Empowering Women’s Health: A Conversation with Dr. Charlotte Owens

Jackie Ferguson - 00:00:00

Thanks for listening to diversity beyond the Checkbox podcast. Today I am joined by Doctor Charlotte Owens, Senior Vice President and Head of Global Medical Affairs and Outcomes research at Organon. Doctor Owens, thank you for joining me today.

Dr. Charlotte Owens - 00:00:14

Thanks for having me, Jackie. Good to see you.

Jackie Ferguson - 00:00:17

It's good to see you.

Tell us a little bit about your background and the passion that you have for Women's Health.

Dr. Charlotte Owens - 00:00:25

So I'm originally from Northern California and you know, it's really an amazing eclectic place. I I learned a lot about lots of cultures. I obtained my passion for food by growing up in the Bay Area. Certainly music, a lot of really famous people grew up in the Bay Area and I think.

One of the other things is that there's a certain rhythm to the Bay Area sights, sounds, smells, moods, and one of the things that I think I was learning as a child that I didn't really understand I was learning was the fact that you can really work hard. You can do a lot of things that are really important. Go to school and really be kind to people, but you're still going to live in a world and go with an equities. 

And I think the fact that you see that as a child, maybe you start to normalize it because that's just your world, you get used to traveling long distances to the grocery store and you don't realize you're living in a food desert. You get used to having to go way across town to go to the doctor and you don't realize that you're probably living in some sort of healthcare desert. You don't realize that McDonald's might be fun as a kid, but when that's easier to obtain than a head of lettuce then you're definitely probably not living the healthiest lifestyle, but you might be living a lifestyle that is necessary because of financial.

You noticed that the books were a little worn and a little torn. Maybe you don't realize that you might be living in a place where education is perhaps in some sort of desert for you. For me, my parents knew that education could be one of the great equalizers. They really valued education my father there thought that everyone should live their passion, not necessarily that you have to go to college, but perhaps a trade. He was a big proponent of doing things that allowed your gifts to grow but be the best at it.

And so I was from middle school on. I was part of a program, I got a a boundary transfer that allowed me to legally go to the better schools in the area because my area had passionate team.

Others but didn't necessarily have the best scores or the best ability to obtain a great education, so it was bust two hours each direction. And you know you you figure out a way to take all that in. And I think what I learned obviously is a lot of patience. I learned a lot about diligence and care and kinda.

But I also mentally saw the neighborhood shift as I would get closer to school. The neighborhoods there are lots of resources in the neighborhoods. The streets look different. People move differently. Cars certainly look differently. The sizes of the homes got huge. Kids had their own cars and as I would make my way back to my neighborhood, the landscape changes, I think.

That never left me because I'm proud of everything that my parents gave me and they gave me everything that they could, but it also, as I got older, brought to life that my life was not a life that was uncommon. It was actually quite normal for so many people, and what could I do?

So that future generations might be different. So I think everything that I grew up loving family people, education, respect was really grounded in the Bay Area. My love of food, my love of music. I love of people, my love of conversation.

Natural curiosity, that's what really makes me who I am and also what led me to want to be a physician because I saw that health came and went almost as quickly as day and night in my neighbor.

But I saw that when people had to be in the hospitals, families were greatly disrupted, sometimes having to move out of their homes, sometimes being displaced. I saw a lot of strong women in my life who were really amazing. But maybe sometimes the only one. And I saw that when their health went.

Not only did their health go, but generations, their children and the next generation could potentially be impacted. And I said, you know what? If women are this strong and this important to society, then I want to help them and I want to help them maintain health. Health should not be an option. Health should not be something that can totally disrupt you on a dime. Health should be something maybe I can help give to other people. 

And when it hit home, when the lack of health hit home and I heard that conversation in my own family. And my mentor became the physician who cared for me and said what he had did for me, I could do for others and that really helped me believe that I could do the same. So I I really believe that your environment, no matter how good or tough it might be, should propel you to be passionate about something. And for me, that's what I think makes me who I am and makes me passionate about wanting to be a provider of care for women and those they.

Jackie Ferguson - 00:06:18

I love that. Thank you for sharing. Can we talk a little bit more about what you're currently doing at Organon?

Dr. Charlotte Owens - 00:06:26

Sure, sure. The best way to describe my role at Organon is as the head of medical affairs and outcomes research, we get to be the conduits of communication and clinical value of our products to stakeholders throughout the healthcare system like HCP's payers and decision makers also patients.

