Shows
The Wellness Collective with Nat Kringoudis"Be Quiet, You're Wrong!" How Medical Words Undermine Consent & Safety | Ariella Heffernan-MarksEver walked out of a doctor’s appointment thinking, "Did I even ask my question?” Or felt shut down before you had the chance?In this chat, I sat down with Dr. Ariella Heffernan-Marks. She's a doctor, scientist, and founder of Ovum, the AI health partner changing how women experience care. Ariella shared how her own health struggles in med school sparked a mission to help women feel heard, supported, and informed. We talked about how medical language can quietly silence women, and how Ovum is giving that power back.This one gave me goosebumps. It’s...
2025-10-2241 min
I'm Listening with Dr AriellaEp 7: The pregnancy everyone missed, with Joyce JiaoIn this moving episode, Dr. Ariella Heffernan-Marks sits down with Joyce Jiao — a founder and mother whose story reveals what happens when intuition collides with a system that doesn’t listen.After giving birth, Joyce began experiencing strange sensations — fluttering in her stomach, chest tightness, weight loss — but her symptoms were dismissed as postpartum anxiety. Months later, an ultrasound revealed she was 18 weeks pregnant — and living with Graves disease, a condition that could have put both her life and her baby’s at risk.Together, Ariella and Joyce unpack:✨ How bias and data gaps lead to dangerous d...
2025-10-2231 minI'm Listening with Dr AriellaEp 6: 10 years too late with Mary SpanosIn this heartbreaking and deeply resonant episode, Dr. Ariella Heffernan-Marks sits down with Mary Spanos — an advocate who spent over a decade searching for answers to her crippling period pain, only to be told again and again: “It’s just your period.”From her first emergency room visit at 12 to years of surgical disappointment, misdiagnosis, and disbelief, Mary’s story exposes how the system continues to fail women — and how that failure leaves lasting emotional scars. She opens up about the physical trauma of repeated procedures, the psychological toll of not being believed, and the turning point that came wh...
2025-10-0738 min
Creative Careers in Medicine PodcastDr Ariella Heffernan-Marks on a career as founder in women’s healthIn this episode of the Creative Careers in Medicine podcast, Dr Elise Putt is joined by Dr Ariella Heffernan-Marks, a medical doctor, PhD candidate, and the founder of Ovum AI, a platform dedicated to transforming women’s healthcare through an integrative, lifespan-focused digital solution. Providing insight into her journey from law and reproductive biology, to medicine at Macquarie University, and through to her internship at Prince of Wales Hospital. She shares how her personal challenges with vestibular migraines during medical school revealed significant gaps in women's healthcare and ultimately inspired the concept for Ovum AI.She gives a...
2025-10-0637 min
DayOne.FMHow Ovum is Closing the Gender Health Gap | Dr. Ariella Heffernan-MarksEpisode SummaryWhy does it still take women an average of five years to get diagnosed with a chronic health condition — and up to 12 years for endometriosis? In this episode of The New Script, Makenzie Thomas and Frances Goh sit down with Dr. Ariella Heffernan-Marks, medical doctor, award-winning researcher, and founder of Ovum, to explore how technology and data are rewriting women’s healthcare.Ariella shares the lightbulb moment that inspired Ovum — a “blue book” for women’s health — and how she’s building the first holistic AI health assistant designed to empower women across every stage of l...
2025-10-0145 minI'm Listening with Dr AriellaEp 5: Surviving the system with Chloe SargeantIn this candid episode, Dr. Ariella Heffernan-Marks sits down with writer, editor, and chronic illness advocate Chloe Sargeant to explore what it really means to live with fibromyalgia and navigate a healthcare system that too often fails disabled people.Chloe shares the raw realities of daily pain, fatigue, and brain fog — and the endless cycle of GP appointments, medication battles, and staggering out-of-pocket costs. From being told symptoms were “just depression” to going three weeks without essential medication after moving states, their story exposes how much chronically ill patients are forced to fight just to survive.Toge...
2025-09-2247 minI'm Listening with Dr AriellaEp 4: Menopause out loud with Grace LamIn this unapologetic episode, Dr. Ariella Heffernan-Marks sits down with Grace Lam — celebrated fashion director and fierce menopause advocate — to talk about the reality of perimenopause and why silence is never the answer.Grace shares how her symptoms hit “like a rock,” from insomnia and mood swings to brain fog, only to be dismissed by doctors who handed her sleeping pills instead of answers. Frustrated, she turned her experience into activism, launching MeNotPause, a series that brings menopause out of the shadows and into the spotlight.Together, Ariella and Grace unpack:✨ Why silence around menopause...
