WoW Woman in Health Tech I Eileen Maus, CEO of Renovia

Eileen Maus is the CEO of Renovia. Renovia is discovering and delivering first-line digital therapeutic and diagnostic devices for women with pelvic floor disorders.

Eileen brings 20 years as a healthcare industry sales and marketing executive with strategic planning experience to her role as Chief Executive Officer with Renovia. 

Eileen entered the women’s healthcare space during her 12 years with CYTYC Corporation, where she was a key contributor to Cytyc’s growth from $8 million to over $700 million, holding leadership roles from sales management to Vice President, Commercial Operations of the Surgical Division. Specifically, Eileen built and managed sales forces for five new product launches, including the ThinPrep® Pap Test, ThinPrep® Imaging System, FirstCyte Breast Test, NovaSure Endometrial Ablation, and Mammosite Targeted Radiation Treatment. In addition, Eileen spearheaded the integration and commercialization of Cytyc’s surgical division. 

Prior to Renovia, Eileen Maus served as Chief Commercial Officer of Constitutional Medical Investors, a portfolio company of Warburg Pincus. In addition to participating in the diligence of diagnostic companies for potential acquisition, she developed the commercial plan for disruptive technology in the hematology space that was acquired by Roche Diagnostic. Eileen previously served as Chief Commercial Officer for Keystone Dental, where she created their marketing strategy to align with market needs, rebuilt their sales force, and orchestrated the purchase of innovative products in a commoditized industry.

Eileen is a graduate of LaSalle University, with a Bachelor of Science in Marketing and Communications.

Eileen, tell us a bit about your background and your projects so far.

I’ve been incredibly lucky, having worked for some wildly successful companies and brilliant mentors. Early in my career, one of them said to me:  “You’ll spend more time at work over your life than with your partner, your children, and anything or anyone else.  You better make damn sure you love what you do!”  This left an impression on me, and I’ve been very deliberate with my career choices as a result.

The healthcare industry has always been my passion. I began as a sales rep for a pharmaceutical company and then spent my entire career spanning diagnostics and therapeutics, focusing primarily on sales, marketing, and strategic planning. I was drawn to women’s health in the early 90s when I joined CYTYC Corporation, now part of Hologic, a women’s health powerhouse. I “grew up” at CYTYC during my 12-year tenure. It was an amazing experience, and my career matured in lockstep with CYTYC’s novel diagnostic tests, many of which set new standards of care in women’s health. It was a rare and thrilling opportunity to be a key contributor to the company’s growth from $8 million to over $700 million. When Hologic acquired CYTYC, both firms were the darlings of the medical device industry, an awesome achievement. Was it hard? Yes. Rewarding? Yes?  But getting there seemed to be a longer, harder road than it should have been. The experience sharpened my skills as a leader and perhaps more significantly, my perspective on women’s health as the industry’s ugly step-sister.  At the time, I remember wishing I felt differently.

Fast forward to my current role as CEO of Renovia, a women-led company that develops digital therapeutics for women’s pelvic floor disorders, my perspective remains largely the same.  There is certainly a greater focus on women’s health today but I think we still need to see that focus translate to tangible benefits - especially in light of the disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women.  And again, I wish I felt differently. However, it hasn’t curbed my enthusiasm or passion for advancing our cause.

How did you get into this industry? Has it been an easy industry to get into or have you had many challenges?

At CYTYC, I was fortunate to work for Pat Sullivan and Dan Levangie, who lived Gene Krantz’s words: “failure is not an option.”  We practiced this relentlessly, but always with honor and the dignity of the patient is first and foremost in our minds.  I raised my hand for every challenge, and I evolved as our technologies did. It’s a marvel to think that back then, we had pagers and 800 numbers. Today, Renovia is 100% virtual.  

I have always passionately believed that women deserve access to the best in innovation and medical advances – frankly, the best in all, that we, as a society, can conjure up. In a startup, necessity is truly the mother of invention and I LOVE THAT.  You must be creative; think outside the box, and blaze a new trial because there is no path: there’s no old trail to follow.  