We are responsible for sending the medical strategy in support of marketed and pipeline products and what this means is we are on the ground in front of these different stakeholders, building relationships and really collaborating with them, not only to bring insights externally, about the value of our products and the science, but to then understand what those environments are like so that we can try to continuously meet the needs of working on. 

So it's a wonderful opportunity to really be in touch in real life to really understand real life factors that make people healthy or move them away from health. This is the kind of information that I think is so valuable for what we have decided to do. 

We are focused on the care of women and when you think about how the care of women is directly tied to a thriving, stable and resilient society. Then it makes you want to understand all the factors that may move a woman towards and away from health. 

Ultimately, what we're trying to do is create a more inclusive healthcare system and contribute to our goal of bridging gaps in healthcare. And this is a place that we know has been, not a lot of attention has been paid to this area, but we know that for society to thrive not only now, but for generations to come, women have to be healthy.

Jackie Ferguson - 00:08:30

Absolutely. Doctor Owens, there are a lot of disparities for those of us who have done the research and maternal health outcomes. A lot of disparities, just with regard to bias and healthcare of providers of systems.

How can we, as a society combat those disparities, specifically with regard to maternal health outcomes? You know, last year, the National Institute of Health found that black women specifically were over three times more likely to die in pregnancy and postpartum than white women. So, what do we do there?

Dr. Charlotte Owens - 00:09:05

I think we have to understand some of the factors that underlie this. Now let's let's be clear, maternal morbidity and mortality is a growing global crises, and it's one where there are unequal outcomes for different racial and ethnic groups, due in large part to inequities and access to quality healthcare system. 

It's not just do you have healthcare? But it's do you have access to a provider that even hears and sees you and provides you with agency and understanding so that you under normal circumstances can be seen, can be heard and your needs be addressed specifically? 

I think this gets to a point in society where we have to understand that we're more common than not. And so when you think about what do I want, when I go to the doctor, well, you want to know that they care. Number 2, you want to be able to have access to the to the treatment that may be proposed, but you want to be a partner in that decision, you want to have some sort of feeling that you've been given all the options, that there's nothing about you that would keep you away from one option or another, that there's nothing about you that's being dismissed.

Jackie Ferguson - 00:10:14

Right.

Dr. Charlotte Owens - 00:10:24

So, I think what society has to realize is that I've given examples about when you're in front of the healthcare provider. But let's be clear, health starts outside of the healthcare system, 80% of what makes you healthy is outside of the healthcare system. The social determinants of health. 

So, we have to care about economic stability.Because without that you can't be healthy. We have to care about education and quality. Because if you can't be educated, you may not be able to have a job. You might not be able to get to the doctor. You might not be able to pay for the doctor. 

We have to care about financial consideration, social considerations, all the factors that make you healthy or not. Before you even get to the healthcare system and we know that your ZIP code dictates so much about your health, some people refer to it as ZN a here in Chicago. If you start on the South side and you go to the Gold Coast, which is maybe about 10 stops and not terribly far away.

You can really increase your life expectancy by 50%, but so does your socioeconomic status. So there's something about where you live, the environment, the toll that that environment has on you that really matters. And we as society have to understand that because.

Healthcare doesn't just take place in the hospital setting. Healthcare takes place around you. Every place that you are. So how can we really move the needle on the factors that really drive most of what makes us healthy?

Jackie Ferguson - 00:12:07

Yeah, that makes sense. You know, understanding how our environment plays a role in our health is extremely important. I also want to touch on the bias though that exists in healthcare, apart from the environmental piece and the genetic piece.

Tell me, Doctor Owens, what are your thoughts around how we as individuals, whether it's for us personally for our family and then how do we look at it from the provider perspective to overcome some of the bias that does exist in the healthcare systems?

Dr. Charlotte Owens - 00:12:51

So, I would say for ourselves, let's start there. I would say we need to speak up and I think sometimes you know, I used to remember when we were going to the doctor, we would get dressed up. You know you kind of put on clothes that you might have normally reserved for church. You were trying to present a certain way because you wanted that first impression to be one where people saw you as a whole person.

And I think that we should be expected to be seen and heard no matter how we show up at the doctor, because we're just a human, right? We're human. I don't want patients to really worry about their appearance. They should speak up. So we have to find providers that see us no matter what shell we’re in. 

