Episode
Menopause, Healthcare Access, and the Myth of Having It All with Dr. Sharon Malone
- Published
- Jan 30, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 3200
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Summary
Can you really "have it all"? Dr. Sharon Malone OB-GYN, New York Times bestselling author of Grown Woman Talk , and Chief Medical Advisor at Alloy Health joins me for an honest conversation about what it really takes to balance medicine, motherhood, and everything in between. Dr. Malone and I talk about the things we don't usually say out loud. How do you balance being a great doctor, a present parent, and a supportive partner when society tells you to excel at all three simultaneously? Dr. Malone practiced medicine before and after the Women's Health Initiative, so she has a unique perspective on how hormone therapy went from being standard care to being feared and how that fear disproportionately affected women of color. We discuss why only 1% of Black women who are eligible for hormone therapy are actually on it, despite suffering the longest and most severe menopausal symptoms. We also talk about her work with Alloy Health, her new podcast The Second Opinion , and why she believes menopause is inevitable but suffering is not. Plus, we get into the uncomfortable truth about medical racism, implicit bias, and why your gut feeling matters more than your doctor's ego. Highlights Give yourself grace in midlife perimenopause decreases your coping threshold for everything you're already juggling. Women of color carry the weight of representing their entire group, not just themselves, which adds invisible pressure. Diversity in healthcare leadership literally changes what research gets funded and what treatments get offered. Only 1% of Black women eligible for hormone therapy are actually on it, despite having more severe and longer-lasting symptoms. The "adipose tissue theory" that Black women don't need hormones because they make more estrogen on their own is completely…