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What if your ovaries influence your metabolism, inflammation, sleep, and long-term health, not just your ability to have children? In this episode of hol+, Dr. Taz MD speaks with reproductive biologist and Celmatix founder Dr. Piraye Beim about the emerging field of ovarian health.
What if your ovaries influence your metabolism, inflammation, sleep, and long-term health, not just your ability to have children? In this episode of hol+, Dr. Taz MD speaks with reproductive biologist and Celmatix founder Dr. Piraye Beim about the emerging field of ovarian health.
Dr. Beim explains why the ovary should be understood as a metabolic, immune, and endocrine organ that communicates with tissues throughout the body. She reveals what may happen when ovarian function begins declining, why perimenopause can feel so sudden, and how those changes may influence weight, insulin signaling, inflammation, and healthy aging.
The conversation also explores AMH and ovarian reserve, the overlooked 300-day process behind egg development, and the experimental treatments scientists are developing to regulate ovarian function and potentially extend ovarian health.
Dr. Beim also shares practical ways women can support the ovarian function they have today, including reducing smoking and toxin exposure, managing inflammation, protecting sleep, getting appropriate morning light, exercising, and supporting metabolic health.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
• Why ovarian health affects much more than fertility
• How ovarian function interacts with metabolism and inflammation
• Why weight management can become harder during perimenopause
• What high or low AMH may reveal about ovarian function
• How PCOS and endometriosis can affect ovarian health
• Why sleep and light exposure matter for hormone signaling
• Whether lifestyle changes may influence ovarian aging
• What the future of fertility and menopause treatment could look like
• How ovarian function interacts with metabolism and inflammation
• Why weight management can become harder during perimenopause
• What high or low AMH may reveal about ovarian function
• How PCOS and endometriosis can affect ovarian health
• Why sleep and light exposure matter for hormone signaling
• Whether lifestyle changes may influence ovarian aging
• What the future of fertility and menopause treatment could look like
The AMH-mimicking treatment discussed in this conversation remains experimental and is still being developed.
Dr. Taz and Dr. Beim also discuss PCOS, endometriosis, diminished ovarian reserve, fertility treatments, and the overlooked 300-day process behind the development of an egg. Dr. Beim shares how Celmatix is developing an experimental therapy designed to mimic AMH and potentially regulate how quickly ovarian follicles are used over a woman’s lifetime.
Dr. Taz and Dr. Beim also discuss PCOS, endometriosis, diminished ovarian reserve, fertility treatments, and the overlooked 300-day process behind the development of an egg. Dr. Beim shares how Celmatix is developing an experimental therapy designed to mimic AMH and potentially regulate how quickly ovarian follicles are used over a woman’s lifetime.
If you have struggled with fertility, PCOS, painful periods, perimenopause, menopause, unexplained weight changes, or low AMH, this conversation offers a new way to understand the connection between your ovaries and your overall health.
The AMH-mimicking treatment discussed in this episode is still under development and has not been proven or approved to extend ovarian function in humans.
About Dr. Piraye Beim:
Dr. Piraye Beim is a reproductive biologist, women’s health innovator, and founder and CEO of Celmatix. For more than 20 years, she has worked to advance the scientific understanding of female biology, fertility, ovarian aging, and reproductive health. Through Celmatix, she is helping pioneer the field of ovarian health and develop new therapies intended to improve fertility care, regulate ovarian function, and support women’s health across the lifespan. She also shares ovarian-health education and her personal journey through Boss Ovary.
Connect with Dr. Piraye Beim:
About Dr. Taz:
Dr. Tasneem Bhatia (Dr. Taz) is a triple board-certified integrative medicine physician, bestselling author, and founder of hol+, a multi-location integrative medicine practice.
Learn more: https://doctortaz.com/about
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What is hol+ with Dr. Taz MD | The Future of Medicine is Holistic?
hol+ with Dr. Taz MD is redefining modern medicine through a comprehensive, evidence-based holistic approach; integrating functional medicine, integrative medicine, and time-tested healing systems to treat the whole human, not just symptoms.
Hosted by Dr. Tasneem Bhatia (Dr. Taz), triple board-certified physician in integrative, functional, and holistic medicine, bestselling Penguin Random House author, and founder of hol+; a comprehensive evidence-based holistic medicine platform with clinics in Atlanta, New York City, and Los Angeles, and virtual care available nationwide.
At the heart of hol+ is a revolutionary framework: the Five Body Map- physical, mental, emotional, energetic, and social/community bodies that create whole health. This whole-human approach connects hormone imbalances, gut dysfunction, microinflammation, cortisol dysregulation, metabolic disease, autoimmune conditions, perimenopause, and stress-driven illness to the full spectrum of who we are; body, mind, and spirit.
Each episode explores Dr. Taz’s original clinical frameworks ;The Cortisol Loop, Microinflammation, and The Invisible Load alongside conversations with leading experts, celebrities, and thought leaders including Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, Katherine Schwarzenegger, Cameron Mathison, Carol Alt, Jane Seymour, Tamsen Fadal, and Kris Carr.
Topics include hormone health, gut health, GLP-1 and metabolic therapy, thyroid dysfunction, weight loss, inflammation, autoimmune disease, mental and emotional wellness, energetic health, and the future of holistic medicine.
This is the show where science and spirit converge- driving health, happiness, relationships, and family ecosystems.
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This is medicine beyond the exam room. Welcome to hol+
[00:00:00] Dr. Piraye Beim: But it turns out the ovary is a metabolic organ, it's an immune organ, it's an endocrine organ. [00:00:05] It signals to virtually every other cell, every other tissue in the body, and it's [00:00:10] also a very complicated organ itself. It's a very complicated tissue, and it's one that we're [00:00:15] just now starting to understand.
[00:00:16] Dr. Piraye Beim: And so our ovarian function is not aligned with the [00:00:20] modern human lifespan.
[00:00:21] Dr. Taz: Right. You've made me not feel insane. Yeah. I don't know how many times I've had these [00:00:25] conversations. It's not
[00:00:25] Dr. Piraye Beim: all in your
[00:00:26] Dr. Taz: head. I know. It's like, I feel so validated right now, so thank you. [00:00:30] Awesome. There's not a day that goes by in practice where I don't sit with a woman who is [00:00:35] either struggling to get pregnant, not clear on why she went into an early [00:00:40] perimenopause or menopause, or just feels pressured, quite honestly, to hurry up and have a [00:00:45] child because her eggs are gonna run out or her time is up.
[00:00:48] Dr. Taz: And oftentimes, that [00:00:50] haste leads to waste and really wrong decisions. That's why I wanted to bring on my [00:00:55] next guest. I want you guys to meet Dr. Beim. She is rethinking reproductive [00:01:00] health, fertility, early menopause, premature menopause, perimenopause, all the things, [00:01:05] because she's talking about ovarian health and how we that advocate [00:01:10] for women's health really need to be talking more about the field of ovarian health, and what we [00:01:15] can and cannot do to protect our ovaries and to really innovate our [00:01:20] ovaries so they're working for us, not against us.
[00:01:22] Dr. Taz: Maybe even extending the timeline [00:01:25] so that we are no longer in a rush to have children. Let me tell you a little bit about Dr. [00:01:30] Beim. She is an avid researcher. She's a biologist. She's been in women's health [00:01:35] for over 20 years, and she's done a lot of PhD work innovating precision [00:01:40] medicine for different areas of women's health.
[00:01:42] Dr. Taz: She founded her company, CellMedics, [00:01:45] as an opportunity to really focus on reproduction and reproductive equity [00:01:50] for women, including novel drugs that extend ovarian age [00:01:55] and actually help decrease the need for things like assisted reproductive [00:02:00] technology. She's been a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.
[00:02:03] Dr. Taz: She was named to [00:02:05] Crain's 40 Under 40. She's a notable woman in tech according to Goldman Sachs, and [00:02:10] she's a top 15 founder in Fortune, and she is Rock Health's [00:02:15] disruptive founder of the year. I'm pleased, honored, thrilled to welcome Dr. [00:02:20] Beim to the show to help us understand ovarian health and what the future of [00:02:25] reproduction, perimenopause, and menopause is going to look like.
[00:02:29] Dr. Taz: Dr. [00:02:30] Beim, thrilled to have you on the show. You have been an advocate, a [00:02:35] champion of this whole idea around ovarian health [00:02:40] separate but under the category of women's health. And I'm [00:02:45] fascinated by that because, you know, with the work that I do, we do take that into account, but we [00:02:50] think of it more, to be 100% honestly, in terms of, like, data and numbers and [00:02:55] hormone levels and estrogen and testosterone and all this business.
[00:02:58] Dr. Taz: So talk to us a little [00:03:00] bit about ovarian health and what that means to you and why you think it needs to be [00:03:05] its own category.
[00:03:06] Dr. Piraye Beim: So thanks for having me on today. I'm excited to have this [00:03:10] conversation. Um, my background is as a biologist, so I'm a PhD [00:03:15] biologist and, um, one who specialized in medical science for [00:03:20] many years.
[00:03:21] Dr. Piraye Beim: And about 15 years ago, I started [00:03:25] my journey with Cellmatics, which is my company that I founded and I run today as CEO. [00:03:30] Um, but I've been innovating in women's health for over 20 years as a scientist. [00:03:35] And when I founded Cellmatics, we had a very [00:03:40] straightforward question, which was actually quite radical, which is we know that women have different body parts.
[00:03:44] Dr. Taz: Mm-hmm.
[00:03:44] Dr. Piraye Beim: [00:03:45] We know that we have different chromosomes in our DNA and genes- Mm-hmm ... that underlie those different body parts, [00:03:50] but what does it really mean to be female biologically on a cellular level [00:03:55] that helps us understand why women get certain diseases that men don't get or are [00:04:00] disproportionately protected from certain diseases or disproportionately impacted by certain [00:04:05] diseases so...
[00:04:05] Dr. Taz: So what led you even to that question? Like, when we talk about what does it mean to be [00:04:10] female, right- Yeah ... you're opening up a whole can of worms right there.
[00:04:12] Dr. Piraye Beim: Oh, sure. And I don't mean- Like, you know. ... I don't mean
[00:04:14] Dr. Taz: the
[00:04:14] Dr. Piraye Beim: gender [00:04:15] lens. Right, exactly. I don't mean, uh- But- ... I'm really just looking at it as a pure cell biologist and what's- So what does that mean to a [00:04:20] cell to be female?
[00:04:21] Dr. Taz: So tell us about that. Like, what, what does it mean to be [00:04:25] a female cell? Like, what does that, what does that mean? I actually have never thought of, thought of [00:04:30] cells that way. So this is new for me, too. But go ahead. Tell me what that means.
[00:04:33] Dr. Piraye Beim: Well, you're not alone 'cause the [00:04:35] pharmaceutical industry has been treating us as male cells.
[00:04:39] Dr. Piraye Beim: Fascinating. As [00:04:40] kind of tiny males.
