Show Notes
🎙️ This episode is sponsored. Obesity Canada received an unrestricted educational grant from Eli Lilly Canada to produce this episode. 🎙️
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is one of the most common—and most misunderstood—conditions in women’s health. It affects an estimated 6–13% of women globally, yet up to 70% remain undiagnosed.
PCOS isn’t just a reproductive issue. At its core is metabolic dysfunction: insulin resistance, adipose tissue inflammation, and hormonal disruption—all of which intersect closely with obesity. These biological drivers influence ovulation, fertility, mental health, metabolic health, and long-term risks like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, sleep apnea, and MASLD.
In this episode of Scale Up Your Practice, we’re joined by Dr. Emilia Huvinen, Finnish gynecologist, researcher, and associate professor at the University of Helsinki, whose work focuses on the intersection of obesity and women’s health. Dr. Huvinen breaks down the biological roots of PCOS, the links with obesity, how stigma and bias shape care, and what evidence-based, compassionate management can look like.
In this episode: PCOS biology made clear: How insulin resistance, adipose tissue dysfunction, and hormonal shifts drive core symptoms — and why PCOS is fundamentally a metabolic condition.
Explaining PCOS without blame: Approaches to help patients understand this condition without feelings of shame or blame.
Evidence-based treatment options: From lifestyle support and metformin to hormonal therapy and obesity medications—and how to tailor care to the individual.
Stigma, bias, and missed diagnoses: How weight bias delays recognition, affects fertility conversations, and shapes patient experiences—and how language can shift that.
Team-based care in action: How primary care, gynecology, endocrinology, dermatology, and mental health providers can work together to support women with PCOS. Hope and emerging directions: Why early recognition matters, how treatment options are evolving, and what gives clinicians and patients reason for optimism. Additional resources: Canadian Adult Obesity Clinical Practice Guideline: https://utm.guru/ujnad
Free course: Beyond the Stereotypes: Delving Into The Epidemiology, Pathophysiology, and Science of Obesity: https://utm.guru/ujnag
Free course: Intro to Behaviour Change Counselling for Obesity: https://utm.guru/ujnai
Register now for the Canadian Obesity Summit 2026 Obesity Canada’s flagship scientific congress returns March 25–29, 2026 in Montréal. Join researchers, healthcare professionals, policy leaders, and people with lived experience for five days of learning, collaboration, and community. Early-bird registration is open until November 30, 2025. Register today: https://utm.guru/ujnab
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More from Scale Up Your Practice by Obesity Canada
🎙️This episode is sponsored by an unrestricted education grant from Eli Lilly Canada
What happens when healthcare professionals know what evidence-informed obesity care should look like, but the system makes that care difficult to deliver? Ian Patton and Jennifer Brown join us on the podcast to unpack findings from The State of Obesity Care in Canada report and connect them to what clinicians and patients experience every day: limited referral pathways, uneven treatment coverage, gaps in psychological support, inconsistent access to metabolic bariatric surgery and the effects of weight bias at the system level.
🎙️This episode is sponsored by an unrestricted education grant from Eli Lilly Canada
🎙️This episode was made possible through the partnership between Obesity Canada and Boehringer Ingelheim in support of the Global Patient Charter Framework initiative.
🎙️This episode is sponsored by an unrestricted education grant from Eli Lilly Canada Pregnancy care should feel safe, respectful and supportive for every patient. But for pregnant patients living with obesity, clinical spaces can sometimes create anxiety before care even begins, from waiting room seating and equipment that do not fit, to conversations about weight, pregnancy risk and health that can feel stigmatizing. In this episode of Scale Up Your Practice, Dr. Cynthia Maxwell joins Dr. Roshan Abraham and Michelle McMillan to discuss how healthcare professionals can create safer, more equitable pregnancy care for patients living with obesity. She shares practical strategies to reduce weight bias in maternal care, communicate pregnancy risks without blame, ask permission around weighing, and build healthcare environments where patients feel physically and psychologically safe.