Find a provider that you can trust and then don't be afraid to ask questions. Don't be afraid to say what you don't understand and bring a friend. Sometimes you need to bring a friend one of my very best friends, and I'm fortunate to have a really good sister network, was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer several years ago and she was she's one of the most, brightest physicians I had ever known.

And immediately she knew she had to bring a buddy because in that moment she needed to be a patient. In that moment, she knew that, yes, she's one of she's one of the most brilliant physicians, but she needed a friend. So I always encourage people to bring someone along. And if you can't be there in person for the five years that she battled faithfully, I went to every appointment, either in person or virtually because, even though she had a very compassionate, caring, supportive husband, they still needed someone else so that they could focus on being the patient. So do not be afraid to bring a friend. And I think in this day and time, it's very normal to even. You're calling from the office so, yeah, that's super important because it brings you a certain level of comfort. It gives you another ear, and it also shows the provided that you're someone that other people care and love too.

Second thing I would say is learn what you can about what's important. Get screened. Regular interventions are important, not just from a health issue, but from an awareness issue because when you become screened and you understand the process now you can become an advocate for other people and we are all in ecosystems that really value what we say. 

So really, you know, I tell my friends and my patients don't miss a single screening. It is not about how you feel today, it's about how you want to be tomorrow.

So learn what are the annual exams that you should have? Make sure that you're getting your pap smears, your mammogram blood pressure, colonoscopy when it's the right time. Make sure you know all your important numbers. And then if you need help identifying what that is, don't be afraid to ask. Yeah, speak up. There are lots of community resources and then the other thing I would say is protect your peace.

You need to know when to set boundaries. People need sleep, and typically if you get a good night's sleep, you're going to feel better. You're probably going to restore a lot of vital activities to yourself because you have the agency and the peace to function at optimal levels. So it's really important to know when you need to say no, not at this moment, get your rest. 

It's also important that when you're advocating, I say this, especially to women and other care providers. When you're caring for everyone else, make sure that you're taking time to care for yourself.

Jackie Ferguson 00:16:50

That's true.

Dr. Charlotte Owens - 00:16:51

Think about what makes you happy. Are you happier when you're getting exercise? It's important to move. There's a natural feel good that happens when you're moving and you're active. So find time and space to do the things that bring you joy, bring you peace. Restore yourself.

Jackie Ferguson - 00:17:08

I love that. You know, it's and it's so important because so many of us, you know, just in my experience with watching other people go to the doctor or going to the doctor with other people, it can be scary. You know, you don't know what they're going to say. You don't know how to respond to it, but you do have to advocate for yourself. Ask those questions, speak up when you don't understand. That is so important. And so often we don't do that because we don't want bad news or we don't want to appear like we don't understand something, but we have to advocate for ourselves. 

And it's no secret that I turned 50 this year, I did a whole podcast on it. And there's a new test and all the things that I have to do, and so and it's, you know, now I'm saying, OK, I need to go to the doctor regularly cause you know, I'm not living that 25 year old lifestyle where everything's good all the time. I need to be paying attention, right.

Dr. Charlotte Owens - 00:18:06

Well, but you also raised another important point and and so this is an analogy and I don't want to offend anyone, but you know, imagine that there's a place where you could go for everything because it's convenient to shop.

And I love those kind of stories because you can do groceries one minute. You can do clothes if you wanted another minute, and then you can, you know, you can go and do household things. That's great when you're 20 to have, like, a generalist, a general approach, one stop shop. But as you get older, as you pointed out, as you move through each decade.

There are different screening, different things that you need to try to guard. Yet and at that point, you need to know what kind of specialist to go to. I spend a lot of time with my friends going; Are you having the right eye exams? Did you go and get your colonoscopy? OK, you your blood pressure has been elevated for quite some time. Are you? Do you need to see a different kind of doctor? Do you go to the dentist? Do you do these preventative thoughts all the time. And do you have a checklist? 

Because what I mean by that is preventative thoughts are none of us want to get the bad news when you know what the potential issues are that may affect you then you know what to guard against. And even if you get news, you don't want, you can develop a plan on how to approach that.

And I think that's just so important because the things you fear, you tend to withdraw from, but it's actually the things that you fear that you should lean into when it comes to you.

Jackie Ferguson - 00:19:45

Absolutely. So, Doctor Owens, we're talking about some of the, you know, getting older, right. So let's talk about some of the topics that are rarely covered, like menopause and expanding access to elder care. What do we need to understand about supporting employees through their career life cycle? And what are ways that we can support those employees you know as they're getting older in the in the workspace?