[00:04:41] Dr. Taz: Yeah.
[00:04:41] Dr. Piraye Beim: But the reality is that we have different [00:04:45] cells that are biologically different, and that underlies why we get certain conditions [00:04:50] and, and, you know, are protected from others. And so we set out to try to understand that. [00:04:55] And, and what I will say to summarize 15 years of, [00:05:00] um, you know, tens of millions- Yeah
[00:05:01] Dr. Piraye Beim: of dollars of research and, and AI and analysis [00:05:05] is that the loudest signal that came out of it was the ovary.
[00:05:09] Dr. Taz: Hmm. [00:05:10]
[00:05:10] Dr. Piraye Beim: Which makes sense because it is the organ that- [00:05:15] determines our sex at birth. So it is a gonad. [00:05:20] I had this conversation with someone the other day, and they said, "Wait. Ovaries are gonads?" And I said, "Yeah."
[00:05:23] Dr. Piraye Beim: Ovaries are gonads, yeah. They are gonads. Testes
[00:05:24] Dr. Taz: are not [00:05:25]
[00:05:27] Dr. Piraye Beim: the only gonads.
[00:05:28] Dr. Taz: Yes.
[00:05:28] Dr. Piraye Beim: And so, [00:05:30] um, so it, it was surprising and yet also makes sense that the, at [00:05:35] the end of the day, when we, when we think about the unique biology that, [00:05:40] um, really determines so much of our health and wellness, um, the ovaries, it turns [00:05:45] out, sit at the center of that.
[00:05:46] Dr. Piraye Beim: And, and this was a, a radical mind shift for [00:05:50] me because I was trained as a reproductive biologist. Right. And that's [00:05:55] how I self-identified. I saw menopause as, um, a natural phenomenon. [00:06:00] Right. One that gives us grandmothers. That's a positive adaptation. That's, you know, a special thing [00:06:05] humans get to do. Um, I saw the ovary...
[00:06:08] Dr. Piraye Beim: Uh, it, it's named [00:06:10] as the home of the egg. Right. So ovary means home of the oocyte- Yes ... or ovum.
[00:06:14] Dr. Taz: Mm-hmm.
[00:06:14] Dr. Piraye Beim: Um, I [00:06:15] always saw it as that. I saw the ovary as just this kind of structural thing that houses these [00:06:20] magical cells, the eggs. And yet, when we took a step back and we really tried to understand, [00:06:25] let's call it female biology, and we're gonna go in the biology zone right now 'cause I understand that these are, you [00:06:30] know, difficult topics to navigate for, for a, a variety of reasons.
[00:06:33] Dr. Piraye Beim: But they're, they're
[00:06:34] Dr. Taz: difficult, [00:06:35] and there's a lot of bigger words with them and all that other stuff, but they're really important.
[00:06:38] Dr. Piraye Beim: It-
[00:06:39] Dr. Taz: Because I think- We have to talk [00:06:40] about it ... women are struggling, right? Yes. They're really struggling. Yes. And I could share a million [00:06:45] stories about women who feel like they have to hurry up and get married or hurry up and do IVF or [00:06:50] hurry up and do all these different things-
[00:06:51] Dr. Taz: Yeah
[00:06:51] Dr. Taz: because they're on this timeline.
[00:06:53] Dr. Taz: Yeah.
[00:06:54] Dr. Taz: And their [00:06:55] time's up, you know? Yes. And that kind of translates into the same conversation around perimenopause and [00:07:00] menopause. The ovary in some way, to be honest, is defining our sort of identity [00:07:05] as women, right? Yeah. 'Cause when ovarian function goes down- Yeah ... then we enter [00:07:10] perimenopause and menopause, and then we're struggling with, you know, kind of all these different feelings around that.
[00:07:14] Dr. Taz: So this is, [00:07:15] this is important. You know, even though it's biology and technical, I hope, I'm [00:07:20] hoping everybody watching and listening will pay attention for just a second so that they can kind of follow through [00:07:25] the impact of some of this when it comes to even our mental health and just how we [00:07:30] present the world.
[00:07:31] Dr. Piraye Beim: I think that's right, and, and I think you're pointing out a really important distinction, and, and [00:07:35] it's, it's something that I'm still struggling to fully articulate. But it's not that [00:07:40] when you don't have an ovary you're not female anymore. Right. I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is that [00:07:45] when we think of female biology, meaning the biology that disproportionately [00:07:50] impacts women who are born with ovaries in a certain way- The, [00:07:55] the reality is that you cannot take the ovary out of the story.
[00:07:57] Dr. Piraye Beim: Mm-hmm. And so as a biologist who's trying to understand [00:08:00] what makes our bodies unique so that we can then create purpose-built [00:08:05] solutions for women, pharmaceutical or otherwise- Right ... it could be lifestyle interventions- Right ... it could be [00:08:10] supplements. I, I'm, I'm just saying in general, when we're trying to give women the protocols, the [00:08:15] tools, the, the recommendations, and personalize it for them- What, the [00:08:20] biggest signal that came out of the research that we did over a decade was you can't take the ovary out of the story.[00:08:25]
[00:08:25] Dr. Piraye Beim: Most people associate ovaries with babies.
[00:08:28] Dr. Taz: Mm.
[00:08:28] Dr. Piraye Beim: And they're clearly very important- Mm-hmm ... [00:08:30] because they are a reproductive organ also. But it turns out the ovary is a metabolic [00:08:35] organ, it's an immune organ, it's an endocrine organ. It, it signals [00:08:40] to virtually every other cell, every other tissue in the body, and [00:08:45] it's also a very complicated organ itself.
[00:08:47] Dr. Piraye Beim: So it's not that it's just this like, um, you [00:08:50] know, home of the egg.
[00:08:51] Dr. Taz: Right.
[00:08:51] Dr. Piraye Beim: It's a very complicated tissue, and it's one that we're [00:08:55] just now starting to understand. So getting to your original question about ovarian [00:09:00] health-
[00:09:00] Dr. Taz: Yeah ...
[00:09:01] Dr. Piraye Beim: as an innovator in the space, I was struggling to explain, in [00:09:05] particular to investors, what it was that we were doing and why.
[00:09:07] Dr. Taz: Mm-hmm.
[00:09:08] Dr. Piraye Beim: And I was finding that I was having to [00:09:10] spend half of my investor pitch as an entrepreneur showing anatomical [00:09:15] images to investors, male or female-
[00:09:17] Dr. Taz: Mm-hmm ...
[00:09:17] Dr. Piraye Beim: and educating them. It was also often the females that [00:09:20] I'd spend more time with on this topic, because they were fascinated to learn more- Right
[00:09:23] Dr. Piraye Beim: about their bodies. Um, but we'd [00:09:25] have to say, "This is the ovary. It's a complicated organ. It, it has an egg in it, [00:09:30] but it does a lot more than that." Right. And, um, and so at some point we said, [00:09:35] if we look at the evolution of FemTech, once that term was [00:09:40] defined, suddenly the field took off, because then you could identify as a [00:09:45] FemTech entrepreneur, you're a FemTech company- Mm.
[00:09:47] Dr. Piraye Beim: It's a FemTech product. Mm-hmm. You're a FemTech investor. You're a [00:09:50] FemTech fund. And we realized that women's health encompasses so many different categories, [00:09:55] that when you self-identify as an entrepreneur and you're saying, "I'm doing women's health," within [00:10:00] pharma, within drug development- Yeah ... what that meant to everybody was like, "Okay, well, [00:10:05] what are you doing with estrogen?"
[00:10:07] Dr. Piraye Beim: Because that's basically been the playbook. That's all we
[00:10:08] Dr. Taz: hear about, right?
[00:10:08] Dr. Piraye Beim: That's all we hear about. Yeah, exactly. [00:10:10] And estrogen is one of the important gonadal hormones. I'm calling it a gonadal [00:10:15] hormone because we know-
[00:10:15] Dr. Taz: Not an ovarian hormone.
[00:10:17] Dr. Piraye Beim: It's not an ovarian hormone. Yeah. It's a gonadal. Testes make it, too.[00:10:20]
[00:10:20] Dr. Piraye Beim: Post-menopausally, women have less estrogen than men.
[00:10:23] Dr. Taz: Right.
[00:10:23] Dr. Piraye Beim: So I, I [00:10:25] know I'm preaching to the choir with you, but for your audience, um, estrogen is an important [00:10:30] gonadal hormone, certainly important for the ovary, but it's the tip of the [00:10:35] iceberg. Right. Estrogen, testosterone, um, progesterone, these are the tip of the iceberg [00:10:40] of the factors that are produced by the ovary.
[00:10:41] Dr. Piraye Beim: And so we had this aha moment and we said, "Wait, [00:10:45] if we define this novel category," and this was about six years ago, "if we define this novel category of [00:10:50] ovarian health and start identifying as we're an ovarian health company, we're innovating in ovarian health," [00:10:55] it does two things. One, it makes people stop and ask, "Well, what do you mean by ovarian health?"
[00:10:59] Dr. Piraye Beim: [00:11:00] Mm-hmm. "Why aren't you just identifying as a reproductive health company or a women's health company?" And the second [00:11:05] thing it does is, in the name it implies that the ovary should be healthy.
[00:11:08] Dr. Taz: Right. [00:11:10] And I love that. And you mentioned that ovarian health is a metabolic endocrine immune [00:11:15] organ. Yeah. Do you mind just drawing some of those pathways for [00:11:20] us?
[00:11:20] Dr. Taz: Just so for- Sure ... people watching and listening, that kind of sinks in for a second [00:11:25] about why this is not just about estrogen and why it's not just about getting pregnant.
[00:11:29] Dr. Piraye Beim: That's right. [00:11:30] So, um, most people are aware that the ovaries are related to babies, and [00:11:35] increasingly people are becoming aware that it's an endocrine organ, so it's important for these hormones, [00:11:40] um, that are, um, in our bodies.
[00:11:42] Dr. Piraye Beim: What people don't understand is that, um, [00:11:45] the ovary is very important for things like immune function.
[00:11:47] Dr. Taz: Mm-hmm.
[00:11:48] Dr. Piraye Beim: So [00:11:50] inflammation is, is a buzzword today. We hear about inflammation, but there's local [00:11:55] inflammation and chronic inflammation, and the analogy that I like to make is to music. [00:12:00] So if you and I are having this conversation right now, if there was a [00:12:05] foghorn going on in the background, we wouldn't be able to hear ourselves.
[00:12:07] Dr. Piraye Beim: Be so distracted. Right?
[00:12:08] Dr. Taz: Right. Yeah.
[00:12:08] Dr. Piraye Beim: So, um, [00:12:10] ovulation, i- which is when the, a follicle, uh, bursts and an egg comes out, um, [00:12:15] ovulation is an inflammatory process. Mm-hmm. Menstruation, when you get your period, is an [00:12:20] inflammatory process. Implantation of an embryo into a uterus at [00:12:25] the beginning of a pregnancy being set up is an inflammatory process.
