Rallying Cry
By now, you might be thinking, who is this company, and who on earth would have the word “Ovary” in their company name? Well, that would be me, Mary Kucek, the founder, and CEO of OvaryIt.
OvaryIt came about after I was personally impacted by receiving a prescription for the wrong category of hormonal contraceptives. Like many individuals, I had slipped between the cracks and never met the eligibility requirements to receive combined oral contraceptives. Then one morning, I collapsed, and things got scary. Fortunately, my husband, an emergency room physician, picked me up, and got me the care I needed. We soon learned that I suffered from migraines with aura, which I lovingly referred to as “bad headaches” much of my life. We were also informed that I have a genetic clotting disorder, which makes me exponentially more likely to experience a heart attack, blood clot, or stroke, especially in the presence of estrogen from birth control. After I was done throwing my pity party, I started asking a lot more questions, and the answers were just as surprising as my previous collapse.
According to an NCBI and NIH study, 60% of women were unable to continue the first six months of a new contraceptive, with many reporting adverse side effects or inability to adhere to medication guidelines. Many patients who experience side effects become disenfranchised and stop seeking solutions. I also learned that hundreds of women die from their hormonal contraceptives every year, while thousands more are hospitalized, and many more experience non-lethal side effects of hormonal contraceptives. I knew there had to be a better way to ensure women had access to the right type of birth control and hormonal management. After all, birth control has helped women with family planning, allowed us to climb the corporate ladder, and gain freedom and independence. So, I decided that I would use my biology and technology background to create OvaryIt.
The OvaryIt concept quickly turned from just an idea to a life mission. The more people I spoke to, the more I realized how forgotten many of us feel. So, I quit my day job and started working full time to make OvaryIt a reality. I knew I wanted many components; the first is getting women free access to take the pre-evaluation screening to learn their eligibility for the available contraceptive categories. The next is creating safeguards in the application to ensure physicians could never accidentally override the CDC Guidelines for prescribing contraceptives. The last was making the patient and physician interaction and experience better by creating an environment where a doctor could have a meaningful and collaborative conversation with each patient without being distracted by the demands of redundant documentation. These solutions took a full year to develop. While every other telehealth company focused on speed to market, we focused on quality to market (hopefully that was the right thing to do). The result is a robust application that allows for hormonal and non-hormonal contraceptive solutions and education.
Every day I wake up with the pure motivation to ensure that no female slips between the cracks ever again. We created the OvaryIt platform to honor every single female searching for affordable access to quality care. So to the women who have been told to “wait out” the harsh side effects, we hear you; to the women who continue to have miscarriages and need to take a break, we see you; to the women who feel like society only views their value through babies, we understand you. So, if you’re over it, we’re OvaryIt.