New funding will provide training for healthcare professionals caring for women in midlife and target outreach in areas where it is most needed.
CLEVELAND, Ohio (June 4, 2026)—Pivotal, a group of organizations founded by Melinda French Gates to accelerate the pace of social progress for women and young people in the U.S. and around the world, provided $10 million to The Menopause Society for the education of healthcare professionals and to expand outreach in areas where access to menopause care is most limited.
“For too long, perimenopause and menopause have been treated as invisible – something women are expected to manage quietly, without clear answers or support. That must change. By getting healthcare practitioners better training and investing in research, we can help ensure women have the care they need to live full and healthy lives,” says Melinda French Gates, Philanthropist and Founder, Pivotal. The Menopause Society is among the first organizations supported under Pivotal’s expanded focus on midlife and menopause health, a new area of grantmaking for the organization.
The Menopause Society’s NextGen Now Initiative addresses the critical need for additional training for current and future healthcare professionals through clinical education, digital innovation, and real-time research translation. Currently, healthcare professionals receive only limited training in women’s midlife health issues, including menopause, despite the fact that most women will spend more than one-third of their lives in menopause, a time when they are also at greater risk for an array of chronic medical conditions, including cardiovascular and orthopedic issues.
“Menopause is a universal life stage, but quality care is not universally available,” says Dr. Stephanie Faubion, medical director of The Menopause Society. “With this funding, we can scale evidence-based training for front-line clinicians and extend our reach to areas where menopause care has long been overlooked. This is a meaningful step toward ensuring that women receive the informed, compassionate care they need and deserve so they can make smarter healthcare decisions. It also allows for exploration and a better understanding of the need for system changes.”
This new grant accelerates the NextGen Now Initiative at a critical moment, as the number of MenoDeserts identified throughout the United States continues to grow. MenoDeserts are those geographic areas or medical infrastructure gaps where access to specialized perimenopause and menopause care and clinicians is limited or not available at all. There are currently more than 6,000 counties in the United States identified with low access to resources.
To learn more about how you can provide funding for the NextGen Now Initiative or other programs offered by The Menopause Society, contact Carolyn Develen (carolyn@menpause.org), Chief Operating Officer of The Menopause Society.
The Menopause Society is dedicated to empowering healthcare professionals and providing them with tools and resources to improve the health of women during the menopause transition and beyond. As the leading authority on menopause since 1989, the nonprofit, multidisciplinary organization serves as the independent, evidence-based resource for healthcare professionals, researchers, the media, and the public and leads the conversation about improving women’s health and healthcare experiences. To learn more, visit menopause.org.