What if our hearts stopped functioning at age 50?
Imagine if our hearts stopped functioning at age 50.
We would all sound the alarm bells.
We would invest billions of dollars trying to understand why. We'd develop new drugs. We'd fund research. We'd desperately search for ways to preserve its function.
Yet ovarian aging is one of the few normal biological processes we've largely accepted rather than actively trying to slow or prevent. And ovarian research remains seriously underfunded.
The numbers are striking. According to an analysis published by the National Library of Medicine, NIH-funded research involving the ovary lags most major organs by roughly 6–7 times.
Brain. 81,666
Heart. 43,833
Lung. 34,492
Liver. 22,072
Kidney. 21,176
Ovary. 4,814
Uterus. 1,356
The issue isn't just that ovarian research receives smaller grants. It’s that far fewer studies are funded in the first place.
Some might argue that women don't need to have babies in their 50s. But that's not what this research is really about.
Ovarian decline affects women's health in ways most people don't realize.
Our ovaries produce hormones that influence cardiovascular health, bone health, brain function, metabolism, immune function, and healthy aging overall.
A team of scientists at Northwestern University, including Francesca Duncan, Kara Goldman, MD, and Elnur Babayev, is working to better understand—and ultimately slow—ovarian aging to improve women's health across the lifespan.
As Dr. Babayev, Assistant Professor of OBGYN at Northwestern University, explains:
"Ovarian aging is a major, yet under-recognized, contributor to sex-based disparities in aging-related diseases—driving higher rates of Alzheimer's disease, dementia, cardiovascular disease, metabolic dysfunction, osteoporosis, impaired tissue repair, and depression among women after midlife."
Their work focuses on measuring the ovary’s biological age, identifying the molecular drivers of ovarian aging, and ultimately developing therapies that could safely preserve ovarian function longer.
As someone who battled 10 years of infertility with a decline in ovarian function, I care deeply about extending a woman's reproductive years.
But this research has convinced me that the bigger opportunity is preserving ovarian health—not just to help women have babies later, but to help them live longer, healthier lives.
For decades, we've viewed the ovary solely through the lens of fertility.
It's time to start viewing it as one of the most important organs in women's lifelong health.
To learn more about institutions leading the way in reproductive longevity research, explore the work being done at:
Northwestern University
Columbia University
Buck Institute for Research on Aging
Global Consortium for Reproductive Longevity and Equality (GCRLE)
Bottom line: If we’re serious about helping women live longer, healthier lives, it's time to invest in better understanding ovaries as an essential organ that makes that possible.
