Menopause, Misogyny and the Medical System: Dr Sharon Malone Sets the Record Straight

9 snips

Dec 9, 2025

Dr. Sharon Malone, a dedicated women's health advocate and Chief Medical Advisor at Alloy Women's Health, joins the conversation with insights on reshaping menopause care. She exposes the medical system's historical failures, such as outdated studies that misrepresented hormone therapy risks. Dr. Malone discusses the generational effects of these misconceptions and emphasizes the urgent need for informed menopause treatment. With a focus on advocacy and patient empowerment, she encourages women to seek second opinions and challenge the status quo.

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ANECDOTE

Childhood Loss Shaped Her Mission

Sharon Malone described losing her mother at 12 from metastatic colon cancer due to lack of access and delayed care.
That childhood loss shaped her drive to fix healthcare disparities and prevention gaps.

ANECDOTE

Podcast Moment Led To Alloy Role

Sharon Malone described joining Alloy during COVID after recording with Michelle Obama's podcast team.
That moment led her from clinical practice into menopause-focused digital health advocacy.

INSIGHT

WHI Cohort Mismatch Skewed Results

The Women's Health Initiative enrolled older, often symptomatic women, so its prevention question for younger postmenopausal women was poorly matched to its cohort.
That design choice produced results that were misapplied to all women and scared a generation from HRT.

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Dr. Sharon Malone has spent decades fighting for women to get the healthcare they deserve, and she's not slowing down. As Chief Medical Advisor at Alloy Women's Health, host of "The Second Opinion" podcast, and author of the New York Times bestseller "Grown Woman Talk," Dr. Malone joins Dr. Mary Claire Haver in this episode to talk about reshaping how we think about menopause, aging, and women's health advocacy.

For too long, women have been told to accept suffering as normal. Hot flashes, brain fog, joint pain, sleep problems, the complete unraveling of quality of life during perimenopause and menopause? Dr. Malone talks about being done with that narrative. In this conversation, she explains how the medical system has systematically failed women, from keeping them out of research studies to applying male-centric data to female bodies, from dismissing their menopause symptoms to perpetuating dangerous myths about estrogen and hormone therapy that have left an entire generation undertreated.

She breaks down the Women's Health Initiative, the deeply flawed study that scared women away from hormone replacement therapy (HRT). She explains exactly what went wrong, why the study enrolled women who were too old to answer the questions it claimed to address, and why doctors are still getting it wrong today, decades after the original findings were walked back. The cost? A generation of women suffering unnecessarily while billions in research dollars went elsewhere.

Dr. Malone also tackles the intersection of gender and racial bias in medicine, explaining why your zip code matters more than your genetic code when it comes to health outcomes. From her own journey navigating medical school as a Black woman in the 1980s to losing her mother to cancer at just 12, she points out the healthcare disparities from both sides of the exam table.

At 66, Dr. Malone is proof that midlife isn't about decline. It's about stepping into your power. And she shares a clear message, that women have accepted suffering for far too long, and it's time to demand better.

Guest links:

Books

“Grown Woman Talk: Your Guide to Getting and Staying Healthy,” by Dr. Sharon Malone

“The New Perimenopause: An Evidence-Based Guide to Surviving the Zone of Chaos and Feeling Like Yourself Again,” by Dr. Mary Claire Haver

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