Frankie Shelton is leveraging technology and personalized interventions to address women’s health, specifically the health needs of perimenopausal women
Dedicating her career and education to gender equity and advancing women’s health, Frankie Shelton, a second-year student in the University of Washington’s Executive Master of Health Administration (EMHA) program, received a Fulbright UCL (University College London) Entrepreneurship Award to continue her passion. This award covers the expenses of attaining a Master of Entrepreneurship at UCL.
Addressing gaps in women’s health care with HerHeartCo
While in the program, Shelton will further develop innovation in women’s health care, specifically with HerHeartCo, an organization she co-founded. “The HerHeartCo platform is a groundbreaking approach, addressing the health needs of perimenopausal women by leveraging cutting-edge technology and personalized interventions,” Shelton describes. She adds, “Due to women’s historic dismissal from clinical research because of their hormonal irregularity, we are in an epistemic drought when it comes to understanding women’s physiology.”
In collaboration with the UW iSchool, HerHeartCo has progressed significantly, and by the end of the Fulbright program, Shelton hopes to relaunch the platform as a health care technology prepared for clinical use with continued research on its impact.
Extensive experience in women’s health and clinical nutrition
Prior to pursuing her MHA, Shelton worked for a decade as a clinical nutritionist and attained her bachelor’s degree in Women’s Studies with a minor in Social Work. As a nutritionist, she worked predominantly with women.
“I have heard their stories of dismissal and missed early warning signs for all of these years, and I now feel able to bring their voices into the conversation around what is missing in the care journey for women.”
Frankie Shelton
Building the foundation for success
The UW EMHA program and the department of Graduate Fellowships and Awards were foundational in preparing Shelton for the application process. The mentorship and encouragement received from faculty and staff kept her hopeful throughout the lengthy application and interview process. “The EMHA program also reminded me of my love of writing and taught me the foundations of clinical research, both of which will be amazing assets in this next chapter,” Shelton reflects.
Shelton will begin the program in September of 2024 along with 65 other students. “I feel this is a significant win for women’s health and feel very honored to be the one on the ground for this life changing experience,” she says. “The EMHA program taught me that I am a disruptor of the norm which, early on, I found distasteful, but now find empowering.”