A Doctor turning her cancers into a treatment for postmenopausal women with Sexual Pain
I have been a dedicated, caring physician for over 30 years. My grandfathers were both physicians. It has been my calling. I didn’t need to get cancer to empathize with my patients. It is what I have always done. Now, I am also a woman who has had breast and ovarian cancer and I need to meld these two identities to make good use of my personal experiences, to feel that there is a higher purpose to what I am and what I have experienced.
Throughout our lives together, my husband has been my closest ally, friend and lover. The loss of body parts did not deter him from being so. However, between menopause, surgery, and chemotherapy, sexual pain became an issue.
As a postmenopausal woman with a history of estrogen sensitive malignancies, hormones were out of the question for me. I discovered, through self-experimentation, that by diluting an FDA approved topical botanical drug, I could eliminate painful sex. As a physician and dual breast and ovarian cancer survivor, I realized a placebo controlled double-blinded clinical trial was in order to provide a safe and effective alternative for alleviating painful sex for so many women who, like myself, where hormones are just not an option. I am grateful for this opportunity to share my story that will hopefully help many women facing breast and ovarian cancer in the future.
BIO OF WENDY EPSTEIN, M.D., F.A.A.D.
Wendy Epstein is a board-certified physician, researcher and inventor. She is Principal and Chief Medical Officer of GTO Pharmaceutical, LLC., a practicing dermatologist, and a faculty member of NYU School of Medicine’s Department of Dermatology for the last 34 years. For 27 of those years she worked weekly in Bellevue Medical Center’s Dermatology Clinic treating a broad range of dermatological conditions, including vulvar dermatology. She discovered and patented a novel use for an FDA approved topical drug for female sexual disorders.
- B.A., Barnard College
- Master’s in Biology from Princeton University
- M.D. from Columbia Physicians & Surgeons Medical School
- NYU Medical School Dermatology Residency and Internal Medicine Internship
- Clinical Faculty NYU School of Medicine 1987 to Present
- Board Certified, American Academy of Dermatology
- Former Faculty Member, Yale School of Medicine Dermatology
- Member, North American Menopause Society
- Member, National Vulvodynia Society
- Television and Radio appearances discussing various topics in dermatology
- Numerous publications in medical journals and books
- Clinical Consultant for Avon Products for 20+ years