How long did it take you to be where you are now? What was the biggest obstacle? 

If you’re lucky, once or twice in your lifetime, you are the right person, at the right time, for the right product—and that’s the case for Renovia. My experience with CYTYC, followed by another great run with Constitution Medical Investors, gave me the right blend of skills to help drive a new standard of care for the treatment of urinary incontinence (UI) in women. As for obstacles, the only one was leaving a job I loved, raising my three kids, a deliberate decision I made after CYTYC’s acquisition. When I got tapped on the shoulder to lead Renovia, I was well aware of the challenge and the commitment it would require, not only from me but from my family. However, I left that job I loved because I saw an enormous unmet need in women’s health—one that I believe borders on public health crisis, UI, also known as bladder leakage. The statistics are staggering: more than half of women aged 50 and above have UI and most of them have become resigned to living their lives around bladder leaks. Effective, do-it-yourself treatment exists, but lack of awareness that UI is a progressive health condition that has an easy treatment is our dual challenge.

What are the challenges of being in the industry you are in? 

How much time do you have!? On a meta-level, I daresay that any leader of a women’s health company will agree that the challenges we face are more complex, numerous, and yes, frustrating, than those faced by a company focused on men’s health. For Renovia in particular, our product, the leva® Pelvic Health System, is novel. It combines a small, FDA-cleared vaginal wand with a smartphone app for the treatment of UI (which it achieves by helping women perform “pelvic floor muscle training” or “PFMT”, also known as “Kegels”). As such, we’re more than a traditional medical device. We also combine elements of digital health (the Digital Therapeutics Alliance (DTA) recently listed leva in its Product Library, indicating that it has met the DTA’s definition of an evidence-based digital therapeutic, satisfying ten rigorous Core Principles).  I’ve heard some analysts categorize us as “femtech” although I still haven’t heard a really compelling definition of what that even means – I mean is there such a thing as “mentech”?  Ultimately, I think Renovia combines some of all these categories which I think is part of our magic.  The downside is that some investors don’t know exactly where to place Renovia. As with any novel solution, fundraising requires education and advocacy—a lot of it!

From a condition-specific perspective, our biggest challenge is awareness as I alluded to above. UI affects more than 20 million women in the U.S. and 250 million women worldwide. We often say that while UI is common, it’s not normal! Yet it’s been normalized in part by a very robust adult diaper and absorbent pad market, which means that most women just consider it a normal part of ageing. However, as UI progresses, it can seriously impact the quality of life, mental health, exercise, social activities, and relationships. As Laura Keyser, our senior manager of medical affairs explained in a recent LinkedIn article: among older women, UI is a major risk factor for falls, hospitalization, nursing home admission, and dependence on a caregiver. Women with UI experience faster and greater degrees of physical decline when compared to women who are continent. They score lower on physical performance tests and show significant declines in muscle mass. Research also shows that women with UI reduce physical activity or stop exercising to manage symptoms, which can lead to functional decline and even worsen UI symptoms over time.

Presently, UI is what I call a “don’t-ask-don’t-tell” condition: healthcare providers (HCPs) often don’t ask about UI, and women don’t talk about it with them. HCPs are aware that weakened pelvic floor muscles can lead to incontinence—and that women can strengthen their pelvic floor at any age—but they also know that as few as 25% of women perform these exercises effectively on their own. So, they don’t ask. Likewise, women remain unaware that a drug- and surgery-free treatment for UI exists. We’re working to change this. We’ve worked with globally recognized medical centers on peer-reviewed clinical studies that show leva helps women train and strengthen their pelvic floor muscles effectively—at home in just five minutes a day—to treat UI. Now, we need to build awareness of this among women living with bladder leaks and their healthcare providers. Without this awareness, the $8 billion adult diaper-absorbent pads market will continue to grow at its current breakneck pace. 

