Where Biology Meets Bias, One Founder’s Mission to Make Medicine Work for Women | Ep. 29

What does it look like to build a healthcare company from the conviction that medicine, as it stands, was never fully designed for women? In this episode, host My Holland sits down with Thao Nguyen, CEO and co-founder of EQUAL CARE, a Swiss-based startup working to make sex and gender-specific medicine the standard in healthcare. Thao grew up in Germany as the daughter of Vietnamese boat people — a background that gave her both a sense of obligation toward her opportunities and a deep awareness of what it means to navigate the world as someone consistently underestimated. She built a 12-year career in technology consulting and medical device research and development before stepping out to found a company she believes the world needs. EQUAL CARE is working to close the gap between what research knows about biological and physiological differences between men and women and what actually reaches patients. 75% of medications do not work the same for men and women, and the majority of that disparity disadvantages women — a consequence, in part, of women being banned from clinical trials between the 1970s and the mid-1990s. Thao’s work centers on finding, certifying, and labelling medications that have been adequately tested on women, and making that information accessible to patients and healthcare providers alike. Together, we explore: • Growing up as a second-generation Vietnamese in Germany, shaped by a mother whose leadership style Thao has carried with her into every room • How EQUAL CARE is making sex and gender-specific medicine findable, not just researchable • A panel at the World Economic Forum on AI and health equity, and what responsible AI in medicine actually requires at the data level • Navigating rooms dominated by senior Western men while being a young-looking Asian woman — and the practical strategies Thao has developed over years • The Vietnamese matriarch leadership style she inherited from her mother, the adjustments it required in a European context, and the journey from over-proving to simply leading • Why she believes she has found “the gap of the universe” — and how that belief sustains her through the relentless rejections of building a startup • Her work running the Zurich chapter of VietKieu Nu, and building community among overseas Vietnamese women in Switzerland Thao reminds us that closing the gender health gap is not just a research problem or a policy problem. It is a visibility problem — and one that technology, done right, can help solve. 📩 Know a woman leader in Vietnam who would like to join this podcast? Contact My at: 📧 Email: my@equestasia.com.au 🔗 LinkedIn:   / myholland   Mosaic Mind: Where Culture Paints Your Leadership Journey Leadership isn’t a one-size-fits-all canvas. It’s a mosaic! Join My Holland, your French Aussie Vietnamese host, as she uncovers the layered lives of leaders who think differently, lead deeply, and live fully. 🌐 Website: https://www.equestasia.com.au 🔗 LinkedIn:   / equestasia   ▶️ YouTube:    / @equestasia   🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/42rgfiU... 🎧 Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/3O1mn6E Join our VK Nữ community of overseas Vietnamese women: https://vietkieunu.org/ Mosaic Minds Podcast - Initiative for Women by EQuest Asia ✨ Music: Anthony Holland | Researcher: My-Lan Holland | Editor: Cam Tuong 📍 About Our Guest: Thao Nguyen Thao Nguyen is the CEO and co-founder of EQUAL CARE, a Swiss healthtech startup dedicated to bringing sex and gender-specific medicine into mainstream healthcare. With over 12 years in technology consulting and the research and development of medical devices, she brings a rare combination of clinical domain knowledge and technical systems thinking to a field that has long been shaped almost entirely by academic researchers and physicians. Born and raised in Germany to Vietnamese parents who came as boat people, Thao carries a deep sense of purpose rooted in opportunity and obligation. She runs the Zurich chapter of VietKieu Nu and is actively building community among overseas Vietnamese women in Switzerland. LinkedIn:   / thao-nguyen-equalcarenow