[00:12:28] Dr. Piraye Beim: These are [00:12:30] productive inflammatory processes that are necessary for certain functions in our [00:12:35] body. But then we have, we have peripheral inflammation, too. This is the [00:12:40] inflammatory mechanism that says, "Oh, we have a infection," for example. "Let's go to the site of [00:12:45] infection and, and, and let's, you know, neutralize this virus."
[00:12:49] Dr. Piraye Beim: A lot of [00:12:50] aspects of aging and also the modern lifestyle that many of us, um, [00:12:55] kind of, you know, um, have end up contributing to [00:13:00] those systemic inflammatory signals, and they never get resolved. When you have a infection, [00:13:05] you go, you have your systemic inflammation, you resolve the infection, you come back down to baseline.
[00:13:09] Dr. Piraye Beim: But a [00:13:10] lot of aspects of aging and also, um, the modern lifestyle mean that that systemic [00:13:15] inflammation never comes
[00:13:16] Dr. Taz: down. It's not
[00:13:17] Dr. Piraye Beim: coming down. And so what ends up happening is it ends up, [00:13:20] um, impacting ovarian function, but also when the ovary [00:13:25] is not signaling correctly, it can also promote an environment where you have chronic [00:13:30] inflammatory processes in your body.
[00:13:32] Dr. Piraye Beim: And so this is why women become generally more inflamed. We [00:13:35] know inflammation's related to weight gain.
[00:13:36] Dr. Taz: Yeah.
[00:13:37] Dr. Piraye Beim: We know it's related to mental health issues. It's related to [00:13:40] cancer risk, generally to aging in an unhealthy way. Chronic inflammation is, like, a big [00:13:45] red flag. So the ovary is both impacted by inflammation, but also can impact [00:13:50] inflammation.
[00:13:50] Dr. Piraye Beim: We know that ovarian hormones impact inflammation. Right. So [00:13:55] this, this, um... During COVID, one of my favorite examples, so polycystic [00:14:00] ovary syndrome- Oh, yeah ... is, yeah.
[00:14:01] Dr. Taz: I
[00:14:01] Dr. Piraye Beim: have it. Is that I, I've dealt with cystic ovaries- [00:14:05] Yeah ... uh, throughout my life as well. So, um, PCOS, which impacts about 15% of [00:14:10] all women, we have no disease altering treatments for it right now.
[00:14:14] Dr. Piraye Beim: Um, [00:14:15] PCOS during COVID was an equivalent risk factor to having [00:14:20] diabetes.
[00:14:20] Dr. Taz: We didn't talk about
[00:14:21] Dr. Piraye Beim: that. For having... Nobody talked about it. It's an ovarian health issue [00:14:25] that created as much risk for women of having a really [00:14:30] serious effect of, of having COVID as diabetes, and yet women with PCOS were not treated as high [00:14:35] risk because we don't think about the ovary's role in the immune system.
[00:14:39] Dr. Piraye Beim: So [00:14:40] that's really important, and the metabolism is one of my favorites. That's
[00:14:42] Dr. Taz: huge. Yeah.
[00:14:43] Dr. Piraye Beim: It's huge.
[00:14:43] Dr. Taz: Talk to us about that. [00:14:45]
[00:14:45] Dr. Piraye Beim: Yeah. So, um, so the ovary is in [00:14:50] constant conversation with our metabolism, and you think about from an evolutionary standpoint, it makes [00:14:55] sense. The ovary's the ultimate sensor. It checks in with the environment [00:15:00] and it says, um, are we stressed out?
[00:15:02] Dr. Piraye Beim: Are we running from a tiger? Is it wartime? [00:15:05]
[00:15:05] Dr. Taz: Mm-hmm.
[00:15:05] Dr. Piraye Beim: Um, is this a safe time to bring forth [00:15:10] our reproductive potential. Is this famine time? Is this winter? Is this [00:15:15] summer? There are a number of signals, for example, um, [00:15:20] light. There are mammals that are seasonal breeders, meaning just the small changes [00:15:25] of light that happen in the winter completely shut their ovarian function down.
[00:15:27] Dr. Piraye Beim: Hmm. They cannot get pregnant in the winter-
[00:15:29] Dr. Taz: Hmm ...
[00:15:29] Dr. Piraye Beim: [00:15:30] just by sensing that the light has changed.
[00:15:32] Dr. Taz: Wow.
[00:15:33] Dr. Piraye Beim: So we are not seasonal breeders, but it doesn't [00:15:35] mean we're completely not impacted by light either. And so when you think about [00:15:40] metabolic inputs, your diet, and whether there's food and whether there's nutritious [00:15:45] food available to support the development of a pregnancy, it's not [00:15:50] surprising that it turns out that the ovary is this really beautiful detector of how [00:15:55] we're doing on the nutritional front.
[00:15:56] Dr. Piraye Beim: But what that also means is it's gonna impact your, um, [00:16:00] your, uh, reproductive outcome, it's gonna impact your ovarian function. And so people don't [00:16:05] think about their diet impacting their ovarian function, or their declining or dysregulated [00:16:10] ovarian function impacting their weight gain, their metabolism. Hmm.
[00:16:14] Dr. Piraye Beim: Um, [00:16:15] I, I could get... I, I could science it and get into the insulin signaling and things like that. Right. Right. But, um, there's [00:16:20] a reason why women find it harder to lose weight after a certain age.
[00:16:24] Dr. Taz: Let's answer that for [00:16:25] women. Yeah. 'Cause it's probably the number one question I get. Um, you know, and maybe [00:16:30] a couple of science facts around that.
[00:16:32] Dr. Taz: Like, you know, what exactly is happening? You know, we know [00:16:35] that estrogen's going down. We know progesterone's going down. What happens next?
[00:16:39] Dr. Piraye Beim: [00:16:40] Yeah. So, um, it's not just estrogen and progesterone. Those are important for metabolism, but there are [00:16:45] actually dozens of factors that have already been identified, and probably hundreds more because [00:16:50] we haven't really looked for them all, that directly impact insulin signaling.
[00:16:54] Dr. Taz: Hmm.
[00:16:54] Dr. Piraye Beim: [00:16:55] So it's not even indirect through estrogen, it's actually, um, insulin growth [00:17:00] factor. There's a number of, um, factors that are, um, either produced by the [00:17:05] developing follicles, which are the cells that wrap around the egg. They're the cells... The follicle cells are the ones [00:17:10] that do all the magic, and then the egg is in the middle.
[00:17:13] Dr. Piraye Beim: Um, so those actually directly [00:17:15] signal with all of the, um, you know, with your liver- Yeah ... with other aspects of your body, with your [00:17:20] muscle. Um, this is why, for example, bringing it back to PCOS or to perimenopause- Right ... [00:17:25] um, when you put on muscle mass, when you have better metabolic function in your muscles, [00:17:30] for some women it can impact their ovarian function.
[00:17:33] Dr. Piraye Beim: The, um, Ozempic. [00:17:35] Yeah. So-
[00:17:35] Dr. Taz: The GLP-1s,
[00:17:36] Dr. Piraye Beim: yeah ... a number of women have found that when they lose weight and they're on the [00:17:40] Ozempic, they start ovulating again. Mm-hmm. And these are women who haven't ovulated [00:17:45] regularly in years, maybe since puberty. Um, that's because that impact that the [00:17:50] GLP-1s are having, uh, the Ozempic-type drugs are having on the metabolism, are [00:17:55] signaling directly back to the ovary.
[00:17:56] Dr. Piraye Beim: But remember, if there's something that can impact ovarian function, [00:18:00] it means the ovary's also impacting that function.
[00:18:02] Dr. Taz: Right.
[00:18:03] Dr. Piraye Beim: And so that's why when you [00:18:05] have an ovarian disorder like- PCOS- Right ... polycystic ovary syndrome, or [00:18:10] you're in perimenopause and your ovarian functions are starting to shut down, or you're in full [00:18:15] menopause and most of your ovarian function has been depleted and is gone, [00:18:20] not only are the signals not getting to a functioning organ, but they're not answering back.
[00:18:24] Dr. Taz: Mm.
[00:18:24] Dr. Piraye Beim: And [00:18:25] so that beautiful symphony, bringing it back to the musical analogy, that beautiful [00:18:30] symphony is, is, is leaving the, the biological, um, kind of system that your [00:18:35] body has developed in and functioned under. And this happens with men too. [00:18:40] They have decline in testicular function- Right ... throughout their lifespan, but it's slow and [00:18:45] steady.
[00:18:45] Dr. Taz: More subtle too,
[00:18:45] Dr. Piraye Beim: I think. It's more subtle.
[00:18:46] Dr. Taz: Yeah.
[00:18:47] Dr. Piraye Beim: Whereas with women, and, and there's [00:18:50] biological reasons for this, but we have linear decline in our ovarian function [00:18:55] throughout our, our, um, early life. But then in what is now midlife, because [00:19:00] we live until our, you know, uh, 70s, 80s, you actually have a, not quite exponential, [00:19:05] but a more than linear decline.
[00:19:06] Dr. Piraye Beim: So you have this rapid... You know when they talk about falling off a cliff?
[00:19:09] Dr. Taz: Yeah. [00:19:10] Yeah.
[00:19:10] Dr. Piraye Beim: It's a horrible analogy because I, I, I think it, it feels so scary for people, but it [00:19:15] actually looks like a cliff. Oh, wow. If you look at how ovarian function declines, it accelerates. [00:19:20] And we see that women who have a smoother line and go into menopause more [00:19:25] slowly and a little later don't struggle with perimenopausal symptoms as much, [00:19:30] not because their bodies aren't impacted, but because their bodies have time to adjust.
[00:19:34] Dr. Taz: Mm. [00:19:35]
[00:19:35] Dr. Piraye Beim: And this is really important, is that w- in biology, fast [00:19:40] change equals bad. This is why you wanna lose weight slowly. Slowly,
[00:19:43] Dr. Taz: right.
[00:19:43] Dr. Piraye Beim: You wanna shift your sleep [00:19:45] schedule slowly. You wanna do anything that impacts your gut microbiome slowly [00:19:50] because that's how you get lasting change, and that's how you avoid stress.
[00:19:53] Dr. Piraye Beim: All of these things are also a stressor on your [00:19:55] body. And so, um, men have the ability to adjust over time. [00:20:00] Women's bodies age like this. And so that really helps explain it. And, and that [00:20:05] gets back to my work in ovarian health, is that- A hundred years ago, [00:20:10] w-we were not, on average, surviving past that cliff.
[00:20:14] Dr. Taz: Right. [00:20:15] We're done.
[00:20:15] Dr. Piraye Beim: We were done.
[00:20:16] Dr. Taz: Yeah.
[00:20:17] Dr. Piraye Beim: And, um, now we [00:20:20] survive, not just past that cliff, we survive decades past that cliff. And so our [00:20:25] ovarian function is not aligned with the modern human lifespan.
