How Mary Claire Haver Became the Queen of Menopause

At 10 a.m., obstetrician-gynecologist Dr. Mary Claire Haver is already filming a video in her pajamas about solutions to low libido for her 4 million followers on Instagram and TikTok. Ta. Now 56, Dr. Haver is pacing on a Peloton treadmill while reading research on female sexual dysfunction.

It was part of her normal morning routine, but on this day she was filming a documentary series about growing up during perimenopause.

She did a third squat with an 85-pound barbell. “I don’t think about what it’s going to look like in a bikini,” she told the filmmakers gathered in a garage gym. “I’m thinking about what I’ll be like when I’m 80.” With her glossy black hair, black-rimmed glasses, and lithe physique, Dr. Haver lives up to the old menopausal stereotype of the “Golden Girls.” Compared to him, he looked like a model for young people.

Over the course of two days, during an interview at her home in Galveston, Texas, she repeated to me the words she had spoken to the audience that morning. If women are active, they are not doomed to slow decline beyond their reproductive years. Menopause may be the best time for them. Or, as she likes to say, “Menopause is inevitable. Menopause is inevitable.” Don’t suffer from it. ”

Although 6,000 women go through menopause every day in the United States, there are only about 2,300 health care providers certified in menopause medicine. Many women struggle to find a clinician with sufficient experience and knowledge to guide them through their transition. That void has been filled by a number of menopause influencers, including Dr. Haver. Over the past two years, she has probably done more to educate women about menopause than any other public figure through her social media platforms and best-selling book, The New Menopause. She criticized sexism in medicine, called for increased federal funding for women’s health research, and called on medical schools to better prepare doctors to care for women beyond their reproductive years. In both her public and private menopause practice, she has advocated for the many health and wellness benefits of hormone therapy and has fought to dispel deep-seated fears about hormone therapy.

On TikTok and Instagram, Dr. Haver comes across as authoritative and empathetic, treating his followers not just as patients but as friends. She speaks with a sense of urgency, often against the backdrop of green screens of published research, and analyzes research concisely and emphatically.