The Investing in Women Founders: Addressing the Gender Health Gap event, held on 12 March 2025 at Murray Edwards College, Cambridge, brought together thought leaders, investors, and entrepreneurs to discuss the critical need for funding and innovation in women’s health. Organised by Diversity UK in partnership with Greenwoods LLP and Murray Edwards College, the event formed part of the annual International Women’s Day (IWD) celebrations and aimed to #AccelerateAction in tackling gender disparities in healthcare and investment.
A Powerful Start: Tai Chi and Reflections on Entrepreneurship
The evening began with an engaging Tai Chi demonstration led by Faustina Yang of Chinese Women in Peterborough, offering attendees a moment of calm before the evening’s discussions. Dorothy Byrne, President of Murray Edwards College, followed with an insightful introduction to the venue, highlighting the college’s longstanding commitment to supporting women’s education and the launch of its Enterprising Women programme, designed to foster entrepreneurship among female postgraduates and researchers at the University of Cambridge.
Francesca Jus-Burke of Greenwoods LLP then spoke about the firm’s role in supporting female founders in Cambridge, underlining the importance of accessible legal and financial expertise in helping women-led startups thrive.
The Gender Health Gap: A Stark Reality
Lopa Patel MBE, Chair of Diversity UK, set the stage for the evening’s panel discussion by sharing sobering statistics on gender disparities in healthcare and investment. Citing a 2024 report by the McKinsey Health Institute, she noted that women spend 25% more of their lives in poor health compared to men, with this disparity limiting both their economic participation and overall well-being. More significantly, addressing these health gaps could inject at least $1 trillion annually into the global economy by 2040.
She further highlighted the chronic underfunding of women’s health research, revealing that only 1% of UK healthcare research funding is allocated to women’s health outside of oncology. She stressed that “doing nothing is not an option” and emphasised the need for urgent investment in women’s health innovations and startups.
Moderated by Lopa Patel MBE, the panel featured leading voices in healthtech and investment:
- Dr Avi Mehra, Co-Founder, Doctorpreneurs
- Dr Elsa Zekeng, Founder, Soker Data
- Hanadi Jabado DL, Managing Partner, Sana Capital
- Jiahao Huang, Founder, Nuclera
The discussion tackled some of the most pressing questions facing women’s health entrepreneurs today, including the research gap in women-specific conditions such as endometriosis and cardiovascular disease. Dr Mehra spoke about the urgent need for prioritised research funding, while Dr Zekeng highlighted how SokerData is using data-driven approaches to improve healthcare outcomes, particularly for underrepresented communities.
On the investment front, Hanadi Jabado outlined key challenges in securing funding for healthtech startups, stressing the importance of targeted investment frameworks to support women founders. Jiahao Huang, reflecting on his journey with Nuclera, shared insights on scaling healthtech innovations and breaking down barriers to entry in the sector.
Key Discussions: Closing the Gap in Women’s Health
During the discussion, the panellists shared powerful insights into the challenges and opportunities in addressing the gender health gap:
Dr Avi Mehra stated, “We live in the world of large language models, agentic AI, generative AI, so from my perspective, one way to address the Gender Health Gap is to focus on data; debiasing the data and ensuring we train our AI on good and complete data. This is how we might rectify many years of data bias. We cannot risk data bias being cemented into future healthcare models.”
Dr Elsa Zekeng added, “As a researcher, particularly for personalised therapeutics, 95% of data I am currently working with has been derived from white, male subjects. Clearly, lived experience is important when building medical devices and therapies, so it is important for more diverse and richer data sets to emerge, which is what my start-up Soker Data is focusing on delivering.”
Hanadi Jabado DL highlighted, “Health tech data is being collected by devices in hordes, but there is a disconnect – many of the therapies being developed are unable to access this data. Most of the reason is about accessibility – between people and data. We are spearheading a revolution with the Enterprising Women programme, supporting women founders and women investors.”
Jiahao Huang shared his experience, “I have grown Nuclera, a life sciences company, having raised over £120 million in funding and employing over 100 people, so we are well poised to scale significantly. Having been through the fundraising journey, the majority of investors I have seen are men. There is an inherent bias in the system – the decision-makers in the space are mostly men – so there is a gap in understanding about the viability of the business model and the market it is addressing. The gender imbalance in the financial sector is exacerbating the problem, so I am fully supportive of actions that focus on women founders and women investors.”
Tech Showcase: Spotlight on Women Innovators
One of the highlights of the evening was the Tech Showcase, where three remarkable female founders presented their ground-breaking ventures:
Elsa Zekeng, Founder of Soker Data delivered an impressive pitch, advocating for investment in data solutions that improve equity in clinical trials.