[00:20:28] Dr. Taz: Right.
[00:20:29] Dr. Piraye Beim: And [00:20:30] my passion and, and my work, uh, especially over the last, um, six years, has been [00:20:35] really trying to change the shape of that trajectory so we can align ovarian function with [00:20:40] our modern lifespan.
[00:20:41] Dr. Piraye Beim: Because we did so much to change our lifespan line, [00:20:45] right? We used to do this in our lifespan, now we do this. And the ovary is the one [00:20:50] organ that got left behind.
[00:20:51] Dr. Taz: So I'm assuming this is where Celmatix steps into the [00:20:55] conversation. Tell us about Celmatix. Tell us what's happening there. And as a woman who is [00:21:00] experiencing probably coming off that cliff, you know, uh, relatively soon I can [00:21:05] imagine, you know, what are our options, you know?
[00:21:07] Dr. Taz: Is there a way to reverse our ovarian age? Is there [00:21:10] a way to, you know, change things? And then what does that mean for our longevity and [00:21:15] for our overall health?
[00:21:16] Dr. Piraye Beim: So we see ovarian health as one of the [00:21:20] fundamental pillars, just like brain health, gut health, uh, metabolic health. [00:21:25] And there's, there's two answers to that question.
[00:21:27] Dr. Piraye Beim: One is, we don't have the [00:21:30] tools really to do that today, and that's what we're doing at Celmatix. We pioneered the category of ovarian health, [00:21:35] but we also pioneered this idea that we should be leveraging therapeutics- [00:21:40] Mm-hmm ... to intervene, and allow us to exogenously, meaning, [00:21:45] um, you know, outside of what's happening in the ovary, regulate the decline in ovarian [00:21:50] function.
[00:21:50] Dr. Taz: Mm.
[00:21:50] Dr. Piraye Beim: It turns out we're born with more function than we need, even in the modern lifespan. [00:21:55] So in theory, if we could regulate how we use our [00:22:00] ovarian function over our lifespan, our ovaries should align with the modern lifespan. And that's [00:22:05] because the ovary also thinks it's a reproductive organ in many ways.
[00:22:08] Dr. Piraye Beim: Mm-hmm. So it [00:22:10] indexes on trying to create the perfect egg every single menstrual cycle. [00:22:15] And so we've heard of the menstrual cycle, which is this approximately 28-day cycle.
[00:22:19] Dr. Taz: Right.
[00:22:19] Dr. Piraye Beim: [00:22:20] Um, but what people don't realize is there's a bigger cycle. It's the folliculogenesis cycle. So we have, [00:22:25] like, hair follicles, and our hair grows out of the hair follicles.
[00:22:27] Dr. Piraye Beim: So we have ovarian follicles, and the egg [00:22:30] grows inside those follicle cells. But those follicle cells, as I mentioned, are where a [00:22:35] lot of the other functions, the non-reproductive functions lie, and, [00:22:40] um, because they're, they're kind of intertwined, the fate of the egg is wrapped up in the [00:22:45] fate of the follicle.
[00:22:45] Dr. Piraye Beim: You can't have a follicle without an egg, and you can't have an egg without a follicle. So we're born with all the [00:22:50] pre-follicles and pre-eggs that we'll ever have, and they're already kind of preformed. They get signaled [00:22:55] to start growing, and then they grow. And then because we are not litter animals, [00:23:00] we don't have litters, we have typically one or maybe- Mm-hmm
[00:23:02] Dr. Piraye Beim: two per pregnancy, there's [00:23:05] this fierce competition that happens during that process of folliculogenesis. It's a [00:23:10] 300-day process- Hmm ... to get from a f- pre-follicle being activated to an [00:23:15] egg being ovulated. The menstrual cycle is a 27-day finish line of [00:23:20] what is actually a 300-day process.
[00:23:22] Dr. Taz: Fascinating.
[00:23:23] Dr. Piraye Beim: Every single therapeutic that [00:23:25] we have in women's health only impacts the last 30 days.
[00:23:28] Dr. Piraye Beim: We have nothing that can [00:23:30] impact the first 270.
[00:23:31] Dr. Taz: So how do you impact- ... the first 270 [00:23:35]
[00:23:35] Dr. Piraye Beim: days? You know? That's what we've been working on for- Okay, gotcha ... going on 16 years soon. [00:23:40] So first we had to understand what happens in that- Right ... first 270 days. Right. Um, [00:23:45] and so we, we identified, we and others, um, have identified that, um, one of the key [00:23:50] regulators of that process, that early process, um, is a hormone [00:23:55] called anti-Mullerian hormone.
[00:23:56] Dr. Taz: Mm-hmm.
[00:23:57] Dr. Piraye Beim: And anti-Mullerian hormone is a [00:24:00] fascinating hormone, um, in part because it was named for its role in [00:24:05] male fetal development. So the Müllerian system is the, [00:24:10] um, early cell system that gives rise to the female tract. Yeah. So, you know, [00:24:15] the fallopian tubes, the uterus, vagina, et cetera. And so in, uh, [00:24:20] early development, we have the parts that can turn into, you know, male [00:24:25] parts, and we have the parts that can turn into female parts.
[00:24:27] Dr. Piraye Beim: And you have these hormones that come on [00:24:30] kind of as the brakes and the accelerator in, in male fetuses to say, "Okay, [00:24:35] suppress the female system and turn on the male system."
[00:24:37] Dr. Taz: Mm-hmm.
[00:24:37] Dr. Piraye Beim: And then in female fetuses it's the [00:24:40] opposite. Suppress the male and turn on the female. And so it turns out that in male fetal development, very high [00:24:45] levels of anti-Müllerian hormone are the signal to put the brake on the development of the female [00:24:50] organs, and this is why men don't develop fallopian tubes and a vagina.
[00:24:54] Dr. Piraye Beim: And so, [00:24:55] um, back in the '80s when everybody was obsessed about defining who is a female and who is a male- [00:25:00] Right ... for the Olympics- Right ... for children who were born with undetermined sex at birth, someone had the clever [00:25:05] idea of, "Well, let's, let's find a test for anti-Müllerian hormone," 'cause it's literally the brake-
[00:25:09] Dr. Taz: [00:25:10] Right.
[00:25:10] Dr. Piraye Beim: Right ... to not be female.
[00:25:11] Dr. Taz: Right.
[00:25:12] Dr. Piraye Beim: And so, um, so [00:25:15] they developed a blood test for anti-Müllerian hormone and were shocked to find that- AMH,
[00:25:18] Dr. Taz: right?
[00:25:19] Dr. Piraye Beim: AMH. [00:25:20] Everyone sta-
[00:25:20] Dr. Taz: Everybody- Stare at their labs.
[00:25:20] Dr. Piraye Beim: Yeah.
[00:25:21] Dr. Taz: It's the AMH.
[00:25:21] Dr. Piraye Beim: AMH. Um, many women listening have probably been tested for [00:25:25] AMH. So- The scientists were fascinated because all the women and [00:25:30] girls they tested tested positive for anti-Mullerian hormone.
[00:25:33] Dr. Piraye Beim: Mm-hmm. How is it possible that [00:25:35] a person walking around with a fully developed Mullerian system has anti- Has anti- ... Mullerian [00:25:40] hormone? So fast-forward, it turns out that [00:25:45] AMH is not only an ovarian hormone, it is the most [00:25:50] fundamental regulator of folliculogenesis.
[00:25:52] Dr. Taz: Mm.
[00:25:53] Dr. Piraye Beim: And it serves as the [00:25:55] brakes. It is what taps on the brakes to ensure that when at [00:26:00] puberty we start turning on our folliculogenesis in a big way to start, [00:26:05] you know, getting to an ovulated o- uh, egg or oocyte at the finish line, um, [00:26:10] that we don't do that too quickly.
[00:26:12] Dr. Taz: So is this why in PCOS in our [00:26:15] patients that we see AMH is high?
[00:26:17] Dr. Piraye Beim: That's right. That's right. '
[00:26:18] Dr. Taz: Cause the brakes are not working.
[00:26:19] Dr. Piraye Beim: [00:26:20] That's right. And also in, um, diminished ovarian reserve we see the AMH is low-
[00:26:24] Dr. Taz: Right ...
[00:26:24] Dr. Piraye Beim: because [00:26:25] the brakes are not working on the other end.
[00:26:26] Dr. Taz: So it's again that sweet spot.
[00:26:27] Dr. Piraye Beim: That's right.
[00:26:28] Dr. Piraye Beim: And so, um, with a lot of [00:26:30] hormones, it's a U-shaped effect, so you don't want too much of it. You w- don't want too little- Right ... of it.
[00:26:34] Dr. Taz: Right. [00:26:35]
[00:26:35] Dr. Piraye Beim: And this is really important. So, um, so what we realize is, wait, this male, [00:26:40] the ultimate male hormone is actually the ultimate female hormone-
[00:26:43] Dr. Taz: Mm ...
[00:26:44] Dr. Piraye Beim: which is [00:26:45] very important, and-
[00:26:45] Dr. Taz: Always works out that way.
[00:26:46] Dr. Taz: Yeah. Just kidding.
[00:26:46] Dr. Piraye Beim: So we need a rebrand. I- We need
[00:26:49] Dr. Taz: a [00:26:50] serious rebrand.
[00:26:50] Dr. Piraye Beim: Totally. Yeah. So we need a rebrand. Um, but it turns out that [00:26:55] in, in the laboratory with, um, animal models, um, with, um, kind of [00:27:00] o- you know, ovarian tissue that you've, um, put into culture, you can actually [00:27:05] modulate the rate at which those pre follicles are recruited [00:27:10] and develop.
[00:27:11] Dr. Piraye Beim: And what we know is that, uh, to your point with PCOS, there are women who [00:27:15] have so many follicles that there's a traffic jam-
[00:27:17] Dr. Taz: Mm-hmm,
[00:27:17] Dr. Piraye Beim: mm-hmm ... and it's kind of backed up.
[00:27:18] Dr. Taz: Mm-hmm.
[00:27:19] Dr. Piraye Beim: We have women [00:27:20] who, um, don't have the ability to kind of exert the brakes and, and they end up burning out [00:27:25] their, um, their follicles too early-
[00:27:27] Dr. Taz: Mm
[00:27:27] Dr. Piraye Beim: and experience early menopause and experience other [00:27:30] issues associated with that. And so what we found is that AMH, like many [00:27:35] hormones, um, you can modulate it reversibly. So you can put the [00:27:40] brakes on And I've seen
[00:27:40] Dr. Taz: that in practice, by the way.
[00:27:41] Dr. Piraye Beim: You have?
[00:27:41] Dr. Taz: Yes, because we'll have patients come in, you [00:27:45] know, with high AMH, a lot of the PCOS, endometriosis population.
[00:27:49] Dr. Piraye Beim: [00:27:50] Yeah.
