The DAISy-PCOS Leadership team are involved with two events for International Women’s Day.
PCOS at the Intersections will ask: Does race impact the way we experience PCOS? Do Women of Colour feel represented within the healthcare or advocacy space?
About this Event
Our understanding of PCOS is very limited, whether that be medically, or in terms of lived experience. In collaboration with Cysters andThe DAISy PCOS Leadership Programme, we will be discussing the impact that race has on our experiences of PCOS, and what the healthcare industry can do to rectify inequalities across the intersections. Join us for PCOS storytelling, panel-led discussions, and Q+A.
Women of colour are generally excluded from research, from forming part of the social discourse around these conditions – and this is something we would like to see change. Our panel consists of 6 women of colour, all within their respective fields in relation to the condition. Our session will be moderated by Neelam Heera, the Founder of Cysters.
To register visit this Eventbrite page.
Please submit any questions you may like the panel to answer before the event – or you can also propose us to them on the day.
Neelam Heera – Facilitator and Moderator
Neelam Heera (Tedx Speaker) founded Cysters after facing her own battles around diagnosis and care and wanting to address the health inequalities faced by those from communities of colour and, most recently the organisation have changed their name to become inclusive of the transgender and non-binary communities, as well. Neelam’s work has been recognised by the Pride of Britain and Point of Light awards form the Prime Minister.
Nikita Chadha – Panellist
Nikita is an advocate, speaker and writer for Cysters. She has lived experience of PCOS, Endometriosis, Adenomyosis, Anxiety and Depression. Her main interests within the healthcare space are addressing structural and institutional inequalities, whilst advocating for an intersectional lens and approach to be utilised when representing or discussing reproductive and mental health issues. She is also an avid social commentator, creative and poet. (IG @didacticdiaspora)
June-Ann Joseph – Panellist
June-Ann was diagnosed with PCOS at the age of 17, and for 14 years she has been in a constant battle with her body. Following an incident that occurred during a heavy period, she decided to take the initiative to look further into her diagnosis. To her surprise, she found a plethora of symptoms she had been living with mentally and physically, were not her fault but rather, they were a by-product of PCOS. Described as a gynaecological problem with chances of infertility, she was unaware PCOS affected so much more than just that. Following this June-Ann has now made it her mantra to help raise awareness about PCOS via her podcast Black, Broke & Anxious.
Tamana Kaur Gulati – Panellist
Tamana Kaur Gulati is an activist and creative. She is currently working as a Project Coordinator, on the Coventry City of Culture Leadership Programme. She is also an aspiring Lawyer, studying an MA in Law part-time at The University of Law. Tam further works in a voluntary role as a content and strategy manager for Redefined, a social justice platform. She is specifically interested in advocating and fundraising for minoritised voices and raising awareness of specific community experiences. Diagnosed formally with PCOS at 22, Tam is interested in sharing her knowledge of health inequality with her Afghan Sikh community and with wider audiences.
Dr Amina Hersi – Panellist
Dr. Amina Hersi has PCOS and happens to be a general practitioner. She’s used her unique perspective to provide easy to understand information on Instagram under the handle @thepcosdr
Rittika Dasgupta – Panellist
Rittika is a PhD research scholar at Loughborough University. She is interested in art activism and politics. Her field of focus and study is South Asia. She is also currently working part-time for a charity where she supports young people at their workplace. She was diagnosed with PCOS at the age of 14. She believes the way forward for awareness and research is by forming collectives and sharing stories.
Noelle Spencer – Panellist
Noelle Elizabeth Spencer is a mixed-methods researcher pursuing her PhD in Behavioral and Community Health Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. She earned her MSc in Gender, Policy and Inequalities at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Prior to beginning her Doctoral work, Noelle worked as a Clinical Research Assistant conducting mixed methods research centred around such topics as substance use in pregnancy and the opioid epidemic. Noelle’s interest in sexual and reproductive health began in undergraduate school, where she co-founded a comprehensive sexual health education program to provide reproductive health information to students at a local middle school. This experience led her to her first academic research project which aimed to create a sexual health education smartphone application to increase access to comprehensive sexual health education information for 12-17-year-old girls. Noelle’s current research interests include barriers and facilitators to menstrual product access, and diverse experiences of menstruation.
Event Timetable:
18:00 Event Start and Introductions
18:05 – 18:35 PCOS Journeys and Storytelling
18:35 – 18:45 Illness turned Advocacy with June-Ann and Nikita
18:45 – 18:50 My Activism Journey with Tamana
18:50 – 19:00 A Medical Perspective with Dr Amina Hersi
19:00 – 19:10 Patient Perspective & Research with Noelle and Rittika
DAISy-PCOS 