BUILDING WOMEN’S HEALTH TECHNOLOGY APPS TO CATER FOR EXPLODING DEMAND
With
Alecia Taryn, CEO and Founder
SistaShop
PEOPLE IN HEALTH CARE SEGMENT
Filmed in Sydney | September 2026
After more than a decade developing women’s health technology, SistaShop CEO and Founder Alecia Taryn is focused on addressing a growing challenge in reproductive health: creating trusted digital infrastructure that connects consumers, healthcare professionals and commercial providers.
Taryn began developing pregnancy and post-pregnancy fitness apps before moving into technology supporting women undergoing IVF. Her experience has led her to combine her interests in women’s health and technology through SistaShop, a platform designed to help women’s health startups and established businesses reach their audiences without the significant marketing costs often associated with launching new products.
Speaking in an interview with Australian Health Journal, Taryn said one of the platform’s key challenges is bringing its different stakeholders together while preparing for its planned launch.
“It’s a really big problem. So what I’m building now with SistaShop is the capability to reach your audience in women’s health,” she said.
Taryn also highlighted trust and verification as increasingly important issues as women seek health information and products online. She said misinformation shared through social media platforms can create significant risks, reinforcing the need for qualified professionals and credible products to be clearly identified.
“I focused on verification in women’s health specifically because I want to reduce risk to women online,” Taryn said.
SistaShop is preparing to launch across Australia and the US, initially onboarding healthcare professionals, service providers and product suppliers. Taryn said the platform will need to continually adapt as technology, regulations and jurisdictional requirements evolve.
Source: Adapted from transcript
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Nuclear medicine funding a win for men with prostate cancer
Australian men with higher risk prostate cancer now have access to a nuclear medicine scan to help detect and treat metastatic disease, after it was listed on the Medical Benefits Schedule (MBS) from 1st July 2022.
In 2021 over 18,000 Australian men were diagnosed with prostate cancer, resulting in over 3,000 lives being lost – and making prostate cancer Australia’s second most common cause of cancer death in men.
Australian Health Journal spoke with AANMS President Associate Professor Sze Ting Lee and Dr Geoff Schembri on the MBS listing and the efforts to get it listed.
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Cardiologist broadens Tasmania’s surgical abilities
Dr Heath Adams is a Tasmanian born, bred and educated interventional and structural cardiologist who works at Hobart Private and Royal Hobart Hospital and is a researcher through the Menzies Research Institute.
Dr Adams clinical interest and expertise is in the management of aortic stenosis, valvular heart disease and acute coronary syndromes. Dr Adams performs coronary interventions including stenting, and structural heart interventions including TAVI, mitral edge to edge repair, mitral valve replacement and left atrial appendage closure. In 2020, Heath performed the first TAVI in Tasmania, is the clinical lead for the local program at the Royal Hobart Hospital and is a nationally accredited TAVI practitioner.
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Delivering anaesthetic services to countries where surgical services can’t be provided
Dr Wendy Falloon is an Anaesthetist of over 30 years experience and a Fellow of Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA). She studied medicine at the University of Tasmania, and worked in Hobart, Sydney and the Uk while completing her specialist qualifications. Her primary professional focus has always been to deliver the best possible experience of anaesthesia to each and every patient, and for them to know that she sees and values them, and their stories.
Having been born in Africa, she realised even as a child that health and wealth were largely a product of where people happen to be born. This sowed the seed of her ongoing desire to be of help to others in less fortunate circumstances, ultimately leading to her volunteer work with the Mercy Ships charity. This is one of the most fulfilling aspects of her career, and she has volunteered in Africa with Mercy Ships 8 times since 2014.
