This episode marks the launch of One on One with Anushay, a new series born out of this moment, when staying quiet is no longer an option. While women’s health remains at the center of this show, the crises unfolding around us demand that we zoom out, get informed, and begin organizing together across movements.

Joined by Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action and author of Fired Up, for a raw and urgent conversation about why being labeled “too political” is not a liability, but a responsibility. Shannon unpacks the pressure women face to stay silent, the myth that neutrality is safety, and why silence, especially from those with privilege, only reinforces systems that harm the most vulnerable.

We talk about Minnesota as a wake-up call, the dangerous illusion that someone else will save us, and what history teaches us about power, privilege, and consequences. Shannon shares hard truths about organizing, accountability, and why real change has never come from politeness but from collective action that risks comfort and demands more.

This conversation is a reminder that politics is already shaping our lives, whether we engage or not. And that the only way forward is together, using our voices, our skills, and our willingness to show up.

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Shannon Watts

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To learn more about Anushay Hossain's work, check out Anushay's website or sign up for her substack. To continue the conversation, feel free to DM @anushayhossain or email me at thepaingap@gmail.com

What if the most damaging phrase in modern healthcare isn’t “it’s all in your head,” but “your labs are normal”?

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Efrat Lamandre (Dr. E), a nurse practitioner, integrative medicine expert, and self-described “medical disruptor”, to talk about the space most of us live in but the system doesn’t know how to treat: not sick enough to code, but too unwell to ignore.

Dr. E breaks down why medicine becomes so binary, either conventional or “alternative”, and why she’s built her work around the medical middle ground: evidence-based care that doesn’t stop at protocols, and holistic approaches that don’t require abandoning science. Together, they unpack how the healthcare system incentivizes diagnosis over prevention, why nurse practitioners are essential to closing America’s primary care gap, and how policies that limit nursing education don’t just hurt providers, they deepen health deserts for everyone.

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Dr. Efrat Lamandre

The Pain Gap

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To learn more about Anushay Hossain's work, check out Anushay's website or sign up for her substack. To continue the conversation, feel free to DM @anushayhossain or email me at thepaingap@gmail.com

This week on The Pain Gap, we sit down with Samantha Hadadi, women’s health and hormone coach and author of Hormone Goddess: How to Live in Harmony with Your Cycle, for a grounded, honest conversation about what hormone health actually looks like in real life. Samantha shares how years of heavy periods, cystic acne, insomnia, anxiety, miscarriage, and PTSD led her to connect the dots between chronic stress, trauma, and hormonal symptoms, and why “doing everything right” still isn’t enough when the nervous system is overwhelmed.

In this episode, we break down the infradian rhythm and why most wellness advice, built around male biology and circadian rhythms, misses the mark for women. We explore cycle syncing as a practical tool (not a perfection project), how hormonal needs shift across the four phases of the cycle, and why pushing through fatigue, pain, and burnout is often the very thing keeping women stuck. Samantha also speaks candidly about rest as a trauma issue, the power of micro-moments of care, why you can’t out-supplement sleep or safety, and how learning to say no can be one of the most radical health decisions a woman makes.

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The Pain Gap

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To learn more about Anushay Hossain's work, check out Anushay's website or sign up for her substack. To continue the conversation, feel free to DM @anushayhossain or email me at thepaingap@gmail.com

This week on The Pain Gap, we sit down with trauma therapist Allison Kirvan, whose work centers on trauma, EMDR, complex PTSD, and the often invisible emotional patterns that shape our adult lives. Allison helps clients untangle childhood dynamics, understand their nervous systems, and rebuild a sense of safety and self-worth, especially for those who grew up navigating chaos, gaslighting, or emotionally immature parents.

In this conversation, we dig into some of the most misunderstood aspects of healing: why therapy isn’t for “broken people,” how two individuals can experience the same event but walk away with entirely different trauma responses, and what really distinguishes trauma, PTSD, and complex PTSD. Allison also breaks down EMDR in a way everyone can understand, sheds light on nervous system regulation, and shares how everyday “little-t” traumas, microaggressions, chronic criticism, and emotional dismissal accumulate over time. We also talk about identity, culture, and the ways our backgrounds influence how safe we feel in therapy. And Allison offers powerful guidance for anyone who’s tried therapy before and felt like it “didn’t work” and what it really takes to find the right fit.

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To learn more about Anushay Hossain's work, check out Anushay's website or sign up for her substack. To continue the conversation, feel free to DM @anushayhossain or email me at thepaingap@gmail.com

Dr. Sheryl A. Ross, aka “Dr. Sherry”—Ob/Gyn, author, and health expert—has been a fierce advocate for women’s health and reproductive rights for over 30 years. Her book, She-ology: The Definitive Guide to Women’s Intimate Health. Period and she-ology, the she-quel, Let’s Continue the Conversation, were all award-winning bestsellers in women’s health. She co-hosts the highly anticipated podcast Pair-a-Docs: Two Experts. Zero Filters with renowned sex therapist Dr. Tammy Nelson, launching Winter 2026. Dr Sherry is the Chief Medical Officer for Menopause Hormone Therapy for QuickMD, a telehealth platform that launched in October 2025. She is launching Oneself by Dr Sherry, an intimate skincare line, in 2026.

