WoW Woman in MedTech I Ikram Guerd, General Manager U.S. and Chief Marketing Officer at Aspivix
Ikram Guerd is a healthcare and FemTech leader with over 20 years of experience across Europe and the United States. She is the General Manager U.S. and Chief Marketing Officer at Aspivix, a women’s health medical device company focused on modernizing gynecological care through gentler, patient-centered innovation. Based in Southern California, she led the company’s U.S. market entry and built brand awareness from the ground up. Under her leadership, Aspivix gained major recognition, including Best Invention honors and coverage in The New York Times and Forbes.
Ikram is deeply committed to advancing the women’s health ecosystem. She co-founded the SoCal Women’s Health Collective and actively mentors and advises early-stage FemTech founders. She is also developing The FemHealth Marketer, a platform helping startups build meaningful brands for women’s health. A frequent public speaker, she is passionate about education, advocacy, and elevating women’s health innovation and leadership.
Aspivix is a women’s health medical device company dedicated to modernizing gynecological care through gentle, patient-centered innovation. Founded in Switzerland and based in Southern California, Aspivix developed carevix®, an FDA-cleared and CE-marked, suction-based alternative to the traditional and painful tenaculum used in transcervical procedures such as IUD insertions, endometrial biopsies, hysteroscopies, and IVF treatments, amongst others. Designed to reduce pain, bleeding, and patient anxiety without disrupting clinical workflow, carevix® addresses long-standing gaps in women’s care. Aspivix combines clinical evidence, education, and advocacy to improve both patient experience and standards of care, with a growing presence across the United States and Europe.
Tell us a bit about your background and your projects so far.
I’ve spent more than 20 years in healthcare, building my career across Europe and the U.S., and my passion for this field started very early. Growing up in France, I dreamed of becoming a pediatrician. Even then, I was driven by a deep interest in care and the desire to make a tangible difference in people’s lives. That early motivation has been the common thread throughout my career.
I began in large organizations such as Procter & Gamble and Danaher Corporation, where I built and led marketing and growth strategies within highly regulated healthcare environments. I later transitioned into the startup world, joining Aspivix, a FemTech company focused on modernizing gynecological care. As General Manager U.S. and Chief Marketing Officer, I lead our U.S. expansion and awareness efforts with both clinicians and women. Over the past few years, our education-driven campaigns, including one that went viral on TikTok with Dr. Brittany Barreto, have helped shift the conversation around pain in gynecology and contributed to recent updates in U.S. clinical guidelines.
Being deeply involved in the women’s health space has reinforced how often women’s pain and lived experiences have been overlooked, and how urgently innovation, research, and investment are needed across the full spectrum of women’s lives.
Beyond my role at Aspivix, giving back is central to my work. I actively mentor and advise founders and leaders in women’s health and co-founded the SoCal Women’s Health Collective to connect innovators, clinicians, and investors across Southern California. Supporting others and strengthening the ecosystem is, for me, inseparable from advancing women’s health itself.
How did you get into this industry?
I’ve always been drawn to the healthcare field, with an early dream of becoming a pediatrician. While I wasn’t able to fulfill that childhood ambition, I remained determined to find another path into healthcare and to make an impact in my own way. That path emerged through marketing, a discipline I discovered early in my career at Procter & Gamble. It was there that I truly fell in love with the field and realized that marketing could be a powerful lever to improve healthcare outcomes, shape innovation, and influence access and adoption at scale.
As my career evolved across healthcare and medical technology, my experiences only confirmed that conviction. I repeatedly observed how innovation cycles, investment priorities, and standards of care varied depending on who the patient was and where they lived. Over time, it became clear that pediatric health, in which I evolved for a few years, and women’s health were among the areas where these gaps were most visible and persistent.
Entering the femtech ecosystem introduced me to a passionate community of founders, clinicians, and advocates who were actively challenging long-standing assumptions and driving progress across research, care delivery, and patient education. Being surrounded by that level of energy and purpose was a defining moment and confirmed that this was where I belonged.
Today, I see women’s health as one of the most impactful and energizing fields in healthcare, where innovation, empathy, and advocacy truly intersect. Contributing to this momentum and helping accelerate long-overdue change is what keeps me deeply engaged in this industry.
How long did it take to be where you are now, and what were the biggest challenges?
It didn’t happen overnight for sure. Getting to where I am today has been a long-term journey, more than two decades marked by persistence, continuous reinvention, and crossing borders, both professionally and geographically. Moving from France to the United States required not only adapting to new markets and cultures, but also learning how to navigate very different healthcare systems and expectations.
One of the biggest challenges has been breaking through an ecosystem where women’s health innovation has historically been underfunded, underestimated, and sometimes dismissed as “niche.” Progress often required proving again and again that improving women’s experience of care is not just a social issue, but a clinical and economic one.
