Andrea Syrtash founded pregnantish after her own experiences with infertility and navigating the many misconceptions held not only by patients, but by practitioners themselves.

We interviewed her for our web series, Big Questions in Digital Health, and were inspired by the way her team was able to use storytelling to build community, and leverage data to power a better health experience for the millions of members that have accessed their resources while growing their families. 


One of the misconceptions Andrea addressed in our conversation was the widely held belief that infertility is just a woman’s issue. In reality, men account for 30% of infertility cases. Furthermore, minorities, even LGTBQ+ communities, are grossly underserved when it comes to patient-education and providing services and programs for their unique experiences. By turning up the empathy and producing relatable, authentic content, these groups finally felt seen and heard as they navigated one of the most important milestones in their lives.

Another issue Pregnantish tackles is the high percentage of patients who fail to complete their infertility treatments. Providers themselves also agreed patient drop-off was a common occurrence, and were unsure how to address the issue. Andrea’s team used their community and the power of data to understand the patient experience and inform providers.


Through conducting surveys and research on their own online community, her team was able to see patterns in where practitioners could better meet patient needs. What did they find? At the core of this work are relationships and trust. These are couples looking to conceive a life; they will not choose to bring this human life forward if their environment does not make them feel safe, secure, trusting. 


They have taken these findings and created Pregnatish Verified where they published findings as guidelines for practitioners and even offer free training programs. Physicians that completed the training are listed on the pregnantish verified network, for patients to also know which providers have taken the time to really understand their needs.


Learn more about Andrea’s own story and work with pregantish in her interview with Bowhead co-founder Dr. Rhea Mehta:


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