At the core of what Dr Sherry is most passionate about is educating, destigmatizing, and changing the narrative about how people take care of their bodies.

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To learn more about Anushay Hossain's work, check out Anushay's website or sign up for her substack. To continue the conversation, feel free to DM @anushayhossain or email me at thepaingap@gmail.com

Dr. Alopi Patel and Dr. Meera Kirpekar, better known to their patients and followers as the Female Pain Docs, are anesthesiologists and pain medicine specialists who met during training and quickly realized they shared more than just a career path. They shared a mission to make women’s pain visible, measurable, and treatable. Together, they founded The Female Pain Docs, a platform dedicated to education, advocacy, and innovation in women’s pain medicine, particularly in the area of chronic pelvic pain.

In this episode, we talk about what it means to be women, and women of color, n a field that is 87% male, how gender and cultural stigma still silence women in pain, and why pelvic pain remains one of the most under-diagnosed and undertreated conditions in medicine Dr. Patel and Dr. Kirpekaralso discuss their pioneering use of interventional therapies, from nerve blocks to neuromodulation, and how education and empathy are as essential as any procedure.

We explore why women’s pain is still dismissed as “psychological,” how centuries of bias continue to shape diagnosis and treatment, and what needs to change in both policy and medical training to ensure women are believed. From cultural taboos to systemic failures, this conversation is a powerful reminder that women’s pain is not invisible, inevitable, or imaginary—it’s data that deserves to be studied and treated with urgency.

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The Pain Gap

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To learn more about Anushay Hossain's work, check out Anushay's website or sign up for her substack. To continue the conversation, feel free to DM @anushayhossain or email me at thepaingap@gmail.com

Alex Taylor, Co-Founder of Perelel, the first OB/GYN-founded vitamin company built to support women through every hormonal stage from preconception to perimenopause. After being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease in her twenties and facing her own fertility challenges, Alex realized how deeply the women’s health research gap fails patients. She turned that frustration into action—building a clinically backed supplement brand designed by doctors, not marketers, and advocating for systemic change through research funding and policy reform. We discuss why less than 8% of NIH funding is allocated to women’s health, how policy and celebrity storytelling can foster genuine awareness, and what it takes to establish trust in an unregulated wellness industry. Alex also shares her journey from Vogue to vitamins, the power of persistence, and how she’s helping redefine what comprehensive care for women should look like.

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The Pain Gap

Perelel Health

To learn more about Anushay Hossain's work, check out Anushay's website or sign up for her substack. To continue the conversation, feel free to DM @anushayhossain or email me at thepaingap@gmail.com

Dr. Deborah Heiser is an applied developmental psychologist, TEDx speaker, and founder of The Mentor Project, whose work redefines what life after 40 looks and feels like. A researcher, professor, and award-winning author, Deborah has spent her career studying aging, depression identification, dementia, and the emotional milestones of midlife—including the one most women are never prepared for: menopause. Her mission is to replace silence and shame with community, clarity, and agency.

In this episode of The Pain Gap, we talk about why 90% of women are blindsided by menopause, how “lateral mentorship” (peer-to-peer guidance) can be life-saving, and what it means to treat menopause not as an ending but as a transition—our “second puberty.” Deborah explains the developmental psychology behind midlife generativity, the power of celebrity disclosure (and its limits), and practical ways to build support at home, at work, and online. We also dig into identity shifts, empty nest feelings, and the surprising freedoms many women report post-menopause—less people-pleasing, more purpose.

If you’ve ever felt alone, gaslit, or unsure how to name what your body is doing, this conversation is your handbook for turning hush into help—and finding your circle.

In this episode, we cover:

• The silence problem: why menopause remains taboo and how denial flourishes when no one talks about symptoms.
• “Second puberty”: reframing perimenopause/menopause as a developmental transition, not a decline.
• Lateral mentorship: how peer-to-peer storytelling (friends, podcasts, trusted sites) spreads accurate info fast.
• Community as medicine: why early, honest conversations (start by 40!) reduce fear, stigma, and isolation.
• Identity in midlife: navigating empty nest, shifting purpose, and the generativity drive to give back.
• Post-menopause power: fewer people-pleasing, tighter circles, and directing your impact with intention.
• Workplaces that get it: what HR, managers, and teams can do to support employees through symptoms and care.
• Building your bench: how to find (and be) mentors at work, in community groups, and online.
• Aging with purpose: creating your own “boxes,” choosing where to invest time, and living with vim, vigor, and fun.

Episode Resources:

The Pain Gap

Dr. Deborah Heiser

To learn more about Anushay Hossain's work, check out Anushay's website or sign up for her substack. To continue the conversation, feel free to DM @anushayhossain or email me at thepaingap@gmail.com