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Femtech Health PodcastFemtech and women's health podcast. Author: Sheree Dibiase
Femtech and women's health podcast. We talk to leading experts in endometriosis, prenatal postpartum, pelvic floor, biotech and more. Join us weekly for conversations your OBGYN didn't even know existed. Language: en Genres: Health & Fitness, Medicine, Sexuality Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Breast Exams at Home: How AI Expands Access Beyond Traditional Screening
Episode 51
Monday, 16 February, 2026
Breast cancer screening fails most often where access is constrained: limited appointments, geographic gaps, dense breast tissue, and reliance on self-exams that depend entirely on human touch. Awareness alone doesn’t close those gaps.In this episode, Dr. Karny Ilan, co-founder and CEO of Feminai, shares how physician-led product design, multidisciplinary collaboration, and rigorous clinical trials shaped a new model for breast screening access. The conversation explores a shift in how breast health is managed—from episodic screening to continuous, individualized monitoring. Rather than relying on infrequent appointments alone, it examines tools designed to track changes over time, at home, while remaining connected to clinical decision-making. Timestamps(00:11) Breast cancer risk shaped by genetics and lived exposure(08:37) Limits of traditional self-breast exams(09:09) Personal experience shaping breast health urgency(10:15) How at-home breast scanning detects change over time(12:42) Designing screening tools for dense breast tissue(17:03) Addressing breast size, shape, and post-surgical variation(18:31) Clinical trials revealing real-world usability gaps(20:13) Why ease of use affects screening reliability(29:29) Access gaps amplified by pandemic-era screening delays(38:09) Broad inclusion across age, risk, and body types Guest BioDr. Karny Ilan — Co-Founder and CEO, FeminaiDr. Karny Ilan is a general surgery resident at Sheba Medical Center and the co-founder and CEO of Feminai, a breast health company developing an AI-enabled disposable wearable patch and app for at-home breast exams. With a strong family history of breast cancer, she brings clinical experience and patient-centered design to building scalable screening tools that expand access and personalization.LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karny-ilan/Key PointsAccess constraints drive missed detection: Feminai targets screening gaps caused by geography, capacity, and avoidance.Physician-led design builds trust: Clinical credibility accelerated adoption with providers and investors.Dense breast tissue is a priority use case: The technology is designed to perform well where mammography often struggles.Personalized baselines change detection logic: Each scan is compared against the user’s own prior data.Usability directly affects accuracy: Instructions, fit, and behavior shape downstream AI performance.Deep Dives1. At-home breast exams as infrastructureDesigned for frequent, low-friction useComplements rather than replaces imaging2. Patch and app workflowRisk stratification via medical questionnaireBluetooth-enabled scan uploads to secure cloudAI analysis with physician review3. Designing for every bodyStretch materials accommodate size variationDense tissue explicitly accounted forAdditional sizes planned as rollout expands4. Clinical trials beyond performance metricsUsability drove multiple design iterationsInstruction format affected adherenceShape changes required algorithm updates5. Personalized longitudinal trackingEach woman compared only to herselfChanges flagged based on deviation, not population averages6. Leadership and multidisciplinary teamsEngineers exposed to clinical sitesPatient stories shared to reinforce missionStability in leadership communication protected executionLinks & ReferencesBreast cancer screening beyond mammography (Mayo Clinic): https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/mammogram/in-depth/breast-cancer/art-20047233Breast cancer screening recommendations (USPSTF): https://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/recommendation/breast-cancer-screening
