CEO dedicates career to improving women’s health

Daniel Island resident Eileen Maus is on a mission to help women with a common, yet embarrassing and often debilitating condition: urinary incontinence. 

 

Twenty million women in the United States have been faced with urinary incontinence. It’s a major health problem that hides in the shadows and can be severe enough to strip away a woman’s quality of life. 

 

Maus said that urinary incontinence affects an outrageous number of women, and while it is common, it should not be normal. She noted, “50% of women over the age of 50 live with bladder leaks. While there’s effective first-line treatment for these women, pelvic floor muscle training (also known as ‘Kegels’), it remains out of reach: studies show just 25% of women do them effectively.”

 

Maus spent her career working in public health and set her sights on retirement in 2014. She fell in love with the Charleston area while her son attended the College of Charleston. With two younger children, Maus and her husband packed their belongings and relocated to Daniel Island. At the beginning of 2021, her passion for educating women became the driving force that lured her back into the field of health care. She joined Renovia, a women-led company that develops digital therapeutics, as chief executive officer. 

 

“I was recruited by the board of directors by my former manager and mentor. While I had done consulting in my retirement, believe me when I say I had no plans of giving up dog walking and yoga to not only go back to work but do it full time,” explained Maus. “The silver lining of COVID has been the ability to work virtually. My company is 'located' in Boston. But in reality, we are located in the cloud.” 

 

The work-from-home culture is appealing to Maus and allows her to “feel like she’s on vacation” on Daniel Island when the workday is finished. It also gives her the flexibility to attract talented employees from around the country. 

 

Renovia offers a drug-free, nonsurgical solution to urinary incontinence. The company developed a digital system called the leva Digital Therapeutic, which is designed to help women perform their pelvic floor muscle training correctly and consistently. The pelvic floor is an interconnected group of muscles that, if not used properly or damaged, weaken like any other muscle group, thereby allowing urine to leak out unexpectedly. Pregnancy, childbirth, and the hormonal changes of menopause put women at risk. 

 

She explained, “When we talk about a strong core, we often mean tight abs, but really, a strong core starts with a strong pelvic floor. These muscles are really hard to train correctly as we cannot see them. Our complete digital system addresses this issue by helping women do Kegels correctly, thereby making first-line treatment accessible to them.”

 

The solution is novel and doesn’t just treat the symptoms. As a medical device, it's an at-home system that gives a woman real-time visualization of movement as she performs pelvic floor muscle exercises. Additional tools, such as coaching and support, helps patients to do Kegels correctly.

 

“One of the most gratifying parts for me,” Maus mused, “is that our coaches get to be a part of the joy a woman experiences when she gains agency over her pelvic floor. Let me tell you, the $8 billion adult diaper market is real. After years of curtailing social activities, exercise and travel, these women get their lives back and can stop contributing to this sad reality.

 

“We have patients ranging in age from their 20s to their 80s,” she continued. “One 84-year-old woman stays in my heart. She had tried some gadgets from Amazon as well as two courses of pelvic floor physical therapy and she still leaked, getting up four, five times at night to go to the bathroom. It took her five years to learn about leva from a doctor that had other patients who had great results. Her commitment to her health and her determination to find a treatment that allowed her to enjoy a high quality of life spoke to me.”

 

Opportunities to educate patients is what keeps Maus motivated. She refuses to allow women to suffer on a long journey of incontinence when a long-term solution is available. “The most challenging and rewarding part of my work is changing the mindset that while leaking is common, it should not be normal. The notion that in 2021 women should have to wear pads or disposable underwear to mask their urinary incontinence instead of treating this medical issue is why I come to work every day. We can and should do better for all of the women in our lives.”