Hello everyone,
Having PCOS makes it hard to understand what is going on with our body. The unpredictability. The irregular cycles. The “Am I ovulating?” The constant second-guessing.
In this episode of The PCOS Podcast, I sat down with Kate, Vice President of Medical for Women’s Health at Ultrahuman. With over 30 years of experience across gynaecology, menopause and fertility, she now works at the intersection of clinical medicine and health technology.
We go through Ultrahumans' cycle-tracking algorithm (the only medical device-grade algorithm for temperature tracking), how it helps women with PCOS and the impact it can have on your health.
If you are considering investing in a ring to help you track your cycle and ovulation alongside your other markers, I would recommend listening to this episode. You can get 10% of using this link, or with the promo code “PCOS”.
Disclosure: This product was gifted, and I receive a small affiliate commission if you purchase using my link.
This episode can be listened to on all major platforms, including Spotify, Apple and YouTube. If you prefer reading, I have summarised it below.
If you want to see some of the snippets from these conversations on Instagram, give us a follow:
Tell us a bit more about Ultrahuman. What do you do there?
Ultrahuman is a health-tech ecosystem designed to provide deeply personalised insights into your body.
Most people know us for the ring, but we offer much more than that. We integrate continuous glucose monitoring (CGM), blood biomarker tracking via Blood Vision, home environment monitoring, and advanced sleep and recovery data.
The key idea is layering information. We don’t just look at one metric in isolation. We look at heart rate, sleep quality, recovery, metabolic markers, temperature patterns, blood results and bring them together to create a personalised picture.
For women with PCOS, that’s incredibly powerful because PCOS doesn’t affect just one system. It impacts hormones, metabolism, sleep, fertility and long-term cardiovascular health. You need a layered approach to really understand what’s happening.
Ultrahuman acquired OvuSense. Why was that such an important move in women’s health?
When UltraHuman acquired VO Health Tech — the makers of OvuSense — we brought in what I genuinely consider a gold-standard ovulation detection algorithm.
What makes it different is that it’s a medical device. That means it has gone through regulatory validation. It’s not simply estimating ovulation based on averages or calendar predictions.
The vision wasn’t to isolate cycle tracking as a standalone feature. It was to integrate reproductive health into the broader ecosystem of data — sleep, recovery, metabolic health and blood biomarkers.
Women’s health doesn’t exist in isolation. Your cycle is connected to everything else happening in your body.
Is the algorithm actually designed to work for women with PCOS?
Yes, absolutely.
The algorithm is designed to handle both regular and irregular cycles. It can detect ovulation, long cycles, anovulatory cycles and patterns that are suggestive of PCOS.
We also have cycle flags that can indicate patterns suggestive of increased miscarriage risk or early perimenopause.
It’s not a one-size-fits-all system. It adapts to your data. That’s particularly important in PCOS, where irregularity is common and traditional tracking often falls short.
Temperature tracking can be unreliable in PCOS. Can the ring really help?
If you are ovulating — even with PCOS — the ring will detect it.
Now, for women with very long or highly irregular cycles, sometimes more granular data can be helpful. That’s where the vaginal sensor (OvuSense) comes in. It measures core body temperature every five minutes overnight, which gives extremely detailed insight.
But my recommendation would usually be to start with the ring. You’re getting far more than just ovulation prediction — you’re getting sleep, recovery, metabolic data and more.
If you later feel you need deeper fertility-specific insight, then the vaginal sensor may be appropriate. It’s about personal choice and understanding your own cycle complexity.
What type of research is Ultrahuman involved in?
We’ve always been research-driven. We collaborate with universities and IVF clinics and have published multiple scientific papers. We’re currently running studies on embryo implantation timing, progesterone correlations, exercise and the menstrual cycle, and early pregnancy monitoring.
But on an individual level, the platform allows women to observe patterns over time.
If you improve your sleep, change your training routine, alter your diet, you can see how your recovery, metabolic data and cycle respond.
That feedback loop is incredibly empowering. Instead of guessing whether something is working, you can observe it.
What’s one thing you wish more women with PCOS understood about their bodies?
Can I give you two?
First, most women with PCOS will ovulate at some point during the year.
When a test shows “not ovulating,” many women assume they never ovulate. That’s rarely true unless PCOS is extremely severe. Some women may only ovulate two or three times per year, but those ovulations matter.
If you can track and identify when they happen, you can optimise around them.
Second, PCOS is manageable.
Yes, it’s long-term. Yes, insulin resistance plays a central role. But there is so much you can do.
We’ve learned that type 2 diabetes — once thought irreversible — can be put into remission through lifestyle changes. PCOS is intrinsically linked to insulin resistance. The same principles apply.
You may not erase PCOS entirely, but you can control it. You can restore ovulation. You can improve metabolic health. You can optimise fertility.
The idea that there’s nothing you can do is simply not true.
Looking ahead — what excites you most about the future of women’s health?
Kate:
We’re finally talking about women’s health properly.
We’re talking about menopause. We’re talking about PCOS. We’re addressing stigma.
At the same time, female health tech is evolving rapidly. Within UltraHuman, we’re developing new “power plugs” and expanding what’s possible in women’s health monitoring.
In five years’ time, women will understand their bodies in ways we can barely imagine today.
And that’s incredibly exciting.
If you’ve ever felt disconnected from your body because of PCOS, I hope this conversation leaves you with something important:
Your body is not broken.
It is complex.
And complexity can be understood.
With the right data and the right mindset, you can start working with your body rather than against it.
See you next Sunday,
Francesca
