THIS ISN'T A GOLD RUSH; IT'S A RENAISSANCE

You’ve most likely spotted a bespectacled Courtney Cox lookalike talking about menopause (or perimenopause) on Instagram, YouTube or Facebook.

- By Liesl Robertson

Dr Mary Claire Haver is an obstetrician and gynaecologist, and the face of the so-called ‘Menoposse’, a group of women advocating for education on menopause. She has also written a bestselling book titled The New Menopause, (with another coming out this year titled The New Perimenopause), and everyone from Oprah to Mel Robbins has given her a platform to spread her message. But Dr Haver hasn’t always been such a vocal advocate for menopausal women.

Growing up in Texas, she was one of eight kids in a big Catholic family, and her restaurateur parents were, frankly, quite perplexed by her career choice. ‘Girls in my family did not do that,’ she said — they got married, had babies and, ‘you know, they supported their husbands’.

Mary had been interested in medicine since she lost a brother to leukaemia when she was 9. After studying geology (of all things), she went to work for an oil company and was planning to do her PhD when she had a change of heart. She decided to take the medical school entrance exam, and the rest is history. As for choosing obstetrics and gynaecology, that was not her first choice.

Initially, she planned to be a paediatrician. But medical students got a chance to rotate through the different wards and try out different specialities, and the first night she landed up in OB/GYN, she helped deliver a baby. Right away, she knew that this was it. She had found her niche: the magic of ushering babies into the world.

As a future OB/GYN, her medical training focused mainly on fertility; menopause was barely mentioned. In fact, in her eight years of studying and training, only seven hours were dedicated to menopause — and it hardly even covered the basics. ‘And then I was unleashed on to the world, you know, go, be free and practise. I didn’t know anything.’ The unspoken take-home message? Menopause wasn’t really a priority — a mindset that was reinforced from day one.

SHE'S A WW