Galena Innovations

On February 13 & 14 this year the healthcare innovation community is coming together again in Boston for Reproductive Health Innovation Summit. Each year the 2-day event invites selected startups to pitch their solutions in front of industry leaders and investors. Just recently the finalists, who were selected by 10 leading VCs in the space, were announced. Check them out below! NUA SURGICAL Dionysus Digital Health Vitala Global Foundation MEDICEM Celeste Grain Fertility (Techstars 2023) NOMA AI May Health Galena Innovations Freya Biosciences Women's Health Innovation Series #femtech #womenshealth #womenshealthinnovation #health #healthcare #healthtech #digitalhealth #medtech #medicaldevices #biotech #pharma #vc #venturecapital #pitch #pitchevent #conference

🚀✨ Exciting Day at SheTech with W.IN! ✨🚀 This week, I had the incredible opportunity to share my passion for innovation as I taught a class on inventing at SheTech, a phenomenal program organized by W.IN (women-innovators.org). This initiative is dedicated to inspiring and empowering high school girls to explore STEM careers—a cause very close to my heart. What made it even more special was having my daughter and my mom as my sidekicks. Seeing my daughter interact with the amazing women who are trailblazing in STEM and having my mom’s continued support for my crazy life choices left me filled with hope and gratitude. 🌟 Growing up, I would have cherished an opportunity like SheTech, and witnessing the positive change in the landscape for young girls today is truly inspiring. The impact these programs have on shaping the future of STEM is immeasurable, and I'm honored to have played a small part in it. A huge shoutout to W.IN for their dedication to fostering the next generation of women innovators. Let's continue to support and encourage young minds to explore, create, and lead in the world of STEM! 🌐💡 #SheTech #WomenInSTEM #Innovation #NextGenLeaders Grateful for the positive change and looking forward to a future where every aspiring girl has access to such inspiring opportunities! 🚀💖

So excited to be a panelist and to have been chosen as an Innovation Showcase finalist at the Reproductive Health Innovation Summit in Boston in two weeks! Hope to see you there!

IU Health Bloomington Hospital was just named among best hospitals for maternity care in 2023 & 2024! I am so proud of them! I started in labor and delivery as a freshly-minted nurse there in 2007. I didn't even know what it meant to spike an IV bag! They taught me everything I know and I am forever grateful for the nurse-mamas that made me what I am today--Samantha Sweatman, Kathy Sweatman, & Michaela Ellett (among others). I am so thankful to come from good stock. Their hard work and dedication shows! https://lnkd.in/eyy6X3Qn

Happy World Prematurity Day! Did you see the stats that were published last week? For the first time in over 20 years, neonatal mortality increased. Not the most uplifting statistic. For the last sixty years, we have been focused on saving babies—which has been proven to be life-changing for families—while ignoring the fact that spontaneous preterm birth keeps increasing. We’ve been focused on the aftermath of preterm birth, the biggest contributor to neonatal mortality, rather than focusing on keeping them safely in the womb in the first place—even though we know, without a doubt, that the safest place for a preterm baby to grow is in the environment only a healthy mother can provide. Don’t get me wrong. We should be caring for these babies as best we can. But ignoring the cause is what allowed these statistics to catch up with us. For a myriad of reasons (THAT onion is going to take a while to peel), there has not been any significant changes in the way we care for at-risk families since the 1950’s. Aside from medications that don’t work and cause harm, all other current and potential (yes, people are still trying this) treatments focus on compressing the cervix, something that only breaks down the cervical tissue and leads to cervical change, culminating in birth. We even have labor INDUCTION techniques that utilize this method (can anyone say Cook Balloon?). One day, this patient came into the hospital where I worked she delivered a baby that was too young to survive, and I said to myself “why are we trying to compress the cervix when we know it doesn’t work?” And that was a turning point for me. I’ve watched this happen too many times. Galena Innovations is going after this because it MATTERS. It matters to moms, it matters families, it matters to communities. This is my why! https://lnkd.in/gVnvzvRf https://lnkd.in/gU__9DAi

So honored to be featured in my Alma Matter's Alumni magazine recently! Northwest Nazarene University had a huge impact on my life for the better. Go Night Hawks! https://lnkd.in/eEtfGNvr

22 years ago today, I was a senior in high school & watched on tv what I thought was a crazy accident. 15 minutes into the start of first period, we knew this was no accident. Weeks prior, I announced I was going to photography school. My mom said this was not happening 🙄. She asked me if there was anything else I’d rather do. I responded “Maybe be a nurse or something.” She ordered me to the car & said, “What kind of nurse do you want to be?” I said, “maybe one that delivers babies.”—I have no idea why. Soon, we were pulling into an OBGYN’s office. She told me I had to ask for a job 🙄🙄. I said something intelligent, like “My mom says I have to ask you for a job.” I was hired on the spot. During the second half of the school day, I worked at the office & my first day of work happened to be 9/11/01. That day, I learned 2 things about myself: 1.    I had to be ready to help in a time of crisis—it is part of my being. 2.    I will always be with women and children—they are my life’s work. 20 years later, I worked for the Army as a labor nurse in Germany. I woke up on 8/20/21 to mass texts—an emergency at work. I threw on some clothes & headed in. Working for a military hospital, you receive training for explosions, biological warfare, battles, & more. A labor nurse’s skills aren’t always helpful, but I’m used to treating people in shock & hemorrhage, know how to act quickly, & run an OR, so they use us anyway. I wasn’t sure what I would be walking into, nor could I have guessed that I would be working the next 11 days in a row for 15 hours a day, working overtime for months. We were told 13,000 people were landing from Afghanistan within the next 10 days, many pregnant or just having had a baby. We didn’t know their condition or needs. We prepped our unit to become two units—one in a tent on a tarmac & one where we were currently working. I loaded up my minivan with supplies & nurses & headed to the flight line. These families were cold, tired, hungry, & in many cases arrived with nothing—not even shoes. Many told us they had been running for days. Many arrived with injuries. We did our best to render clothes, food, blankets, shelter, & medical aide & much of what we supplied came from our own homes, surround communities, & families back home (thank you again, Mom!) We spent time with kids picking flowers, racing box cars, playing soccer & drawing. A dear friend delivered a baby on the back of a plane! One night, our camp flooded as we tried to keep our supplies, & precious people dry. A few hours later, a man handed me his baby that hadn’t eaten in 8 hours. I spent a few hours rocking him to sleep & eventually got him to eat. We couldn’t find the child’s mother. What was supposed to be 13K people turned out to be 120K—quite a lot for our community of 54K. As fate would have it, I spent 9/11/21 serving my country, & taking care of women & children. I am so grateful for the inspiration of a mom—it forever changed the course of my life!