Dr. Charlotte Owens - 00:20:15

Employers need to lead by example. You know creating policies and frankly providing support for people so that they can bring their whole selves to work. That means making sure that they can prioritize their whole health, physical, emotional, financial well-being at all stage of life.

And I think this is something that we take very seriously at Organon. We've built a completely new infrastructure of HR policies centered around the needs of our employees that reflect our companies value culture purpose.

We've enacted, for example, what we call global Care leave guidelines, which allow employees to take off at least 10 days to manage you, so you can take care of things such as caregiving, family planning, menopause and self-care.

We have employee resource groups called. You know that we know as ERG groups where people can come together and talk in an open forum during work time about different life experiences and really feel supported by your colleague.

We're also making space for people to heal. One step that we've made is implementing A bereavement policy in the US that provides up to 20 days of leave.

Jackie Ferguson - 00:21:35

Ah.

Dr. Charlotte Owens - 00:21:35

And that's including people who are experiencing pregnancy loss. See frequently we think about what I've lost. This person I've lost that person, but pregnancy loss is a is of important lost too, and people need time to bereave, and I think most people take a time off for the funeral, maybe a weekend if the funeral's close to the weekend and then they're back, trying to compartmentalize that pain.

And be present. But are you really present? And I think Organon on being dedicated to a healthier every day for every woman realizes that throughout our lifetime there are many challenges that coming up in the best way for us to show up is by being holistically cared for and not feeling like you have to make a choice between do I go to work halfway or can I really stay off for a period of time to then be able to bring my whole self back to work?

Jackie Ferguson - 00:22:34

I love that, Doctor Owens, and you know it's so important because when we think about the grieving process specifically, not everyone grieves on a timetable, right. So, it's not those two or three days that are right there around the funeral necessarily. You may go straight back to work and then there may come a time, a month later, when the phone calls stopped coming in right where you're really at a point of grief. And so I think that flexibility with employees is so important and so valued.

Dr. Charlotte Owens - 00:23:07

Absolutely.

Jackie Ferguson - 00:23:09

Doctor Owens, let's talk about the CDC data that indicates that 84% of pregnancy related deaths in the US were preventable.

What steps can be taken to reduce these preventable deaths from the provider standpoint and then also from the patient and family standpoint?

Dr. Charlotte Owens - 00:23:31

I think we, you know, maternal mortality is unacceptably high and in some areas of the world it is a reflection of an unequal, I should say access to quality health services. And you're right, most of these complications developed during pregnancy and are preventable or at least treatable. 

So one of the things that I always think about is education can be a great equalizer. So we need to provide information in a way that's culturally competent. What? What do I mean by that?

I sometimes, when you write consents for a patient, you're very tempted to use the technical knowledge that you have or the medical knowledge you have to write the consent. But if I said I'm going to do a total abdominal hysterectomy, bilateral cell pingo, oophorectomy that's accurate to another physician, but does the patient know what I just said? 

So, maybe I need to use the words to describe removal of the uterus, removal of the ovaries, removal of the fallopian tubes in a way that she understands it because the only thing about the consent is she should understand it. So when you're speaking to a patient, the only people that need to understand what was said is the patient in you. So what terms does she use? What is she comfortable with? Do you have to make a drawing? Do you have to call a friend? Do you need to call a spouse? Do you need to call a child, should it be interpreted in another language because she's so gifted that she speaks more than one.

You know, information in a way that's culturally competent, I think is absolutely paramount from a provider perspective and insisting on that as a patient and family perspective is key. Again, I'm going to reiterate something we said before because this is so important. The provider is your only gateway to care.

Let me say that three times your provider is your only gateway to care, so find a provider that gives you agency that truly listens and understands, not just understands what you said today, but did you have to take a bus to get there? Do you work 9:00 to 5:00?,Is it easier for you to call me? Should you have my cell phone number? Should you have access to someone else because you have a 15 minute break at work and if you don't catch me, then it's not until the next day you need someone that understands what is your life and then tries to really meet you halfway, with not only them, but the support that they can provide for you. Bring someone that you trust again, and the provider should expect that there's going to be someone there to advocate for you and with you. 

And I think when we do that, when we truly take the time to understand patients, what we're doing is that we're building equity in her long term care. We're building trust. We're building a situational awareness that we now can remember to tune in, whatever the prescription for her care tends to be, and then, most importantly, we're empowering her to go empower her whole community, and there's nothing more special than a woman who's on fire for A cause because then she's unstoppable.

