unPAUSED with Dr. Mary Claire Haver

From her groundbreaking televised colonoscopy to her breast cancer journey, Katie Couric has turned personal experience into powerful advocacy for the health issues medicine has overlooked. This week on unPaused, Dr. Mary Claire Haver sits down with Katie Couric, award-winning journalist, founder of Katie Couric Media, co-founder of Stand Up To Cancer, and author of the New York Times bestseller Going There. Katie spent 15 years co-hosting the Today Show, served as the first solo female anchor of CBS Evening News, and has interviewed nearly every president, world leader and cultural voice of the last four decades.

Together, they explore Katie's journey from growing up in Arlington, Virginia, where her parents instilled the importance of education and financial independence, to breaking barriers in network news while navigating profound personal loss. Katie opens up about losing her husband Jay to stage four colon cancer when her daughters were six and two, how that tragedy launched her into cancer advocacy, and why she made the decision to have a colonoscopy on live television — a moment that changed screening rates across America and took the stigma out of a life-saving procedure.

Guest links:


Katie Couric Media


Katie Couric (Instagram)


Katie Couric (TikTok)


Katie Couric (Facebook)


Katie Couric Media (Instagram)


Katie Couric (YouTube)


Katie Couric (X)


Katie Couric (LinkedIn)


Katie Couric (Substack)


Next Question with Katie Couric (Apple Podcasts)

Books:"The Feminine Mistake: Are We Giving Up Too Much?," by Leslie Bennetts


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Most women go through decades of marriage, menopause and midlife without ever having an honest conversation with a doctor about their sex life. Not because they don't want one — but because most physicians were never trained to have it. This week on unPaused, Dr. Mary Claire Haver sits down with Dr. James Simon, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at George Washington University, board-certified OB-GYN, reproductive endocrinologist, and certified sexual counselor with more than 800 published papers in menopause and sexual medicine. Dr. Simon is a past president of the International Society for the Study of Women's Sexual Health (ISSWSH) and one of the most published clinicians in modern menopause care.

Dr. Simon has spent his career treating what most doctors never address — the full picture of how sex, desire, pain and intimacy change for both women and men as they age. He treats couples together, and what he has witnessed across thousands of relationships is that the problems are rarely one person's fault, rarely unsolvable, and almost always rooted in something nobody warned them about.

Guest links:

James Simon (IntimMedicine Specialists)

James Simon (Instagram)

James Simon (YouTube)

Articles:

What if the Women’s Health Initiative had used transdermal estradiol and oral progesterone instead? (Menopause)

Erectile Dysfunction (StatPearls)

Should we be prescribing testosterone to perimenopausal and menopausal women? A guide to prescribing testosterone for women in primary care (British Journal of General Practice)

The Benefits and Harms of Systemic Testosterone Therapy in Postmenopausal Women With Normal Adrenal Function: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis (The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism)

Other Resources:

Women’s Health Initiative

The North American Menopause Society Releases Its 2022 Hormone Therapy Position Statement (NAMS)

International Society for the Study of Women's Sexual Health (ISWSH) 

FDA panel rejects testosterone patch for women on safety grounds (The BMJ)

The Saga of Testosterone for Menopausal Women at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) (The Journal of Sexual Medicine)

Sexual Medicine Society of North America (SMSNA)

Books:“Restore Yourself: A Woman's Guide to Reviving her Sexual Desire and Passion for Life,” by James Simon and Victoria Houston

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This week on unPaused, Dr. Mary Claire Haver sits down with Naomi Watts, Academy Award nominated actress, entrepreneur, and New York Times bestselling author of Dare I Say It. Naomi's career spans decades in Hollywood, from her breakthrough role in David Lynch's Mulholland Drive to recent work with directors like Ryan Murphy and Lena Dunham. After receiving a shocking early menopause diagnosis at 36 while struggling with fertility, Naomi spent years navigating untreated symptoms in silence before becoming an unexpected advocate for millions of women facing midlife transitions. In 2021, she founded Stripes Beauty, a menopause focused skincare and wellness brand built on community, education, and celebrating womens earned wisdom rather than promising to reverse time.

In this conversation, Dr. Haver and Naomi explore the reality of growing up across continents after losing her father at eight years old, the decade long struggle to break into Hollywood, and the moment at 30 when her acting career finally launched. Naomi opens up about the devastating news from her doctor that she was approaching menopause at 36, the desperate fertility journey that followed including traveling to China for herbal remedies and extreme dietary changes, and the perimenopause symptoms she dismissed as allergies or stress in her late twenties including night sweats, migraines, brain fog, and sleep disruption.

Guest links:


Naomi Watts (Instagram)


Naomi Watts (IMDB)


Stripes Beauty

Other Resources


Davina McCall (Instagram)


Stacy London (Instagram)


Dr. Jen Gunter

Books


“Inconceivable, 20th Anniversary Edition: A Woman's Triumph over Despair and Statistics,” by Julia Indichova


“Dare I Say It: Everything I Wish I'd Known About Menopause,” by Naomi Watts“The New Perimenopause,” by Dr. Mary Claire Haver


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This week on unPaused, Dr. Mary Claire Haver sits down with Cindy Eckert, founder and CEO of Sprout Pharmaceuticals and creator of Addyi, the first FDA approved treatment for low libido in women. Cindy is a pharmaceutical entrepreneur who began her career at Merck before founding her first company in 2007, focusing on undermarketed FDA approved products. After successfully building and selling a male sexual health company, she became the only woman running a sexual health company and witnessed firsthand the stark contrast between how medicine treats male versus female sexual dysfunction. Her journey to bring Addyi to market became a cultural battle about whether women's sexual desire matters, leading to two FDA rejections, public hearings, and ultimately a historic approval in 2015 after a six year fight.

