. I think about my own education around women’s physiology and menstruation, and how most of it I learned from awkward conversations with my mom and Google searching. Women today just accept the constant fluctuations in energy, mood, and pain as life; that there’s nothing we can do about it, since that’s what we’ve been told by doctors for years. But not Lulu Ge. She believed there had to be a better way, and so she built one.
“90% of us have our lives disrupted by menstrual symptoms every month. Taught to believe it’s ‘just part of having a period,’ we mask the pain with toxic drugs, alter our hormones with synthetic birth control, or cancel our plans and simply suffer. None of this is normal and it ends now.”
Lulu founded Elix Healing after getting off of birth control. She was searching for holistic ways to address the root cause of her debilitating cycles. (You guys know I love a health company that creates drug-free alternatives). This search brought back to her ancestral roots.
Lulu’s grandfather ran a hospital in Hunan, China. She grew up surrounded by herbs, medicinal mushroom soups, and super fruit tonics. She saw firsthand the power these medicines (provided by Mother Earth) had on patients. With Lulu’s degree from Wharton Business School, she spearheaded the connection between Eastern and Western Medicine with a team of medical experts to offer women greater access to personalized herbal medicine for menstrual wellness. In 2022, Elix completed its first institutional review board (IRB)- approved clinical trial to prove that their formulas could really reduce the need for pain medications during menstruation. You could say the results were overwhelmingly positive. 82% of the women reported fewer cramps, 85% had fewer mood swings, 90% had fewer acne flare up’s, and more. Lulu Ge is proving the last fifty years (at least) of western medicine wrong, and I think that’s freaking amazing.
If you guys noticed, I classified this article under the tech category and not creators. While Lulu is a prominent figure on social media (check out her Insta), Elix is actually considered a tech company. Their official tagline is “a tech-enabled hormone health brand to personalize Chinese herbal medicine remedies that are backed by science to address women’s health issues.” Through online questionnaires, zoom follow ups, data science and analytics, Lulu democratizes access to personalized holistic healing.
I came across Elix Healing somewhat synchronistically on Instagram. I was looking for a remedy to my hormonal acne and I ended up purchasing their product. (As of this article, it just arrived in the mail, so you can stay up to date with my journey on TikTok). The first step once you’re on the website is to answer their online questionnaire. I was really impressed with how detailed it was, asking me questions about my lifestyle, exercise and even for a photo of my tongue! But what I find most amazing about Elix, is how they’re de-stigmatizing issues surrounding women’s health. They’re not just bringing awareness to the fact that uncomfortable cycles are not normal, but by building Elix, Lulu is giving women’s health the awareness that it deserves. Our health is not a “lifestyle” category, it's just life. I’m inspired by Lulu Ge for changing the narrative and the science around women's health. It might not be profitable for big pharma to invest in us, but Lulu is building a better, healthier, more comfortable future for women.
If you want to try Elix, head to their website to fill out your own questionnaire. You can also learn more about their board of medical experts, and their herb sourcing process. Also, follow Lulu on Instagram. I just saw she hosted a brunch about cycle syncing and it looked like such an interesting conversation! I look forward to seeing how her business grows in the future.
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