As Margret Meade said so well, “have no doubt a small group of people can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” We believe we have the right team and the right product to change the way we perceive UI and vastly improve the standard of care for women living with it.

What are your biggest achievements to date?

Even with my professional success, raising three great kids and being a role model for them and my nieces and nephews is what I feel is my greatest achievement. I tell this story all the time: my youngest came home from school in 8th grade with the assignment, “what have the women before you done for their generation.”  When my daughter asked me, “what exactly have you done?” I could answer by saying, “that you can ask that question means we have done it all.”  I mean, wow. In my early career, I was often the only woman at the table. I had two babies and traveled the world as an executive. The fact that my daughter sees the world as one big opportunity that has no barriers—wow! I am so proud of the many generations of women that have led us here. 

What are the projects you are currently working on?

We’re focused on raising awareness of UI as a progressive health condition—not an inconvenience to endure—and within this context, discussing Renovia’s leva System. leva has several features designed to support successful PFMT: first, women can use it on their schedule, at home, and for just five minutes a day. leva is also the only device that uses real-time visualization of movement during muscle contraction and relaxation as the primary way of delivering feedback. Women can access optional personalized coaching sessions, review and track progress over time, and share usage and symptom data directly with healthcare providers. 

PFMT is most successful when women work with their healthcare providers on an individualized, monitored regimen, which is why leva requires a prescription—a deliberate decision. As UI is a progressive health condition, we want each woman to have the greatest opportunity for success, and that means benefitting from her physician’s guidance. leva’s application of digital health technologies allows physicians to treat UI on a broad scale, even reaching women who live in remote areas or who have limited access to primary care. 

Is the #WomenInTech movement important to you and if yes, why? 

Women in everything is important to me! As I mentioned, I have two daughters and a new daughter-in-law. I want them to have easy access to every opportunity ahead. We all have gifts.  Let’s put those gifts to work and make the world a better place. Women have a different point of view that makes for very interesting innovation.  We are ½ the sky!  

What will be the key trends in your industry in the next five years and where do you see them heading?  I believe that to deliver quality patient care to more people, we need to explore different ways to deliver care while maintaining the critical connection between a patient and their physicians. Digital technologies offer an effective way of expanding access to care, and in doing so, they empower women to take control of their health—and this is a very good thing.

What is the most important piece of advice you could give to anyone who wants to start a career in this industry? 

Work hard, listen harder, ask questions. Good ideas come from everywhere. Don’t be afraid to make hard decisions. Own it and don’t apologize for doing so!

Who are three inspirational women?

I work with an amazing team of women. Our Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Samantha Pulliam, is a Urogynecologist who left an accomplished career in academia because she believed that with leva, she could reach more women suffering from UI than she could ever reach on her own. Talk about getting way out there on the skinny branch and risking it all! I love that she approaches it all with an open heart and open mind.

Annette Brewster, a friend, and former CYTYC colleague heads our Women’s Center, which offers one-on-one counseling and support for women who are on the path to treating their UI. She answered the phone when I called, asking her to lend her unique skills to our mission, and she brings her ‘A’ game every day. I know our patients feel this by the sheer volume of calls we receive –some tearfully—thanking us for helping them regain their lives and freedom from the embarrassment and anxiety associated with bladder leaks.

Finally, my daughters inspire me every moment of every day. I’m amazed by their work ethic, commitment to the planet, and view of the world. If they’re representative of the next generation of female leaders, I know we’re in good hands when I return to my retirement with the satisfaction that women have access to full, enjoyable, independent lives through the opportunity that leva have afforded them to heal themselves. 

Find out more about Renovia on their website.

Follow Renovia on LinkedIn. Connect with Eileen on LinkedIn.

This interview was conducted by Marija Butkovic, Digital Marketing and PR strategist, founder, and CEO of Women of Wearables. She regularly writes and speaks on topics of wearable tech, fashion tech, IoT, entrepreneurship, and diversity. Follow Marija on Twitter @MarijaButkovic and read her stories for Forbes here.