Behind the Scenes at Rosetta Fest: Why Dr. Arti Was on a Stage in Nashville
@drartithangudu · Summer 2026
If you follow me for guidance on hormones, metabolism, or midlife health, you might be surprised to learn I spent a few days this July somewhere other than clinic: on stage, and behind a livestream camera, at Rosetta Fest in Nashville.
Rosetta Fest brings together physicians, innovators, and health leaders working to improve population health. Not just one patient at a time, but for entire communities and workforces. For me, that is exactly the point.
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For me, that is exactly the point.
So much of what determines your health happens outside the exam room: in your workplace culture, your access to education, and the systems built (or not built) to support you through major life transitions.
Interviewing The Experts Shaping Women's Health
Your health is connected to everything around you.
I had the privilege of helping run a livestream at the event, which meant sitting down with experts across maternal health, musculoskeletal health, and metabolic disease.
We talked about what is actually driving outcomes for women and families: pregnancy and postpartum recovery, the bone and joint health shifts so many women experience in midlife, and the diabetes and metabolic risk that touches nearly every family I see in practice.
These conversations reinforced something I say often. Your health does not exist in a vacuum. It is connected to your community, your workplace, and the care systems around you.
Bringing Menopause Into The Workplace Conversation
This topic deserves far more airtime than it gets.
I gave a presentation on menopause in the workplace: what menopause actually is, the real burden it places on women and their families, and the economic cost, both to individuals and to employers who lose experienced talent when women are not supported through perimenopause and menopause.
More importantly, we talked solutions. Employers do not need to reinvent the wheel. They need a plan. That starts with education, moves into accessible clinical care, and is reinforced by workplace support: flexible policies, informed managers, and benefits that actually reflect what women in this life stage need. My hope is that every HR leader in that room left with a starting point for building that plan.
The Business Case For Women's Health:
Women's health belongs on the boardroom agenda.
The final highlight was sitting on a panel with five other female physician founders. Together, we dug into the cost of inadequate care, the risk employers take on when women's health is overlooked, and practical ways companies can engage to mitigate that risk, protecting both their people and their bottom line.
A Moment That Stuck With Me
After one of the sessions, a man in his sixties who works as a broker for employer health plans came up to me. He did not waste time on small talk. "How do we improve and implement plans for women's health, with urgency?" he asked. "This is an emergency. What do we do? How do we put out this fire?"
I offered him a few tactics to start with. He shook his head. Nothing felt big enough to him.
So I told him this: we cannot chase big swings that do not work. We have to find what actually works, then scale it. That is how real, lasting change happens.
But I also told him something else. The fact that he, an older man, someone who could easily have sat this conversation out, was standing in front of me, a younger woman of color, asking urgent questions about periods and menopause without an ounce of awkwardness? That, itself, is progress. It is proof these conversations are working.
We need more people like him in the room.
So i told him: let’s value what is already changing, and build on it together.
Let's try solutions, let's fail at some of them, let's learn, and let's keep going. That is how the needle actually moves.
Advocating in rooms like this is how we move the needle upstream: improving education, shaping workplace policy, and pushing employers toward real, tangible support for women's health. It is slower, population-level work, but it is some of the most meaningful work I do. Nashville reminded me why it matters.
If you are navigating perimenopause, menopause, or midlife metabolic health and want a doctor who actually has time for you, that is what Complete Medicine was built for.
And if you are an HR leader or employer who wants to talk about supporting women's health in your workplace, reach out through https://www.sacomplete.com/dr-thangudu.
This is a conversation I am always glad to have.💛
With love, Dr. Arti · @drartithangudu