Lorna Maclean, CEO & Founder of Demetria, shed light on the staggering 9-year average wait for an endometriosis diagnosis in the UK, emphasising the urgent need for AI-driven diagnostics to improve women’s health outcomes.
Shefali Bohra, Co-Founder of Dot Plot, showcased how her startup has progressed from concept to an MVP-ready product aimed at early breast cancer detection, now moving into clinical trials.
A Call to Action: Investing in Women Founders
The event concluded with reflections from Ramesh Vala CBE, Deputy Chair of Diversity UK, who reiterated the importance of sustained investment in women-led ventures. Attendees were encouraged to continue the conversation, explore collaboration opportunities, and advocate for greater funding in women’s health innovation.
As the evening drew to a close, one message remained clear: the gender health gap is not just a women’s issue – it is an economic, social, and moral imperative. With initiatives like Investing in Women Founders and the newly launched Enterprising Women programme at Murray Edwards College, there is hope that momentum will continue to build in bridging this gap.
For more information on Diversity UK and its ongoing initiatives, see below:
About Diversity UK
Diversity UK is a charity whose mission is to improve equality and inclusion in Britain. We do this by: informing and educating the public about equality and inclusion initiatives, particularly in relation to race diversity; holding public bodies to account about the appointment of ethnic minority individuals to senior positions in the public sector and by promoting greater diversity in the tech sector in Britain. Diversity UK has achieved many successes over the years, including:
● Publishing a flagship ‘Beyond the Glass Ceiling’ Research Report in 2013.
● Participating in 4 Reviews including the McGregor-Smith ‘Race in the Workplace’ Review.
● Establishing the annual Paul Stephenson lecture on race equality.
● Devising and leading the Asians in Tech initiative over the past decade.
● Supporting 160 industry events; organising 38 events; celebrating 14 IWD events & 2 Summits.
Diversity UK is a registered charity (No: 1155189) in England & Wales. For further information, visit https://diversityuk.org/
About Greenwoods
Not an identikit law firm
Greenwoods is a law firm that invests in the stories of its clients. We work with real people, doing remarkable things across a variety of situations.
Connecting with people is critical to everything we do. Our brand highlights our ability, willingness and desire to combine a feeling of professional integrity with a genuine affinity for (and curiosity about) people and what they do.
As lawyers, we dedicate ourselves to providing advice and support that positively impacts the people who need us. One of the areas we focus on is helping early-stage founders and entrepreneurs, just starting out, create thriving, growing businesses. We recognise how unbelievably hard it is for women to raise money in the current start-up climate, and we want to do our part to facilitate the process by giving women the bespoke advice they need to make fundraising a success.
As lawyers and women, we value personal relationships and believe they are crucial to every aspect of our business: externally, with clients, contacts, and winning work, and internally, within and across teams and offices. We will take the time to talk through and understand your business, and you as the founder. We will give you tailored advice and support that reflects both our understanding of your business and our extensive experience.
Find out more about us on our website at: http://www.greenwoods.co.uk
About Murray Edwards College Cambridge
Murray Edwards College, founded in 1954, is a Cambridge college dedicated to educating women from diverse backgrounds. Originally New Hall, it began with 16 students in a borrowed building, driven by a vision to expand opportunities for women. Over 70 years, it has grown into a thriving institution with iconic buildings, stunning gardens, and Europe’s largest collection of art by women. Renamed to honour its first President, Rosemary Murray, and alumna Ros Edwards, whose £30 million donation secured its future, the college continues its mission.
Welcoming over 100 female undergraduates annually, Murray Edwards offers outstanding education with personalised support. While prioritising women, it warmly includes men in its community. Known for its informal, collaborative, and supportive environment, it empowers students to think boldly and be themselves.
About the Enterprising Women programme
Murray Edwards College, in partnership with AstraZeneca, has unveiled the Enterprising Women programme to support female entrepreneurs at Cambridge University. This initiative offers mentorship, expert advice, and tailored support to women in early-stage ventures, with a focus on life sciences and board diversity.
Key elements include SheStarts for aspiring innovators, SheSoars for recent alumnae-led start-ups, and SheScales for advisors, investors, and growth-stage ventures. AstraZeneca and other partners will provide mentors and resources to accelerate impact. The programme aims to address the gender gap in entrepreneurship, where women receive just 2% of venture capital.
For further information, visit https://www.murrayedwards.cam.ac.uk/