Menopause and Healthy Aging
Our work is motivated by our conviction that the second half of a woman’s life can—and should—be her best years. Our mission is to give each woman the science-backed resources and information she needs to live a life filled with strength, health, and vitality as she ages.
The program connects Stanford specialists in many fields, including bone, brain, breast, cancer survivorship, heart, lifestyle medicine, mental health, nutrition, pelvic floor, primary care, sexual health, sleep, urology/urogynecology, and weight management to provide comprehensive, world-class care for women in perimenopause and beyond. Our goal is to improve care of midlife and aging women around the world, and right here at home!
An important focus of the program is care of menopausal women. For too long, menopause has gone unrecognized and untreated. We are here to change that! From hot flashes and night sweats to mood disturbance, sleep disturbance, and sexual symptoms, we are here to help you manage your menopausal transition and get you back on track.
Our director, Karen E. Adams M.D., is a clinical professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Stanford and a faculty affiliate of the Stanford Center on Longevity. She is double-board certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology and Lifestyle Medicine, a Menopause Society-certified Menopause Practitioner, and a fellow of the International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health. She is an award-winning educator and has given hundreds of lectures on midlife health nationally and internationally to both academic and lay audiences, including a 2020 TEDx talk entitled “Sleep, Sex, and Menopausal Zest.”
"The medical journal The Lancet published a 4-article series on menopause this month. [... M]any of the positions taken by the authors of the articles, plus the editorial itself, are anything BUT inclusive and empowering. Menopause is repeatedly referred to as “overmedicalized” when in reality, the vast majority of women are left to navigate their perimenopausal and menopausal years with no medical guidance whatsoever.