Building what midlife women have been going without.
Menopause and midlife health is MEL's first market. This page is for health funders, research partners and organizations working on women's health outcomes.
The problem
Products for midlife women rarely make it out of an idea.
The research base is thin
Menopause, perimenopause, sleep, cognition, pain and recovery in midlife women have been studied far less than other areas, so founders build with less evidence to work from.
Products stall before production
A founder can design something good and still have nowhere to test it, make it at real volume or document results a buyer will accept.
Funding follows proof
Without validation and production capacity, a woman led health product cannot show the evidence investors and procurement teams ask for.
The women affected are working
Midlife women are carrying jobs, caregiving and their own health at the same time, often in rural areas with limited services nearby.
Our response
Research, evidence, production and market access for one group of women first.
Research with the women it is for
Studies are designed with midlife women, including civilian women, female veterans and military women, so what gets developed answers a real need.
Evidence that stands up
Structured testing and documented results, prepared for review by institutions, funders, buyers and regulators. Non diagnostic, with qualified professionals involved.
Female founders build it
Women developing products, services and technologies get lab space, equipment, production runs and commercialization support in one place.
It reaches people
Commercialization support carries a validated product to employers, health organizations, distributors and retail, so it is available rather than shelved.
Research areas
Where the first work is focused.
- Perimenopause and menopause
- Sleep and recovery
- Cognitive and emotional wellbeing
- Nutrition and nourishment
- Work, shift and caregiving patterns
- Pain, mobility and daily function
- Environmental influences on symptoms
- Product and service use over time
Why MEL
Led by a woman who has lived the gap she is building for.
The MEL Collective is female founded and led. MEL Simmonds is a deaf creator, product developer and rural Newfoundlander who has navigated caregiving, midlife health and systems that were never designed with women like her in mind. That experience is the reason MEL starts with midlife women rather than treating them as a later market.