And I think when we put that in the context of maternal morbidity and mortality, people should know the symptoms of the leading conditions that tend to cause morbidity and mortality when we improve the understanding and the and identifying these causes.

Then we're going to be able to really thrive. We know postpartum hemorrhage, unfortunately, is still one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality around the world, and that can be preventable.

Nearly 14 million people experienced postpartum hemorrhage. And honestly, you know, there hasn't been a lot of innovation in this space. We have been able. It took nearly 20 years before our new Organon Jada system was created. And I think it's time for us in industry to recognize the consequences of a lack of investment in maternal health and really bring it forward. It's not about just bringing forward a treatment option, which is important. You need innovation for us to stay healthy. 

We all use things that had to be created for us to stay healthy, but it's also the education and awareness that comes with these treatments and that's what we at Organon pride ourselves in doing. We not only bring innovative medicines and devices and other treatment options to the table, but we bring education and awareness to patients, providers and payers. And that alone can be life saving, life changing.

Jackie Ferguson - 00:28:18

Well, thank you for sharing that. Doctor Owens, in addition to your role in administration, you still practice, which I think is really great. Tell us why this is so meaningful to you.

Dr. Charlotte Owens - 00:28:33

You know, I decided a long time ago if I could be so fortunate as to go to medical school and become a doctor, that I was going to care for women and those that they love it. It's a privilege. It is an honor when you think about it. There's very few things more precious to a person than themselves and their health.

To be able to care for someone, especially when they are in need when they're vulnerable, is a gift that I really still cherish. It is my first love, although I don't practice full time anymore. I've been on faculty at Morehouse School of Medicine for nearly thirteen years now because it is still the first thing that I wanted to do is to care for women directly. To be able to talk to them and educate them and build generational capacity for care.

It also though, is something that I wanted to do on a on a more global scale, so when I went into industry, people asked me why did you stop? You know, practicing full time. And I said, I don't. I now get to cover the whole spectrum. I not only can care for 20, 30, 40 patients in a day, but I can now care for millions of women around the year by the new treatment options that we bring to everyone who cares for a patient through working in the Pharmaceutical industry and the way that I'm able to still understand patients firsthand and my colleagues who are still caring for patients every day allows me to bring those insights into what I do.

It is to me, the opportunity to holistically care for women, not just one by one, but by thinking about this globally. And I'm personally reminded every day that I'm at the hospital that there's still so much work to do. So it's fuel to my fire, which is one of the things that we say at Organon on bring your fire because we want to make sure that we never get tired of innovating for women.

Jackie Ferguson - 00:30:28

That's so great. Doctor Owens, what's the message that you'd like to leave with our listeners today?

Dr. Charlotte Owens - 00:30:37

I would say if you care and love even one woman in your life, you must realize that now is the time to tackle key health issues that are preventing women and girls from reaching their potential. When women and girls are healthy, society is healthy as a whole, and whether that's related to maternal health, unplanned pregnancy or general well-being or workplace policies? Everyone should do the same. Everyone should care about each other enough to want to be galvanized. 

We know that if women are able to participate in the workplace at the same rate as men, we could add as much as $28 trillion to the global GDP by 2025. You know, there's still significant barriers for women. This is something that we know can turn society around holistically. Diversity is good because we all benefit from it. And while we know at Organon, we know that women are the backbone, frankly, of a thriving and stable and resilient society.

Our hope is that when she is healthy, she is empowered. She is resilient and she prospers, which positively impacts her community, her society, her economy for many generations to come. There's only upside for all of us caring for the health of women and for each other.

Jackie Ferguson - 00:32:03 J

That's so great. Thank you for sharing that, Doctor Owens. How can our listeners learn more about your work and connect?

00:32:11 Dr. Charlotte Owens

Several different ways, so you can please connect or follow me on LinkedIn. I'm Charlotte Owens, MD, FAC OG. Also, you can follow on Organon’s LinkedIn or Instagram website or go to www.organon.com/herplanisherpower to learn more about our commitment to supporting women around the world, we've recently have initiated a US campaign that is designed to do that through partners.

Jackie Ferguson - 00:32:46

Doctor Owens, thank you so much for spending some time with me today and thank you for sharing so much of what we need to know about managing our own health. Thank you.

Dr. Charlotte Owens - 00:32:55

Thank you, Jackie.