Marlena Fejzo

Dr. Marlena Fejzo is Chief Scientific Officer at Harmonia Healthcare, a specialty women's health platform focusing on underdiagnosed, undertreated, and otherwise dismissed female-specific diseases. She is also an Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG) survivor and geneticist at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California where the primary focus of her research is on improving women’s health.

Dr. Fejzo, whose discovery of the cause of morning sickness in pregnancy brought international attention to her work, was one of TIME magazine’s 2024 Women of the Year and Fierce Pharma's 2023 Fiercest Women in Life Sciences. The recognition follows Dr. Fejzo’s study in Nature that showed that a hormone produced by the fetus -- and the mother’s sensitivity to it -- triggers nausea and vomiting during pregnancy.

She has published papers on her genetic studies of many diseases of women including ovarian cancer, breast cancer, and multiple sclerosis. Ultimately, Dr. Fejzo’s studies will drive development of new and better therapies that target the cause of diseases of women, not just the symptoms, and reduce the associated maternal and fetal suffering.

Dr. Fejzo received a Ph.D. in Genetics from Harvard University and is a science advisor and board member for the Hyperemesis Education and Research (HER) Foundation.