We spoke to Women's and Children's Health researcher and Consultant Gynaecologist, Dr Nicola Tempest about the 'Between 2 ovaries' podcast launched by a group of colleagues and friends with the aim of tackling misinformation and providing insight on the topic of women's health.
Hello Nicola, could you please introduce yourself?
My name is Nicola Tempest, and I am a Senior Lecturer and Subspecialist in Reproductive Medicine and Consultant Gynaecologist at the University of Liverpool and Liverpool Women’s Hospital (LWH). I work 50% of my time as a consultant in the NHS doing theatre sessions, clinics, IVF and ambulatory sessions and the rest doing research into all things gynaecology and women’s health within the endometrial research group at the centre for women’s health research.
Can you give us a brief overview of the podcast theme?
The podcast is to discuss all things women’s health. We chat with a no filter and no judgement attitude and try to answer the questions people want answering, give honest advice and bust some of the ridiculous myths that exist.
Who appears on the podcast with you?
The podcast is a team effort and has been from inception. The four of us come up with the ideas, have discussions to ensure they will work and take part in the recording sessions. Dr Alison Maclean, is an academic clinical lecturer and trainee in obstetrics and gynaecology. Like myself, Alison spends half of her time doing research and half working clinically. Alison has recently completed an MRC funded PhD studying adenomyosis. Lorna Salvini, is currently a PhD student at the University of Liverpool/Centre for Women’s Health research studying fibroids; Lorna is a scientist by background. Finally, Eleanor Bristow completes the hosting team, and is also a PhD student with University of Liverpool/Centre for Women’s Health research and has a degree in psychology. Eleanor is studying the psychological aspects of chronic pelvic pain.
As you can imagine we are all very much immersed in women’s health and women’s health research. We also run a successful PPI group from the Liverpool Women’s hospital that provides us with feedback regarding our research themes and the podcast and informs us regarding what directions to go in that will suit the people that we see coming through the LWH.
What motivated you to start a podcast?
There are SO many myths that are readily available to people especially online and it seems to us a considerable shortage of information which is truthful and unbiased. We hope that we can provide listeners with information that is easily understood and will empower them to ensure they understand their/their partners bodies, and are able to advocate to health care professionals if/when needed.
What are the future plans for episodes?
The next episodes will be on endometriosis, Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and vulval health; all very important topics that people NEED to understand and know more about. We plan to invite specialists into episodes that are more niche including paediatric gynaecology and complex HRT.
Were the University or NHS involved in the production of the podcast?
The podcast was an idea shared among the co-hosts and me, however we have been very lucky to have received help from the fantastic university technician Mike Bayliss who aided us with the recording/production of the podcast. Mike has been amazing at guiding us through the production side of the process. We were also recently informed we have received a grant from the Faculty Public Engagement Scheme enabling us to produce more episodes, which we are very grateful for and has reassured us that we were on the right track.
How have you found the process of making podcasts so far?
We found recording the first episode very daunting but as soon as we all got chatting it was super easy. These are the conversations Alison and I have day in day out with patients, and what we chat about over lunch, in meetings and at laboratory meetings with Lorna and Eleanor. We are literally chatting about things we like talking about and genuinely want people to know more about.
Have you received any feedback from listeners?
Feedback so far has been super encouraging. Lots of people have liked the chatty relaxed feel and have informed us they have learnt lots which is great.
You can listen to Nicola, Alison, Lorna, and Eleanor on Between2ovaries here(Apple) and here(Spotify). You can also follow them on Instagram to see the team making the podcast and find out more about upcoming episodes and projects.