When people think of women’s health, the first thing that comes to mind is often pregnancy and reproductive issues. This, however, is a misconception that Aeka Guru YC ’25 is working to change.
Guru grew up in Bangalore, India, where her early experiences volunteering in free clinics introduced her to the disparities that women face in healthcare. “There was a big lack of female doctors working in the clinic, and often, female patients would be hesitant to talk to male doctors about reproductive issues and other sensitive topics, which led to them not receiving adequate care,” Guru said.
Since then, Guru has advocated for women’s health in numerous ways. In high school, she started a club called Cup for Change, which taught people how to use menstrual cups and promoted sustainable, cost-effective menstruation. “We held fundraisers to donate reusable pads and menstrual cups to those who couldn’t afford them at the time because of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Guru said. “That was where I first learned the level of disparity that exists in access to resources for menstrual health and hygiene.”
In addition to directly working with populations in need, Guru was also involved in menstrual health policy as a Leadership in Global Health Fellow at the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) this past summer. She helped draft a desk review about the impacts of climate change on menstrual health and hygiene, an important but overlooked topic in climate-related policy. Changing temperatures and natural disasters can disproportionately affect women and their access to necessities, including clean water. “Water scarcity is a direct consequence of climate change in many regions, and if women don’t have access to clean water, they either go without it or use unclean water, which can lead to reproductive tract infections,” Guru said.
As a research assistant at the Yale School of Medicine, Guru works in the Kliman Laboratory, which researches the genetic basis of recurrent pregnancy loss. She talks to women about their experiences with miscarriages, which is often a highly sensitive topic. From these experiences, she has learned the value of empathy as a source of comfort to patients. “When I said, ‘I’m sorry you experienced that,’ a lot of women told me, ‘No one in research or healthcare has ever said that to me,’” Guru said. Guru also helps to facilitate meaningful conversations as an Education Director at the HAVEN Free Clinic, which provides free healthcare to residents of New Haven. Guru and her team of volunteers give tailored advice and recommendations regarding diet and lifestyle to patients, many of whom have underlying health conditions and hope to lead healthier lives.
Since August 2023, Guru has been an undergraduate research fellow at Women’s Health Research at Yale. She works with faculty and physicians at the Yale School of Medicine to incorporate more information on women’s health and the effects of sex and gender into the medical school curriculum. “By studying the ways that sex and gender influence health, everyone can get better healthcare,” Guru said. Sex and gender affect how people respond to medications and present disease symptoms, so research and education must be cognizant of these differences as science and medicine continue to advance.
In the future, Guru plans to attend medical school while continuing to advocate for the integration of sex and gender differences into medical education. She hopes to apply her experiences in healthcare and advocacy to her future practice as an informed, approachable clinician. “I hope that as an aspiring physician, I can provide care that is educational and gives patients the autonomy to make decisions about their own bodies,” Guru said.
While Guru is pursuing healthcare, she strongly believes that women’s health is not limited to the medical field. People in all areas—from writing to media to public health—can assume crucial roles in advocating for women’s health. “We need people working in media, policy, public health, law, and other fields to create systems and policies that are conducive to the health of women,” Guru said. Rather than viewing women’s health as a polarized, political issue, she hopes that people can begin to understand its importance to global and public health.