In this conversation, Dr. Haver and Cindy explore how Addyi works differently from Viagra, targeting brain chemistry and desire rather than blood flow and arousal. Cindy explains that Addyi is a mood drug originally developed for depression that showed an unexpected effect on female libido during clinical trials. The medication works on neurotransmitters in the brain, building over approximately eight weeks to restore spontaneous thoughts, fantasies, and desire in women with hypoactive sexual desire disorder or HSDD. She walks through the massive clinical trial requirements, including 13,000 patients compared to Viagra's 4,000, and the three things they had to prove with statistical significance versus placebo: increased interest in sex, more satisfying sexual experiences, and decreased distress from the condition.

ADDYI, flibanserin, is for women <65 with low sexual desire disorder who have not had problems with low sexual desire in the past, and who have low sexual desire that is troubling to them no matter the type of sexual activity, situation, or sexual partner. The low sexual desire is not due to a medical or mental health problem, problems in the relationship or medicine or other drug use. ADDYI is not for men or to enhance sexual performance.

Your risk of severe low blood pressure and fainting is increased if you drink 1-2 standard alcoholic drinks close in time to your ADDYI dose. Wait at least 2 hours after one to two drinks before taking ADDYI at bedtime and skip your dose if you drink three or more drinks that evening. If you take certain prescription, OTC or herbal medications, or have liver problems, the risk of low blood pressure and fainting increases and you should not take ADDYI.   Do not take if you are allergic to any of ADDYI’s ingredients. Sometimes serious sleepiness can occur. Common side effects include dizziness, nausea, tiredness, difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep and dry mouth. See PI and Boxed Warning at addyi.com/piGuest links:


Cindy Eckert 


Cindy Eckert (Instagram)

Recommended Books:


“Mars and Venus in the Bedroom: A Guide to Lasting Romance and Passion,” by John Gray

Articles:


Women with hypoactive sexual desire disorder compared to normal females: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study (Neuroscience)


Sexual Dysfunction Induced by Antidepressants—A Pharmacovigilance Study Using Data from VigiBaseTM (Pharmaceuticals)


Enhancing Sexual Health for Cancer Survivors (Symptom Science And Palliative Care)


Flibanserin Approval: Facts or Feelings? (Sexual Medicine)


Clinical trial evidence supporting FDA approval of novel therapeutic agents, 2005-2012 (JAMA)

Other Resources:


Addyi


What is Patient-Focused Drug Development?


International Society for the Study of Women's Sexual Health (ISSWSH)


FDA Expands Approval of Flibanserin for Postmenopausal Women’s Sexual Health (Drug Topics)


A Pill for Sexual Desire Reaches a New Group of Women (TIME Magazine)Drug Trials Snapshots Summary Report 2024 (FDA)


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An estimated 7.2 million Americans age 65 and older are currently living with Alzheimer's dementia. The part that should alarm every woman listening is this: almost two thirds of them are women.

In this episode, Dr. Mary Claire Haver sits down with neurophysiologist and Alzheimer's researcher Dr. Louisa Nicola to unpack what's really happening to women's brains during perimenopause and menopause and what we can do about it. Louisa Nicola is a neurophysiologist, human performance coach, and founder of Neuro Athletics, a consulting firm that works with elite athletes and high-level professionals to optimize brain health and performance. A former world class triathlete, she transitioned into neuroscience and earned her Master of Medicine in neurophysiology from the University of Sydney. Dr. Nicola is currently pursuing her doctorate studying the effects of resistance exercise on brain health. She focuses on optimizing brain function and longevity, particularly in women, through sleep, nutrition, and exercise interventions.

Dr. Nicola reveals how Alzheimer's disease doesn't suddenly appear at 70 but starts quietly in our thirties and forties, building up over a 30-year progression. She explains what's happening in the brain as amyloid beta proteins and tau tangles accumulate, why the hippocampus is the first area to go, and the critical role that sleep plays in clearing these proteins through the glymphatic system. The conversation explores why women are more predisposed to tau protein accumulation than men and how estrogen, progesterone, and prolactin inhibit the enzyme that causes tau proteins to become hyperphosphorylated and toxic. Dr. Nicola explains the connection between declining estrogen during perimenopause and increased Alzheimer's risk, including how estrogen helps mediate glucose metabolism in the brain, supports synaptic connections, and why the loss of this hormonal scaffolding leaves women vulnerable to cognitive decline.

Guest links:

Louisa Nicola (Instagram)

Louisa Nicola (Facebook)

Louisa Nicola, MMed, PhD(c) (LinkedIn)

Louisa Nicola (YouTube)

Louisa Nicola (X)

Neuro Athletics

The Neuro Experience Podcast (Apple Podcasts)

The Brain Code

Books

“Joyspan,” by Dr. Kerry Burnight

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