There were many moments of resistance and doubt, but each “no” became a catalyst to push harder, think differently, and raise the bar. Those challenges ultimately shaped my leadership approach and reinforced my commitment to redefining standards of care in women’s health.
What are your biggest achievements to date?
One of my most meaningful achievements has been building the foundations for Aspivix in the U.S., taking an unknown company and brand and turning it into a credible, visible key player in women’s health bringing a much-needed innovation in a strategic market. From launching in the U.S. to leading education-first awareness efforts, this work helped drive major recognition, including TIME’s Best Inventions honors and coverage from leading outlets such as The New York Times and Forbes.
Seeing this momentum translate into real clinical adoption and better experiences for women has been the most powerful. My ongoing achievement as a team is helping women experience less fear and pain in care.
Beyond company milestones, I’m also proud of the impact I create by supporting others and building a stronger women’s health ecosystem for all women, now and future generations.
What projects are you currently working on?
I’m currently focused on scaling and strengthening Aspivix’s presence in the U.S., with an emphasis on long-term adoption, education, and impact in clinical practice. This includes expanding our footprint with healthcare providers, increasing awareness among women, and advancing more patient-centered and gentler standards of care in gynecology.
Alongside this, I’m actively building the women’s health ecosystem through the SoCal Women’s Health Collective, connecting founders, clinicians, investors, and industry leaders to accelerate collaboration and innovation. I’m also developing The FemHealth Marketer (coming soon), a platform to help startups build meaningful brands in women’s health, while continuing to advise early-stage founders in FemTech. In parallel, I also do of public speaking where I speak openly about women’s health, innovation, and leadership to continue raising awareness.
Is the #WomenInTech movement important to you, and why?
Absolutely. Representation is strategic. For me, #WomenInTech is not only about equity; it’s about impact. We know that diverse teams build better products, ask better questions, and create solutions that reflect real-world needs. In women’s health, this is especially critical because designing for women without women at the table leads to blind spots that directly affect care and outcomes. When we’re not at the table, half of humanity’s needs remain underserved.
What trends will shape your industry in the next five years?
Patient-centered care, AI-powered diagnostics, wearables, at-home diagnostics and treatment, and data-informed preventive care will fundamentally transform women’s health. However, the most significant shift remains cultural: truly listening to women’s experiences, treating them as valid medical data, and acting on them. Real-world data and stronger clinical evidence will continue to shape clinical guidelines, reimbursement, and adoption. This will require more AI for good, designed to address data gaps and bias that have historically excluded women, reinforcing why greater representation of women in tech is essential.
Finally, investment and innovation will expand across the full spectrum of women’s lives, addressing long-overlooked needs with greater rigor and intention. Increased funding for the right solutions, driven by more women investors alongside committed male allies, will be critical. Together, these shifts will redefine standards of care and accelerate meaningful, scalable progress in women’s health.
What advice would you give to someone entering this industry?
We need more innovators, researchers, and investors looking to make a positive impact not only for women, but for the entire population. Start by listening to women. Their lived experiences are not anecdotes; they are data, and often the most underutilized source of insight into healthcare. Be ready for challenges. Women’s health is scientifically, clinically, and commercially demanding, and progress often takes longer than expected. Persistence matters, as does credibility, investing early in clinical evidence, regulatory understanding, and strong partnerships with clinicians.
Finally, don’t build in isolation. Seek out mentors, allies, and communities that understand both the mission and the realities of this space. Surround yourself with people who challenge you, support you, and share your long-term vision. In women’s health, impact is rarely created alone, and those who succeed are the ones who combine purpose with rigor, resilience and collaborations.
I always remind people: women’s health is everybody’s health.
Who are three inspirational women you admire?
I’m inspired by women who combine vision, courage, and the ability to drive change.
Melinda French Gates is one of them, for her unwavering commitment to women’s health, gender equity, and data-driven philanthropy. She has played a critical role in directing attention and funding toward issues that have been historically overlooked, particularly in women’s health.
I also greatly admire Maria Shriver for her advocacy at the intersection of women’s health, caregiving, and Alzheimer’s research. She has consistently elevated underrepresented voices and brought empathy, awareness, and action to complex health and social issues.
Reshma Saujani, founder of Girls Who Code and Moms First, also deeply inspires me. Her work challenges cultural norms around women, work, and technology, and creates tangible pathways for women to lead and thrive in tech-driven industries.
Beyond these leaders, I’m inspired every day by the incredible women and the strong sense of sisterhood within the women’s health ecosystem. I’m proud of each woman, starting by my mom, working to drive impact, and proud to be part of this journey and movement.
Find out more about Aspivix on their website.
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