2025-09-0927 min
The CloseAriella Heffernan-Mark, Founder and CEO of Ovum,Carolyn Wright talks to Ariella Heffernan-Mark, Founder and CEO of Ovum, a women’s health tracker that has been backed by Tesla Chair, Robyn Denholm.
2025-08-2511 minI'm Listening with Dr AriellaEp 2: When doctors don’t listen with Hannah VanderheideIn this powerful episode, Dr. Ariella Heffernan-Marks sits down with writer and actor Hannah Vanderheide, who opens up about her life with invisible chronic illnesses — and how being dismissed by doctors nearly cost her life. Twice.At just 26, Hannah was told her terrifying symptoms were “just anxiety.” In reality, she was in a thyroid storm from undiagnosed Graves’ disease — a condition that could have killed her. Years later, during pregnancy, she found herself critically ill again. Doctors brushed it off as “just pregnancy symptoms” until a rare diagnosis — Addison’s disease — revealed the truth. Once again, her life, and her baby’s...
2025-08-2535 minI'm Listening with Dr AriellaEp 1: Why I'm ListeningIn our very first episode of I’m Listening with Dr Ariella, the tables turn: Ovum founder Dr. Ariella Heffernan-Marks becomes the guest, opening up about the personal and professional journey that led her to create Ovum.Joined by Stefanie DiGianvincenzo, Ovum’s Chief Marketing Officer and stand-in host for this episode, Ariella shares what it was like to move from the clinic into advocacy, the frustrations she faced in a system that so often overlooks women, and the moment she knew something had to change.Together, they dive into:The gap between wome...
2025-08-1835 minI'm Listening with Dr AriellaIntroducing 'I'm Listening'Welcome to I’m Listening — the podcast that listens, because healthcare hasn’t.Hosted by Dr. Ariella Heffernan-Marks and brought to you by Ovum, this show creates a sanctuary of listening: to real health stories from women, to researchers unpacking bias in medicine, and to the innovation closing the gender health gap.Coming soon, wherever you get your podcasts.
2025-07-2800 min
The Science of MotherhoodEp 178. Dr Ariella Heffernan-Marks - Women's Health + AI - OVUM technologyNavigating the healthcare system can feel overwhelming and, at times, defeating. For many women, it means being dismissed, misdiagnosed, or told their symptoms are just “part of being a woman.” But what if there was a better way forward?In this week’s episode of The Science of Motherhood, Dr Renee White speaks with Dr Ariella Heffernan-Marks, medical doctor and founder of Ovum. Ariella is on a mission to revolutionise the way women experience healthcare by building an intelligent, integrated platform that helps women track, understand, and advocate for their health across their whole lifespan.From h...
2025-06-0953 min
Well WorkplacesEp132 - The Future of Women's Health and AI with Dr. Ariella Heffernan-MarksIn this episode of the Well Workplaces podcast, host Tom Bosna delves into women's health with Dr. Ariella Heffernan Marks, founder of the FemTech start-up Ovum.
She shares her inspiring journey from studying reproductive biology to launching Ovum. They discuss the McKinsey Gender Health Gap Report, highlighting the economic impact of health disparities, and the challenges women face in healthcare.Dr. Heffernan Marks also explains how Ovum centralises women's health data, empowers users with personalised health advice, and aims to close the gender data gap in clinical research.The episode touches on the practical applications o...
2025-02-0534 min
The Strange AttractorThe Future of Female Healthcare with Ariella Heffernan-Marks from Ovum AI | #11Send us a textWhen Ariella Heffernan-Marks traded her stethoscope for a Software Startup, she didn't just shift careers—she went on a mission to redefine women's healthcare through the power of AI. Our latest episode welcomes this tenacious CEO to share her story of resilience, defying sceptics to lead a platform that's transforming the way female health literacy and collaborative decision-making coalesce. Her insights weave through the potent mix of medicine, law, science, and technology, underscoring the potential of AI to augment the capabilities of healthcare professionals and personalise patient care.Venture into the wo...
2024-05-271h 20