Brittany Barreto
Founder of Femtech Focus
Paradise Valley, Arizona
Overview
Work Experience
CEO, Founder (acquired)
2022 - Current
--Patient-Centered Innovation Strategist | Health Equity Consultant | Scientific Communicator-- Founded and led an internationally recognized healthcare strategy firm focused on bridging innovation with the real-world needs of women and underserved populations. Advised Fortune 500 companies, federal agencies, philanthropic organizations, and global health leaders—including Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Astellas, NIH, USAID, and the Gates Foundation—on integrating patient perspectives into R&D, go-to-market strategy, and investment decisions. Delivered actionable insights through market mapping, due diligence, and health equity research, with a specialization in sex and gender considerations in healthcare access and outcomes. --Authored groundbreaking reports cited by McKinsey, BCG, and Deloitte, shaping global discourse on female health innovation and investment. --Built a proprietary FemTech company database now used by investors and strategics to identify unmet patient needs and underfunded conditions. --Led strategic initiatives to elevate underrepresented patient communities and align cross-sector stakeholders around equity-driven healthcare priorities.
FemHealth Insights offers market intelligence and research solutions in women's health and Femtech.
Podcast Host, Founder
2020
--Global Patient Voice Amplifier | Health Equity Advocate | Strategic Storyteller-- Founded and led a nonprofit organization dedicated to elevating awareness, education, and innovation in historically underserved areas of women's healthcare. Built and scaled a globally influential media and education platform that centered the voices of patients, founders, researchers, and healthcare leaders—creating a dynamic ecosystem to spotlight overlooked health conditions and unmet female patient needs. --Hosted 240+ podcast episodes downloaded in 127 countries, featuring candid conversations with leaders from the FDA, NIH, Bayer, BD, Livestrong, and patient advocates—offering a unique platform for amplifying real-world patient experiences and systemic gaps in care. --Created the world’s largest virtual community focused on health innovation for underserved populations, including a 2,000-member Slack network (acquired), a 9,000-subscriber newsletter (65% open rate) (acquired), and the industry's largest student fellowship program with 80+ graduates—many now working in healthcare, biotech, and VC. --Designed and led a 6-month global fellowship program to train future leaders in inclusive healthcare innovation, emphasizing patient-centered design, health equity, and cross-sector impact.
FemTech Focus is a non-profit organization that creates awareness, resources and opportunities for healthcare professionals.
Advisor - Masters in Human Sexuality, SexTech Track
2024
Advisor to the SexTech track within the master's program of Human Sexuality at California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS). The role consists of creating the curriculum and course descriptions, recommending literature and media for students, the expected outputs of the course, suggested experiences and lessons for excellent emersed learning, and what careers students may obtain based on their knowledge gained from the course.
Advisory Board Member for Network of Excellence in Women’s Health
2024
Imperial Multi-Faculty Networks of Excellence aim to establish and grow connections around an important multidisciplinary area being explored at early stages. Currently, Imperial has 29 multi-faculty centers of excellence with women's health being one of the newest. The Women’s Health Network of Excellence is a multi-faculty network of staff, students, and external partners interested in women’s health. Our mission is to promote interdisciplinary research and innovation in women’s health and gender-based health equity. The purpose of the Advisory Board is to provide independent guidance on the Network’s direction and priorities regarding research and education agendas as well as activities related to community engagement and involvement, policy, and capacity-building. I am proud to advise the network of excellence alongside: -Dame Lesley Regan, Women's Health Ambassador for England -Prof Robyn Norton, Co-Founder & Director of The George Institute for Global Health -Prof Sarah Fidler, Professor of HIV & Communicable Diseases at Imperial -Prof Anita Charlesworth, Chief Economist of the Health Foundation -Dr Annabel Sowemimo, Community Sexual & Reproductive Health Registrar in the NHS
FemTech Contributor
2023
Monthly Contributor to my own dedicated FemTech Column highlighting femtech products and services available to women to improve their health and wellness. HealthyWomen is dedicated to educating women in the middle — ages 35 to 64 — so they can make informed health decisions, advocate for themselves and prioritize their health and wellness. We achieve our mission of educating women to make informed health choices by connecting with women through fact-based, expert-sourced content, and creative evidence-based programming. We keep women's health part of the national dialogue by raising awareness to decision makers about the impact health policy has on women and families. And we work collaboratively with partner organizations and alliances to reach more women.
HealthyWomen is an organization that provides health and wellness information to women.
Forbes Women Contributor - Women's Health Innovation / FemTech
2023 - 2024
ForbesWomen is the dedicated source for all Forbes’ coverage of women who are changing the world through business, offering inspiration and tools for ambitious and entrepreneurial-minded women. Dr. Barreto is a femtech contributor covering all things women's health innovation and the business potential behind innovating for over half the population.
Co-Founder, Advisor
2021 - 2024
Cofounded & shaped the strategic direction of the early-stage investment fund focused on advancing innovation in overlooked & underserved areas of healthcare. Played a pivotal role in identifying, funding, & supporting startups solving critical unmet needs for patients—particularly in diagnostics, reproductive health, and chronic condition management. --Sourced and supported breakthrough patient-focused startups, including an AI-powered breast cancer risk tool (Gabbi), a gene expression-based diagnostic for endometriosis (Hera Biotech), and tech-enabled midwifery care for underserved communities (Millie). --Mentored and trained a team of emerging investors, emphasizing the importance of inclusive innovation and patient engagement in due diligence and portfolio support.
Coyote Ventures is a venture capital company that invests in early-stage companies focused on women's health and wellness.
Innovation Equity Forum, Chair of the Innovation Committee
2023 - 2024
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the National Institutes of Health initiated an inclusive, consultative, cross-sector effort to generate a Women’s Health Innovation Opportunity Map as a collaborative framework to advance women’s health innovation. A Forum of over 250 experts and stakeholders were recruited to participate—representing over 50 countries and diverse perspectives across various geographic regions and sectors that work in women’s health. Members were organized into 11 sub-committees that identified and developed opportunities within each topic. Dr. Barreto served as the Chair of the Innovation Committee and took the lead on group discussions, in-person brainstorming, and final reporting of the Innovation Committee's suggestions. We evaluated opportunities against five criteria (PRIME) and formulated actionable solution strategies to realize each opportunity.
Co-Founder, Instructor
2020 - 2020
Founder’s Compass is a dynamic monthly business program taught by experienced founders for aspiring entrepreneurs & early-stage (pre-seed) founders looking to develop a firm foundation and be prepared for the next steps in growing your business. We are business founders teaching other founders all our street-smarts.
Founder’s Compass is a dynamic monthly business program taught by experienced founders for aspiring entrepreneurs.
Senior Venture Associate
2020 - 2020
Capital Factory's first Houston-based hire to build its Gulf Coast portfolio. Capital Factor is the most active late-stage accelerator and venture fund in Texas, with existing offices in Austin and Dallas. Dr. Barreto was hired to launch, operate, and accelerate the Houston-based GulfCoast Branch of the program. She recruited 30+ companies into the late-stage accelerator and led seven investments. She supported Fund VI's fundraising through LP relations and managed a five-person Houston office team. Today, the Houston office is a thriving program at Capital Factory based on Barreto's leadership and the firm foundation she led the groundwork.
Venture Associate
2019 - 2020
Capital Factory is a venture capital firm and an accelerator that seeks to invest in seed-stage, early-stage, and later-stage companies.