[00:27:50] Dr. Taz: Or we have patients come in with low AMH, and they've been told they have low ovarian reserve, and they can't [00:27:55] get pregnant.
[00:27:55] Dr. Piraye Beim: Yeah.
[00:27:55] Dr. Taz: And then we work on these patients, working on inflammation, oxidative [00:28:00] stress, gut, m- you know, the whole holistic approach, and the AMH [00:28:05] changes. And, you know, they were like, "Well, my doctors told me that the AMH can't change."
[00:28:09] Dr. Taz: And [00:28:10] I'm like, "I- ... I am promising you I've seen this number flip over- Yeah ... and over again. Yeah. So now [00:28:15] you're g- you're the first person-
[00:28:16] Dr. Piraye Beim: Yeah ...
[00:28:16] Dr. Taz: to give me some reasoning as to why, [00:28:20] you know, other than what I- Yeah ... kind of intuitively kn- knew and what I was seeing on my lab work.
[00:28:23] Dr. Piraye Beim: Yeah.
[00:28:23] Dr. Taz: Yeah.
[00:28:24] Dr. Piraye Beim: Well, the ovary [00:28:25] makes AMH.
[00:28:26] Dr. Piraye Beim: So as you change the ovary through these lifestyle, remember we talked about- Yeah ... [00:28:30] inflammation can impact it. Right. Sleep, diet. Light. As you're changing. Yeah. Light. As you're [00:28:35] changing the ovary, you are changing AMH. Wow. So it's not easy to modulate it, but you can modulate it. [00:28:40] And, um, and so we want to use the- You've made me not
[00:28:43] Dr. Taz: feel insane.
[00:28:43] Dr. Taz: Yeah. I don't know how many times [00:28:45] I've had these conversations. It's
[00:28:46] Dr. Piraye Beim: not all in your head.
[00:28:46] Dr. Taz: I know. It's like I am telling you these [00:28:50] AMH levels change, and everyone's like, "That's not possible." So I feel so validated right now, so thank [00:28:55] you.
[00:28:55] Dr. Piraye Beim: Awesome. But anyhow. Awesome. So that's what we're trying to do from a therapeutic standpoint, is we're [00:29:00] trying to create a drug that mimics AMH.
[00:29:04] Dr. Taz: Mm-hmm.
[00:29:04] Dr. Piraye Beim: [00:29:05] Because unlike estrogen and progesterone and testosterone, you can't synthesize [00:29:10] AMH in a lab. Right. It's a huge molecule. It's a very, very large molecule. [00:29:15] Um, and you also can't grow it in a Petri dish, which you can do with, like for example, [00:29:20] injectable fertility drugs. Right. Those are also very large molecules, but you can make them in cell systems.
[00:29:24] Dr. Piraye Beim: [00:29:25] AMH, we won't get into it, but let's just say because it is such a master regulator, it was... I- [00:29:30] it has evolved, the hormone itself has evolved to not want to be at very high levels in [00:29:35] your bloodstream because it is so potent.
[00:29:36] Dr. Taz: Mm-hmm.
[00:29:37] Dr. Piraye Beim: And so the challenge, and we actually [00:29:40] super proud, we were the only company to be chosen for a SPARC award as part of the Women's Health [00:29:45] Initiative- Amazing
[00:29:45] Dr. Piraye Beim: Biden administration. Yeah. Um, uh, directed ARPA-H, this [00:29:50] incredible new, um, innovation engine within the US government for health, uh, [00:29:55] innovation to, um, to help accelerate a- at warp [00:30:00] speed, uh, women's health. And so we were selected for our AMH therapeutic program [00:30:05] to develop a drug that can be produced and, and, and, you know, [00:30:10] um, made as a drug, but that mimics the action of AMH- Mm
[00:30:13] Dr. Piraye Beim: so that we can start to [00:30:15] modulate it. And the idea is that we don't want it to be the lottery. Like, my body can [00:30:20] regulate my ovary effectively or it can't.
[00:30:22] Dr. Taz: Mm.
[00:30:22] Dr. Piraye Beim: We actually want to democratize, we want to give [00:30:25] access to women to all be able to regulate their ovary in the way that is best for their [00:30:30] lifespan and their longevity, and it's gonna mean a lot of things.
[00:30:33] Dr. Piraye Beim: So I mean, we could talk about this for [00:30:35] hours, but a couple of things, 'cause a couple of common fears that people have when they hear that we're gonna do this. So, [00:30:40] well, um, you know, what's gonna happen if I don't have all those follicles? For [00:30:45] women with PCOS, we predict it's gonna be awesome for them.
[00:30:48] Dr. Piraye Beim: They're gonna have a normally [00:30:50] functioning ovary-
[00:30:50] Dr. Taz: Right ...
[00:30:51] Dr. Piraye Beim: because they're not gonna have this follicle traffic jam where none of the [00:30:55] follicles can break free and get to that,
[00:30:57] Dr. Taz: and- And would it extend our ovarian age?
[00:30:59] Dr. Piraye Beim: That's the [00:31:00] hope.
[00:31:00] Dr. Taz: Okay.
[00:31:00] Dr. Piraye Beim: That is the hope.
[00:31:01] Dr. Taz: Because you don't have the traffic jam, and so you're not burning out the ovary.
[00:31:04] Dr. Piraye Beim: And you're [00:31:05] not- Yeah ... prematurely.
[00:31:06] Dr. Taz: Right.
[00:31:06] Dr. Piraye Beim: So, you know, there's a lot of variation whether [00:31:10] some women recruit a few follicles a day, some women recruit hundreds of follicles a day, [00:31:15] and there's no way to modulate that right now. And so what's nice is that just like the birth control [00:31:20] pill and being able to use estrogen and progesterone can give most women a 28-day cycle that's [00:31:25] predictable, less pain with their periods, um, and that's something [00:31:30] that we can regulate with drugs.
[00:31:31] Dr. Taz: Right.
[00:31:32] Dr. Piraye Beim: We want to give everyone a nice folliculogenesis [00:31:35] cycle, too. So we want to personalize folliculogenesis so that we're only [00:31:40] pulling how many follicles we need out of storage- Mm ... day over day-
[00:31:43] Dr. Taz: Mm-hmm ...
[00:31:43] Dr. Piraye Beim: for our health. [00:31:45] What that means is we're not gonna make the perfect egg every month. But the reality is most women don't [00:31:50] need a perfect egg every month.
[00:31:51] Dr. Taz: Right.
[00:31:51] Dr. Piraye Beim: What they need- That's a lot
[00:31:52] Dr. Taz: of kids.
[00:31:53] Dr. Piraye Beim: Yes.
[00:31:53] Dr. Taz: So...
[00:31:54] Dr. Piraye Beim: We're already [00:31:55] taking contraceptives or taking- Right ... measures to avoid- Right ... getting pregnant. So for women, what this means is [00:32:00] fewer periods-
[00:32:01] Dr. Taz: Mm-hmm ...
[00:32:02] Dr. Piraye Beim: from a frequency standpoint, but spaced [00:32:05] out longer throughout their lifespan. Which actually mimics [00:32:10] natural biology better, because the way that we live right now is, is [00:32:15] not natural.
[00:32:15] Dr. Taz: Right. We were meant to have
[00:32:17] Dr. Piraye Beim: children. We weren't meant to have this many periods. Yeah,
[00:32:19] Dr. Taz: yeah.
[00:32:19] Dr. Piraye Beim: [00:32:20] We would get pregnant, we would have extended periods of breastfeeding, which suppresses [00:32:25] those hormones. So taking AMH over a lifespan, this is all what we're aiming [00:32:30] towards. Right. This hasn't been tested, obviously.
[00:32:31] Dr. Piraye Beim: Right. We're still developing this. But the theory at least that [00:32:35] we're going after is that if we could, if we could modulate ovarian [00:32:40] folliculogenesis by having a drug that mimics the action of AMH, then we could get to that personalized [00:32:45] sweet spot for each woman so that she has the optimal ovarian health for decades [00:32:50] longer than she has right now.
[00:32:51] Dr. Piraye Beim: Because a lot of women say, like, "Well, I mean, yeah, I [00:32:55] have all these perimenopausal symptoms," or, "I have osteopenia or osteoporosis or heart disease or all these things, [00:33:00] but, like, thank God I don't have PMS anymore. Thank God I don't have to deal with these heavy- Mm-hmm ... [00:33:05] frustrating periods." Periods,
[00:33:06] Dr. Taz: right.
[00:33:06] Dr. Piraye Beim: And mood swings and all these things.
[00:33:08] Dr. Piraye Beim: But the point is that I'm not saying [00:33:10] let's take all the awful ovarian biology you've had to live through and make [00:33:15] you live through it forever. That's not what I'm saying. I'm actually saying, let's give you optimal [00:33:20] ovarian health and then have that extend for decades longer than it does right now. It's [00:33:25] a complete rewrite of how we think about women's health and women's bodies.
[00:33:29] Dr. Piraye Beim: [00:33:30] And, um, I think about my daughter, who's seven right now. Mm-hmm. And she asks me, you know, all the time, "Mommy, are your [00:33:35] medicines gonna be ready in time for me?" Aw. And
[00:33:37] Dr. Taz: it's- I love that.
[00:33:38] Dr. Piraye Beim: It's so sweet, and it's [00:33:40] also tough, you know, because it takes 10 years. Yeah. You know? Yeah. And I do the math of, [00:33:45] like, well, you're gonna get your first period- Right
[00:33:46] Dr. Piraye Beim: God willing- Yeah ... in, you know, seven years. And, um, but I, [00:33:50] I really truly believe that, um, my daughter, her [00:33:55] generation, um... You know, I think the technology we're developing is gonna impact women who are [00:34:00] probably in their late 20s right now, maybe early 30s, we'll have it ready in time. But really [00:34:05] for women who are in their early 30s and younger, they're gonna look back on this, [00:34:10] let's call it century of human history-
[00:34:11] Dr. Taz: Mm-hmm
[00:34:12] Dr. Piraye Beim: where we extended the human lifespan [00:34:15] but not the ovarian lifespan. We didn't figure out how to modulate ovarian function, [00:34:20] but we added contraception to the mix so women just had period after period after period. [00:34:25] And they're gonna look back on this, on this kind of microcosm of the century w- before we [00:34:30] figured it all out, and just be baffled as to how we [00:34:35] all thought this was okay-
[00:34:36] Dr. Taz: Yeah
[00:34:36] Dr. Piraye Beim: for us to all feel this way during our prime years, and [00:34:40] then to not thrive necessarily physically in certain ways after what is [00:34:45] now midlife. Because I think for women of my daughter's generation, they're gonna [00:34:50] have much better functioning ovaries. A lot of these things like PCOS, [00:34:55] endometriosis, PMS, these are gonna be anachronisms.
