The Ovary’s Job Doesn’t End at Menopause: A Top Neuroscientist Explains

In this episode of unPAUSED, Dr. Mary Claire Haver talks with Dr. Jennifer Garrison, a neuroscientist and founder of the Global Consortium for Reproductive Longevity and Equality, about why the ovary should never have been labeled a purely reproductive organ. Dr. Garrison explains that ovaries function like a second brain in the body, sending and receiving chemical signals to nearly every tissue system including the heart, bones, brain, immune system, and metabolism. She walks through her research on the hypothalamus and the brain ovary signaling network, describing how inflammation in this part of the brain may be one of the earliest drivers of aging across the whole body.

The conversation covers why the ovary ages roughly two and a half times faster than the rest of the body, a gap that helps explain the health span difference between women and men. Dr. Garrison and Dr. Haver discuss how poor ovarian function shows up across a woman's life, not only at menopause, contributing to conditions like polycystic ovarian syndrome, infertility, early menopause, depression, metabolic disease, and autoimmune disease. They also unpack why autoimmune conditions rise sharply after menopause and why women's immune systems respond differently to viruses than men's.

Dr. Garrison shares striking numbers on how little biomedical research funding has gone toward understanding female physiology outside of pregnancy and cancer, including how recently the NIH began requiring female inclusion in preclinical studies. She and Dr. Haver compare research volume on menopause and perimenopause to the vast body of research on pregnancy, illustrating just how far behind the science remains.

Dr. Haver and Dr. Garrison get practical too, discussing why every woman should have a full cardiovascular workup by 40, why DEXA scans and body composition tracking matter for bone and muscle health, and why hormone therapy still relies on tools largely unchanged since the 1940s. Ovarian health, Dr. Garrison argues, is foundational to understanding aging and deserves far greater research investment beyond fertility, with real implications for how women navigate perimenopause, menopause, and midlife.

Guest links:

• Jennifer Garrison, PhD (LinkedIn)
  
• Jennifer Garrison (X)
  
• Jennifer Garrison (Bluesky)
  
• Jennifer Garrison (X Prize)
  
• Jennifer Garrison (The Institute)

Recommended Books:

• “The New Perimenopause,” by Dr. Mary Claire Haver
  
• “The New Menopause"⁠ by Dr. Mary Claire Haver

Articles:

• Sex bias in neuroscience and biomedical research (Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews)
  
• Ovaries Could Unlock Secrets of Longevity (Time)
• Beyond Reproduction: The ovary as a systemic regulator of female health 

Other Resources:

• Free Lab Test Checklist
• Consideration of Sex as a Biological Variable in NIH-funded Research (NIH)
  
• Women and Health Research: Ethical and Legal Issues of Including Women in Clinical Studies: Volume I. (National Academies Press)
  
• The ConneXion Between Sex and Immune Responses (Nature)
• State of NIH Funding (Science)
• Innovation in Women's Health (Silicon Valley Bank)
  
• Women’s Health Investment Outlook: 6% of Funding for Nearly 50% of the Population – Not Just a Gap, but Untapped White Space (World Economic Forum)