What does it look like to build a healthcare company from the conviction that medicine, as it stands, was never fully designed for women?

In this episode, host My Holland sits down with Thao Nguyen, CEO and co-founder of EQUAL CARE, a Swiss-based startup working to make sex and gender-specific medicine the standard in healthcare. Thao grew up in Germany as the daughter of Vietnamese boat people — a background that gave her both a sense of obligation toward her opportunities and a deep awareness of what it means to navigate theworld as someone consistently underestimated. She built a 12-year career in technology consulting and medical device research and development before stepping out to found a company she believes the world needs.

EQUAL CARE is working to close the gap between what research knows about biological and physiological differences between men and women and what actually reachespatients. 75% of medications do not work the same for men and women, and the majority of that disparity disadvantages women — a consequence, in part, of women being banned from clinical trials between the 1970s and the mid-1990s.Thao’s work centers on finding, certifying, and labelling medications that have been adequately tested on women, and making that information accessible to patients and healthcare providers alike.

📩 Know a woman leader in Vietnam who would like to join this podcast?Contact My at:

📧 Email: [email protected]

🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/myholland/

Mosaic Mind: Where Culture Paints Your Leadership Journey

Leadership isn’t a one-size-fits-all canvas. It’s a mosaic! Join My Holland, your French Aussie Vietnamese host, as she uncovers the layered lives of leaders who think differently, lead deeply, and live fully.

🌐 Website: https://www.equestasia.com.au

🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/equestasia

▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@equestasia/podcasts

🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/42rgfiUBtVe7Gdun0oWcHA

🎧 Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/3O1mn6E

Join our VK Nữ community of overseas Vietnamese women: https://vietkieunu.org/

Mosaic Minds Podcast – Initiative for Women by EQuest Asia

✨ Music: Anthony Holland | Researcher: My-Lan Holland | Editor: Cam Tuong

📍 About Our Guest: Thao Nguyen

Thao Nguyen is the CEO and co-founder of EQUAL CARE, a Swiss healthtech startup dedicated to bringing sex and gender-specific medicine into mainstream healthcare. With over 12 years in technology consulting and the research and development of medical devices, she brings a rare combination of clinical domain knowledge and technical systems thinking to a field that has long been shaped almost entirely by academic researchers and physicians. Born and raised in Germany to Vietnamese parents who came as boat people, Thao carries a deep sense of purpose rooted in opportunity and obligation. She runs the Zurich chapter ofVietKieu Nu and is actively building community among overseas Vietnamese women in Switzerland.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thao-nguyen-equalcarenow/