[00:34:59] Dr. Piraye Beim: This is gonna be something that [00:35:00] happened to women last century and that we just accepted. Um, and I also [00:35:05] think that they're gonna be shocked that we just went into menopause, didn't do anything about it, and also that we did [00:35:10] nothing to optimize our ovarian health.
[00:35:11] Dr. Taz: Mm.
[00:35:12] Dr. Piraye Beim: I think about, like, these stories about, [00:35:15] you know, figures from the past, um, George Washington, you know, with
[00:35:19] Dr. Taz: Yeah
[00:35:19] Dr. Taz: his,
[00:35:19] Dr. Piraye Beim: like-
[00:35:19] Dr. Taz: Yeah, [00:35:20] yeah ...
[00:35:20] Dr. Piraye Beim: his teeth, you know, or people who had wooden teeth, and it w- it, it's just [00:35:25] we cannot relate to a world in which we didn't care for our oral hygiene. Right. That we didn't go to [00:35:30] the dentist. Right. We didn't optimize the function of our teeth. If we lived our lives [00:35:35] vis-a-vis our oral hygiene like we used to, our teeth would fall out in midlife.
[00:35:39] Dr. Taz: Right. [00:35:40]
[00:35:40] Dr. Piraye Beim: But now they extend well and we've aligned the longevity of our teeth. We
[00:35:44] Dr. Taz: [00:35:45] need to do the same for the ovaries.
[00:35:46] Dr. Piraye Beim: Yeah, the ovary w- Yeah ... and, and we could keep saying this over and over again, we [00:35:50] know what we need to do to keep our brains healthy. We know what we need to do to keep our teeth healthy, [00:35:55] our bones healthy.
[00:35:56] Dr. Piraye Beim: Most people don't know what they need to do to keep their ovaries healthy.
[00:35:59] Dr. Taz: [00:36:00] So, you know, is there anything women listening today can do right now [00:36:05] to optimize their ovarian health? While we're waiting for these drugs of the future, right? Yeah. That [00:36:10] are gonna hopefully help us to even out the lifespan of our ovary.
[00:36:13] Dr. Taz: You know, what could they do today? [00:36:15]
[00:36:15] Dr. Piraye Beim: So a number of things. Um, so I have a, um, a, I have an [00:36:20] Instagram page now, Boss Ovary. Boss Ovary. Let's check it out.
[00:36:23] Dr. Taz: Everyone go there. [00:36:25]
[00:36:25] Dr. Piraye Beim: This is not my comfort zone. Yeah. I am very much a-
[00:36:27] Dr. Taz: It's all
[00:36:28] Dr. Piraye Beim: right. ... the lab is my happy place. Yeah. [00:36:30] Um, but I, I am trying to, to get the word out because there are things that you can do, and I'm trying to [00:36:35] put more and more content- Right
[00:36:36] Dr. Piraye Beim: um, to help women understand. These are things that I've started to do for myself as well, and [00:36:40] I've found that my ovarian aging has, at least anecdotally for me, my AMH levels have barely [00:36:45] changed over the last five years, which has been awesome.
[00:36:47] Dr. Taz: Mm-hmm.
[00:36:47] Dr. Piraye Beim: Um, and, um, [00:36:50] so- Um, so a couple of things. One is that you [00:36:55] can avoid the things that will shorten the lifespan you already have for your ovaries.
[00:36:59] Dr. Piraye Beim: So [00:37:00] everybody has a hardwired lifespan based on, [00:37:05] uh, ovarian lifespan based on how many follicles they're born with at birth, [00:37:10] and their, their intrinsic genetics of how that ovarian timer... [00:37:15] People talk about the biological clock- Right ... but it's more of a timer.
[00:37:17] Dr. Taz: Mm-hmm.
[00:37:18] Dr. Piraye Beim: So it's kind of a, a countdown. And [00:37:20] so everybody has, let's say, the optimal, uh, [00:37:25] longevity that their organ can have based on their, their genetics and, and what they were born with.[00:37:30]
[00:37:30] Dr. Piraye Beim: And so what we can do is we can avoid the things that take from that. Decrease [00:37:35] that. That decrease that.
[00:37:35] Dr. Taz: It's that Chinese medicine concept of, you know, here's the chi you're gifted with. Yeah. It's [00:37:40] your job now, grow it or deplete it, you know? That's
[00:37:42] Dr. Piraye Beim: right.
[00:37:43] Dr. Taz: So.
[00:37:43] Dr. Piraye Beim: So I think there are things that [00:37:45] definitively have been demonstrated to deplete it.
[00:37:48] Dr. Piraye Beim: So one is smoking.
[00:37:49] Dr. Taz: [00:37:50] Mm-hmm. Big
[00:37:50] Dr. Piraye Beim: one. One is smoking. That also means exposure to [00:37:55] environmental toxins that are like smoke So a simple thing that I've [00:38:00] incorporated into my household, which also benefits my whole household, not just my [00:38:05] ovaries, is just a very high quality air purifier.
[00:38:07] Dr. Taz: Yes.
[00:38:08] Dr. Piraye Beim: Especially with global warming- Right
[00:38:09] Dr. Piraye Beim: we have [00:38:10] these moments where- It's gonna happen more ... air quality-
[00:38:11] Dr. Taz: Yeah ...
[00:38:11] Dr. Piraye Beim: um, you know, is, is not just in places like China where we hear about [00:38:15] this. In the US as well periodically we have real air quality issues. Getting a very high quality, [00:38:20] uh, air purifier, really controlling that, your indoor air quality.
[00:38:24] Dr. Piraye Beim: Sometimes [00:38:25] just, um... Like, I try to open my windows-
[00:38:27] Dr. Taz: Yeah ...
[00:38:27] Dr. Piraye Beim: a couple minutes every day. So I think keeping [00:38:30] track of, um, the air that you are breathing, including avoiding things like smoking, is super important. [00:38:35] Um, the other thing is that diet, [00:38:40] lifestyle factors related to inflammation are important.
[00:38:42] Dr. Taz: Mm-hmm.
[00:38:43] Dr. Piraye Beim: So generally, [00:38:45] one of the processes that can impact ovarian aging is, um, fibrosis.
[00:38:49] Dr. Taz: [00:38:50] Mm-hmm.
[00:38:50] Dr. Piraye Beim: So this is when tissue becomes fibrotic. Um, and for a number of women with [00:38:55] PCOS, um, their ovaries actually become so fibrotic from all those back, that traffic jam of [00:39:00] follicles, um, that it starts to actually kill their ovary, and about [00:39:05] 15% of women w- who have PCOS early in life go into very early menopause.
[00:39:08] Dr. Taz: Mm.
[00:39:08] Dr. Piraye Beim: It's not true. Most women [00:39:10] with PCOS go into later menopause slightly.
[00:39:12] Dr. Taz: Mm-hmm.
[00:39:12] Dr. Piraye Beim: But some women actually fall off a cliff [00:39:15] much faster- Mm ... and it's because they have all this fibrosis. So what I would say is that if you're struggling with [00:39:20] obesity, if you're struggling with chronic inflammation, you are, you are [00:39:25] accelerating the, um, underlying aging mechanism, not only of your body, but your [00:39:30] ovary, and then it ends up being kind of a...
[00:39:31] Dr. Piraye Beim: Your ovary ages faster than your body ages faster. It ends up kind of that. So I [00:39:35] would say that, um, manage those lifestyle factors for sure.
[00:39:38] Dr. Taz: What about light? You mentioned [00:39:40] light, and I'm just thinking about all the people on their phones and-
[00:39:42] Dr. Piraye Beim: Yeah ...
[00:39:42] Dr. Taz: the blue light that we have nowadays. Is that, [00:39:45] is that something we should be a little bit more mindful of, or is that a little bit lower on the list?
[00:39:49] Dr. Piraye Beim: You know, it's... [00:39:50] I, I'm very mindful of it because now I'm in perimenopause, and I think that- Right ... um, so [00:39:55] that's kind of a slightly different category. If we're talking about what you can do to extend ovarian function and optimize ovarian [00:40:00] function- Right. Mm-hmm ... I think being, um, you know, careful about the environmental toxins that you're [00:40:05] putting into your body, 'cause your ovary is one of the most sensitive organs in your body.
[00:40:08] Dr. Piraye Beim: Levels of radiation that won't [00:40:10] impact anything else in your body will start to kill your ovary first. Mm. So your ovary is one of the first things [00:40:15] that starts to be impacted by toxins and, um, and, and, you know, [00:40:20] uh, things like radioactivity. So you want to, uh, you wanna be careful, um, about [00:40:25] things like that.
[00:40:25] Dr. Piraye Beim: I think that when we think about, um, what women can do- [00:40:30] Once they start to approach perimenopause or if they have ovarian [00:40:35] dysfunction and they have ovaries that are more sensitive or not as hardwired to function [00:40:40] correctly, um, is they have to control the things that are being dysregulated. So [00:40:45] if you have an ovary and it's working in perfect harmony with the rest of your body, that's great.
[00:40:49] Dr. Piraye Beim: You can take on some [00:40:50] extra risk factors, right? This is kind of like when you're, um, when you're younger and in general- Right, right ... you [00:40:55] haven't started the mechanisms of aging as mu- much. You can have a later night. Right, right. You can have that extra glass of [00:41:00] wine. You know, you can handle the stress. As we get older, you can't handle it as well.
[00:41:04] Dr. Piraye Beim: So the [00:41:05] same thing is true for your ovary. So when you think about, um, okay, my ovary's not functioning as [00:41:10] well, um, I wear a continuous glucose monitor.
[00:41:12] Dr. Taz: Mm-hmm.
[00:41:13] Dr. Piraye Beim: Me too. You do? Okay. [00:41:15] I wear one. Awesome. Yeah. Um, I started wearing one back in 2020- Yeah ... when we started to see [00:41:20] the- Yeah ... the interplay between, uh, the ovary and metabolism.
[00:41:23] Dr. Piraye Beim: Um, and I have found that it's a game changer for [00:41:25] things like hot flashes.
[00:41:26] Dr. Taz: Mm-hmm.
[00:41:27] Dr. Piraye Beim: Right? Like, one of the things that concerns me about these drugs that are [00:41:30] specifically targeting the thermostat in the brain-
[00:41:32] Dr. Taz: Right,
[00:41:32] Dr. Piraye Beim: right ... is that it's like the house is on fire, and [00:41:35] instead of dealing with the house being on fire, you just turn the fire alarm off and you go back to sleep.
[00:41:39] Dr. Piraye Beim: [00:41:40] And for women who have debilitating hot flashes, they've gotta just get some sleep, you know, do whatever they [00:41:45] can to turn the thermostat off. I, I'm not coming out anti these drugs. I'm just saying [00:41:50] Take the drugs, manage the hot flashes, but don't forget why you're having the hot flashes. Right. And what I [00:41:55] have found is that when I'm being really disciplined about the lifestyle factors that do impact [00:42:00] my ovarian function, um, then, um, I don't get the hot flashes, I [00:42:05] don't get the perimenopausal symptoms in the same way.
