Dr. Sonal Pendharkar Kulkarni (Ph.D.) is a dedicated research scientist with an entrepreneurial mindset, committed to advancing women's health and wellbeing through innovative solutions. She earned her PhD in Medical Science from the prestigious Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, where her research focused on the vaginal microbiome in both Scandinavian and South African women. Through her research, Sonal has explored the impact of combining probiotics with standard & extended antimicrobial treatments for vaginal dysbiosis in highly recurrent cases, examining cure rates, prevention/delayed relapse, and engineering microbes to produce antiviral nanobodies. Currently, Sonal is channeling her extensive knowledge of the vaginal microbiome and her experience in healthcare technology and clinical trials into her work and driving the development of non-pharmacological treatments for vaginal infections at UVISA. Sonal herself has peer reviewed publications to her name and also contributes to the academic community by reviewing manuscripts pro bono, providing critical evaluations to maintain research quality leading to published articles. She has served as a scientific reviewer for PloS ONE, Frontiers in Physiology and JARG (Springer Nature).
If you’ve ever had BV, thrush, or both in a frustrating cycle, you’re not alone. Vaginal infections are common and they’re rarely about hygiene or bad luck. The real story lies much deeper, in the balance of your vaginal microbiome. At the heart of it all: Lactobacilli – the protective bacteria working to keep things stable. In this article, we explore what lactobacilli actually do, what disrupts them, and how you can support them, so they can protect your vaginal health.
You can’t fix something until you understand why it’s broken. For decades, the pharmaceutical industry has prioritised a one-size-fits-men approach to medicine. Women’s bodies, hormones, and experiences have been sidelined: seen as too “complex,” “unpredictable,” or “niche” to be worth the time and investment. That bias has very real, lasting consequences. But now, technology is stepping in to fill the gap left behind. Let’s get into it.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is no longer a distant threat. It’s here and it’s one of the biggest public health crises of our time. The ability to treat infections with antibiotics was once a medical breakthrough but today, resistant bacteria, fungi, and viruses are making common infections harder to cure, putting millions of lives at risk each year.