[00:42:07] Dr. Piraye Beim: And so I encourage women whose ovaries are either not [00:42:10] functioning anymore 'cause they're menopausal or are functioning less well because they're perimenopausal [00:42:15] or they have conditions like PCOS to be very mindful about light exposure. [00:42:20]
[00:42:20] Dr. Taz: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
[00:42:20] Dr. Piraye Beim: So that means getting adequate sleep, because sleep is a time when you make [00:42:25] melatonin.
[00:42:25] Dr. Piraye Beim: Melatonin is your sleep hormone, and you cannot make ovarian hormones [00:42:30] without melatonin.
[00:42:31] Dr. Taz: Mm. Interesting.
[00:42:31] Dr. Piraye Beim: The ovary will stop functioning. If you stick a mouse [00:42:35] in all dark or all light for two weeks, it stops ovulating. [00:42:40] It gains weight. It becomes insulin resistant.
[00:42:43] Dr. Taz: Wow.
[00:42:43] Dr. Piraye Beim: Yeah.
[00:42:44] Dr. Taz: Oh my gosh. [00:42:45] I'm not a good sleeper.
[00:42:46] Dr. Piraye Beim: That's, that's all it takes. I'm
[00:42:47] Dr. Taz: always trying to cheat. It's... Anyhow.
[00:42:49] Dr. Piraye Beim: And, and [00:42:50] we know from IVF related studies that, for example, when they look at nurses who have shift work- Right ... and they [00:42:55] work at night-
[00:42:55] Dr. Taz: Right ...
[00:42:55] Dr. Piraye Beim: they have much lower- Yes ... IVF success rates as well because their ovaries are being impacted. Hmm.
[00:42:59] Dr. Piraye Beim: It's [00:43:00] impacting their egg quality. It's impacting their health. And so, um, I think, [00:43:05] yes, sleep's a big one, and unfortunately, that means the screens. Right. The [00:43:10] screens are a big one. Um, we see that in cities like New York, um, where children weren't [00:43:15] able to get outside during the pandemic and were on screens all the time, overnight, we had a, [00:43:20] I think, uh, an increase from 5% precocious puberty, meaning girls going into pu- [00:43:25] puberty before the age of eight, to, like, 20%.
[00:43:27] Dr. Taz: And that's from light.
[00:43:29] Dr. Piraye Beim: That's from light.
[00:43:29] Dr. Taz: [00:43:30] Oh my gosh, we've been seeing this.
[00:43:31] Dr. Piraye Beim: Yes, because their little ovaries were so impacted by- Ah ... missing [00:43:35] out on the normal circadian rhythm, being blasted by blue light. Hasn't been proven, but [00:43:40] that's what's been hypothesized. Wow. And based on what I've seen in our work, I really believe that [00:43:45] hypothesis, that the disruption of, of melatonin.
[00:43:47] Dr. Piraye Beim: So for my kids, we talk about [00:43:50] melatonin.
[00:43:50] Dr. Taz: Right.
[00:43:50] Dr. Piraye Beim: Not because they take it as a supplement. Right. I, I don't give my kids melatonin, [00:43:55] but, um, but we talk about melatonin. Like, it's nighttime. As we approach the evening, we [00:44:00] start to dim the lights. If they need to do homework, we do it with a task light rather than having all the lights on.[00:44:05]
[00:44:05] Dr. Piraye Beim: And, and the kids are mindful, "Oh, I don't wanna see a screen right now. I don't wanna wreck my melatonin. My brain [00:44:10] has to start getting me ready-
[00:44:11] Dr. Taz: Hmm ...
[00:44:11] Dr. Piraye Beim: to keep me asleep so that I can make more melatonin." And then [00:44:15] what melatonin does is it has powerful anti-inflammatory impacts. It- [00:44:20] allows us to metabolize the food that we ate in a better way.
[00:44:23] Dr. Piraye Beim: Melatonin is not just a sleep [00:44:25] hormone. It's also a metabolic hormone. It's also an ovarian hormone. And so when you're [00:44:30] losing that signaling from the ovary, your melatonin signaling starts to be disrupted. So you have to [00:44:35] practice good sleep habits, but that also means, um, part of good sleep habits are exposing yourself to [00:44:40] the right kind of light at the right times.
[00:44:41] Dr. Piraye Beim: So on my Instagram, I'm always posting, like, [00:44:45] me outside in the sun or my kids outside in the sun. Like, we have a rule at home. On the [00:44:50] weekends, you have to be outside before 11:00, rain or shine. So I have rain gear for my [00:44:55] kids. I have snow gear for my kids. Like, rain or shine-
[00:44:57] Dr. Taz: You have to be outside ...
[00:44:58] Dr. Piraye Beim: you have to be outside-
[00:44:59] Dr. Taz: Wow
[00:44:59] Dr. Piraye Beim: [00:45:00] without sunglasses on before 11:00 in the morning to just tell your brain, "We're awake." [00:45:05] Wake
[00:45:05] Dr. Taz: up. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. This is so fascinating. I could talk to you about [00:45:10] this. I have more questions. I don't know how to get all my questions in. I have m- so many more questions. I [00:45:15] mean, I... So curious. We'll probably have to do a part two, what you think about, you know, fertility [00:45:20] today and the, you know, the whole assisted reproduction and sort of what your opinion is [00:45:25] on, on that industry.
[00:45:27] Dr. Taz: What you're hoping for women in perimenopause and menopause. You know, someone [00:45:30] who's going into menopause, like, can they bring their AMH back up? Have you seen that [00:45:35] happen? Is that a possibility?
[00:45:36] Dr. Piraye Beim: Um, I think that it's hard, um, [00:45:40] once you are... Y- you can bring it up on a short-term basis, like you said, through some of these interventions.
[00:45:44] Dr. Piraye Beim: I think [00:45:45] that, um, it's more about I [00:45:50] think giving your ovary the best shot-
[00:45:52] Dr. Taz: Mm-hmm ...
[00:45:52] Dr. Piraye Beim: to age on the best trajectory possible. So [00:45:55] I did all the wrong things from an ovarian health standpoint when I was younger.
[00:45:58] Dr. Taz: Mm-hmm.
[00:45:59] Dr. Piraye Beim: Me too. Um, I smoked. Mm-hmm. [00:46:00] I was chronically sleep deprived. I, I lived off of, like, Snickers bars and, [00:46:05] and Coke.
[00:46:05] Dr. Piraye Beim: I, I have such a healthy lifestyle now. When people hear about my lifestyle when I was in graduate school- I'm right there [00:46:10] with
[00:46:10] Dr. Taz: you .
[00:46:10] Dr. Piraye Beim: Yeah . Diet Coke, Diet Coke,
[00:46:12] Dr. Taz: and popcorn. Those were my [00:46:15] go-tos,
[00:46:15] Dr. Piraye Beim: so. Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. So we, we did not fuel our bodies. No, not at all. We did not rest our bodies. Mm. So I, I did [00:46:20] all the wrong things when I was younger.
[00:46:21] Dr. Piraye Beim: Yeah. And I, and I had the sobering, um, realization in [00:46:25] my early 30s that I had very low AMH. And so based on my AMH levels, [00:46:30] I should have gone into menopause, um, by around 40.
[00:46:33] Dr. Taz: Mm-hmm.
[00:46:34] Dr. Piraye Beim: I'm now, [00:46:35] uh, turning 46- Mm-hmm ... uh, very soon, and my... Since I changed my lifestyle, my [00:46:40] AMH levels have barely changed.
[00:46:41] Dr. Taz: Wow.
[00:46:42] Dr. Piraye Beim: It's been incredible.
[00:46:42] Dr. Taz: That's incredible. '
[00:46:43] Dr. Piraye Beim: Cause I, I really grieved [00:46:45] when I got that diagnosis early in my 30s. I thought, um, well, that's it, you [00:46:50] know? I, I, it, you know, this didn't work out for me, and, um, I'm not gonna be able to have [00:46:55] children naturally. I'm not gonna- Right ... I mean, I was actually counseled that I- IVF wasn't gonna work for me.[00:47:00]
[00:47:00] Dr. Taz: Oh, my gosh.
[00:47:00] Dr. Piraye Beim: Yeah. But I was trashing my body. I really was not taking... I mean, not, like, [00:47:05] drugs and alcohol, but like- Right, right ... you know, all the other- But yeah ... lifestyle factors. All the other things, yeah. I was not doing well [00:47:10] for my body, and I, I made so many changes. The other thing that, um, you know, from an ovarian health [00:47:15] standpoint that I think is worth mentioning is endometriosis.
[00:47:17] Dr. Taz: Mm-hmm.
[00:47:18] Dr. Piraye Beim: So [00:47:20] endometriosis, we think of it as a menstrual disorder. Um, women often have very painful periods, so we [00:47:25] associate endometriosis with menstruation. But, um, what we know is that AMH, uh, [00:47:30] levels can impact endometriosis risk, and that having [00:47:35] endometriosis can impact ovarian health as well. Right. So there's a circle there.
[00:47:38] Dr. Piraye Beim: And what I would say is [00:47:40] that, um, for women, uh, uh, that impacted me. I have endometriosis, and that's part [00:47:45] of why I had lower AMH by my early 30s, is that that also went untreated. [00:47:50] Um, it was in part because pain was normalized for me. Right. [00:47:55] When I had my first endometriosis symptoms, which was my very first period, um, I mean, [00:48:00] I'd never been in pain like that in my life.
[00:48:02] Dr. Piraye Beim: And now that I've had the opportunity to, [00:48:05] uh, deliver babies and go through labor, what I learned was that [00:48:10] a typical period for me, if I was unmedicated, felt like transitional labor. [00:48:15]
[00:48:15] Dr. Taz: Wow. I mean, I just think there's so much here that is actually a message of [00:48:20] hope, to be honest. You know? Like, first of all, drugs that your company is developing and working on, I think [00:48:25] that's...
[00:48:25] Dr. Taz: You know, I have a 16-year-old, I think about her health all the time. So for our girls and [00:48:30] for young women, you know, it's super exciting that they'll be able to have better control of this. I feel like we've- Yeah ... had to [00:48:35] fight for it or have had to- Yeah ... learn it by bumping our heads around. So I think that's really hopeful.
[00:48:39] Dr. Taz: I think the [00:48:40] other hopeful and, I think, call to action for all women listening, and [00:48:45] I hope they pass this on to their daughters and their mothers and their sisters and whoever else, is let's follow [00:48:50] these numbers. Yeah. Right? Why can't we follow an AM- I do this in practice. Yeah. But it [00:48:55] should be standard.
[00:48:55] Dr. Taz: Follow your AMH. Follow your inflammation markers. Understand what's happening, no [00:49:00] matter how old you are. Yeah. Because it's your first window, really, into not just [00:49:05] your overall health, but now, like, your ovarian health, which is an important piece of, of [00:49:10] everything. Everything's bidirectional. So I think that's a really important message I hope people will [00:49:15] take from our conversation as well.
[00:49:16] Dr. Taz: I'm super excited about the work you're doing. Look, I could talk to you [00:49:20] for- ... probably another hour, and I'm already getting time signals from everyone. But I wanna leave with just one [00:49:25] question that I'm asking all my guests. You know, you are a pioneer in your field. You're a [00:49:30] pioneer in this area of ovarian health.
[00:49:31] Dr. Taz: You founded CellMatics. You've been recognized globally [00:49:35] as an entrepreneur and an innovator. I've read your bio. You've done so many amazing things. [00:49:40] Just thinking about what gets you up in the morning and what keeps you going, I wanna [00:49:45] know what makes you whole.
[00:49:47] Dr. Piraye Beim: Oh, my gosh. Um, well, [00:49:50] I'm a mom, and so I'll just lead and say that my children inspire me.
[00:49:53] Dr. Piraye Beim: I really, really want a [00:49:55] different world for your daughter, for my daughter, but also for my boys. It's so important. [00:50:00] And, um, if you ask my, my boys, "What does Mommy [00:50:05] do?" They say, "Well, our testes are gonna function throughout our lifespan, [00:50:10] but our sister's ovaries are gonna stop working in the middle of her life, and that's not fair, and Mommy's trying to do something [00:50:15] about it."
[00:50:15] Dr. Piraye Beim: Amazing. So I think-
[00:50:17] Dr. Taz: That's
[00:50:17] Dr. Piraye Beim: amazing. It's like you, if you can explain- Yeah ... it to a [00:50:20] five-year-old. Yeah. So it's pretty- There you go. I love it ... it's pretty simple. It's a, it's an equity issue. [00:50:25] And, um, so, so they're rooting for me, and I don't wanna let them down, and I, I wanna show [00:50:30] them that, um, that you can put your mind to hard things that feel [00:50:35] impossible.
[00:50:35] Dr. Piraye Beim: Everything starts with a dream. Everything starts with a crazy idea that you have, and then you [00:50:40] can add data to it. You, you know, science is real. And so I'd say that [00:50:45] that being that role model for my children, but also that facilitator, that catalyst of a better health [00:50:50] outcome for them is really important to me.
[00:50:52] Dr. Piraye Beim: But the other thing that I will say is that [00:50:55] I barely go a week, and I've been at this, you know, for [00:51:00] over 20 years- Mm-hmm ... as I mentioned-
[00:51:01] Dr. Taz: Mm-hmm ...
[00:51:01] Dr. Piraye Beim: without somebody sharing, [00:51:05] um, the fertility struggle they're having. Yes. Uh, just last week I got [00:51:10] three phone calls from women in my network because they had been counseled to remove parts of their [00:51:15] body, their fallopian tubes, their uterus, their cervix, their ovary.
[00:51:19] Dr. Piraye Beim: [00:51:20] And, um, and, and I reflected on it that- [00:51:25] While men do, of course, lose body parts, not at the frequency that [00:51:30] women do. I mean, the, the fact that we [00:51:35] don't understand female biology, we don't know how to treat female biology, and so then as [00:51:40] we start to accumulate diseases because of female biology, we just neutralize the- Right
[00:51:43] Dr. Piraye Beim: female biology.
[00:51:44] Dr. Taz: [00:51:45] Right.
[00:51:45] Dr. Piraye Beim: Remove the parts, kill the estrogen. The fact that [00:51:50] that's our toolbox, I am constantly reminded.
[00:51:54] Dr. Taz: Drives me insane.
[00:51:54] Dr. Piraye Beim: [00:51:55] It drives me insane too. Yeah. And, and I, I will be honest, because I [00:52:00] think sometimes you can make it look easier than it is. Um, having this [00:52:05] conversation, this is my happy place, getting to talk about this stuff.
[00:52:07] Dr. Piraye Beim: Yeah. I'm very passionate about it, but I will say [00:52:10] I wanna give up every single day. Every single day.
[00:52:13] Dr. Taz: It's a fight.
[00:52:14] Dr. Piraye Beim: Every [00:52:15] single day there's a moment where I think, "It's too hard. It's not gonna work. People aren't gonna understand. We're not [00:52:20] gonna have adequate funding." Some setback every day makes me think, um, [00:52:25] I'm exhausted.
[00:52:26] Dr. Piraye Beim: I- Yep ... you know, who am I? I totally- One person- ... 100% get this ... to have an impact. Every day I, [00:52:30] I'd be lying if I didn't say for a minute at least every day. Some days it's hours, some days it's just that minute of, [00:52:35] "Can we do this? Are we gonna get this done?" I doubt myself every day, [00:52:40] and when I get that phone call from a friend who says, "You'll never believe what my doctor said to [00:52:45] me"-
[00:52:45] Dr. Taz: The fire starts right back
[00:52:46] Dr. Piraye Beim: up
[00:52:46] Dr. Piraye Beim: boy. The, or my daughter says- Yep ... you know, [00:52:50] "Tick-tock." Yeah. You know?
[00:52:51] Dr. Taz: Get on it, Mom. "
[00:52:52] Dr. Piraye Beim: When is this stuff gonna be ready?" You know? Or it feels [00:52:55] just so obvious to my boys that of course we should live in a world where our sister [00:53:00] has the same rights to have her body age on the same trajectory that we have. [00:53:05] Um, and let me end with one statistic too, because oftentimes people say, "Well, women [00:53:10] outlive men."
[00:53:10] Dr. Taz: Mm-hmm. "
[00:53:11] Dr. Piraye Beim: Aren't you... Y- you're more than equal." Statistically, [00:53:15] yes, but we don't out thrive men.
[00:53:17] Dr. Taz: Right.
[00:53:18] Dr. Piraye Beim: We are sick for 25% [00:53:20] longer, so- That's my answer to that, [00:53:25] is that when I talk about aging equitably and enabling that, [00:53:30] um, what I mean is well span. The years that we feel healthy, the years that we [00:53:35] can run a triathlon.
[00:53:35] Dr. Piraye Beim: And vibrant and vital. Yeah. The years that we can think clearly and, and be our most [00:53:40] creative, passionate selves. That we have a sex drive. That we, um, you know, [00:53:45] don't have all of the issues that, as you know and your audience knows, we struggle so much with [00:53:50] once our, uh, ovaries start to go offline. So those are the things that inspire me, is [00:53:55] that, um, we have a real shot at this.
[00:53:57] Dr. Piraye Beim: I mentioned we got the ARPA-H SPARK [00:54:00] Award for Ovarian Health. So amazing. And, and now we have the US government as our strategic partner in [00:54:05] this. Amazing. They've recognized ovarian health matters to the health of the nation. And, [00:54:10] um, so I'd say it's getting a little easier, but, um, but moments like [00:54:15] this, too, inspire me where, um, people are getting excited about our work and, and [00:54:20] starting to figure out...
[00:54:20] Dr. Piraye Beim: Like, while they're rooting us on for the exciting things that we're gonna do for the next generation, [00:54:25] what the, what we learn about biology on the path to creating those new innovations [00:54:30] gives us these tools, like we were talking about, diet, lifestyle, sleep, stress [00:54:35] management, exercise, um- That we can do today to at least make the most of what we [00:54:40] have.
[00:54:40] Dr. Taz: I think this is such an incredible journey. I'm gonna be rooting and cheering you- ... from the [00:54:45] sidelines for sure. And I do think that, you know, what makes a lot of us whole, [00:54:50] honestly, is the ability to really make that impact, right? Mm-hmm. To have that stamp on the world, [00:54:55] and be able to say that we created something, did something that really did change lives at the end of the [00:55:00] day.
[00:55:00] Dr. Taz: I know I feel the same way. There are days that I'm like, "Why am I doing this?" Like, [00:55:05] w- what is wrong with me? But it is... It's the stories, and it's the [00:55:10] experiences that, again, we get faced with over and over again that keep us all motivated. So you're an [00:55:15] inspiration. Oh. I'm so proud to know you. Thank you. I am...
[00:55:17] Dr. Taz: I have been inspired by this conversation, so thank you for taking [00:55:20] time out today to join us. And I know you mentioned Boss Ovary is the place where people can [00:55:25] find you on social media and follow you. That's right. Is there anywhere else that, you know, if they're curious about your [00:55:30] work, that, uh, they can go and learn more?
[00:55:32] Dr. Piraye Beim: Well, they can follow us. We're actually, [00:55:35] um... We're pretty good on LinkedIn.
[00:55:36] Dr. Taz: Yep.
[00:55:36] Dr. Piraye Beim: So Celmatix is pretty good at, on LinkedIn about talking about our [00:55:40] updates. So we had, um, some recent breakthroughs we didn't get a chance to talk about. For [00:55:45] example, we're trying to get rid of needles from IVF, and just create- That would be game changer
[00:55:48] Dr. Piraye Beim: a world where-
[00:55:49] Dr. Taz: Yeah ...
[00:55:49] Dr. Piraye Beim: [00:55:50] we can both reduce the need for IVF through treating fertility more effectively at the OBGYN, but [00:55:55] also getting rid of needles when we get there. So there's a lot of other things other than, um, what we talked about [00:56:00] today that we're working on. And if people are interested in our work at Celmatix, they can follow us on LinkedIn or on our [00:56:05] website, celmatix.com.
[00:56:06] Dr. Piraye Beim: And then, um, and then I'm trying to be pretty good on Boss [00:56:10] Ovary too of, as I learn things, and I'm... This is why I started it. A friend of mine in media said, [00:56:15] "You, you figured this protocol out for you. You're doing it for you. Just [00:56:20] throw posts on and, and take us along on the journey." And so I've been trying to do that.
[00:56:24] Dr. Piraye Beim: But [00:56:25] also in the context of showing people the ups and downs of being- Right ... an entrepreneur in this space as [00:56:30] well. Because I think that a lot of people didn't realize that so little capital goes into innovation in this space. Yeah. [00:56:35] So that's what I'm trying to do with Boss Ovary right now.
[00:56:37] Dr. Taz: Amazing. Well, thank you again for joining us.
[00:56:39] Dr. Taz: And for everybody [00:56:40] watching and listening, I hope you'll check her out- ... and check out all the resources. And let's all [00:56:45] advocate for ovarian health, and help women understand this really important issue. Thank you so much. Thank [00:56:50] you.
[00:56:51] Dr. Taz: Thank you so much for listening and watching today's episode of Whole Plus.[00:56:55]
[00:56:55] Dr. Taz: Be sure to share this episode with your friends and family. And if you haven't already, please take a moment to [00:57:00] subscribe to this podcast on YouTube, or click the follow button on Apple, Spotify, or [00:57:05] wherever it is that you get your podcasts. And don't forget to follow me on all social channels at [00:57:10] DrTazMD.
[00:57:10] Dr. Taz: Until next time, stay healthy and stay whole.