For years, conversations about hormonal and pelvic health have been overshadowed by stigma, silence, and misunderstanding. Millions of women have endured pain without answers, suffering in silence. But change is coming. EndoSolve, a pioneering EU project, is redefining the way we understand and diagnose pelvic conditions early, offering women clarity, validation and hope. Rooted in empathy and driven by innovation, the project’s journey shows that science can be deeply human and deeply transformative.
The initiative highlights success stories from projects funded by the European Innovation Council (EIC). Featured on DeepSync, part of the EIC Communities project, these stories offer a unique opportunity to connect with other members and innovators. By showcasing the challenges and successes of each project’s journey, these stories present key moments and insights that can increase visibility, foster deeper understanding, and foster collective knowledge sharing across communities.
Siobhan Kelleher, founder and CEO of OnaWave Medical, leads EndoSolve, an EIC-funded innovation developing a biomarker-based digital platform to identify pelvic conditions such as endometriosis and subfertility. His work lies at the intersection of biomedical engineering, reproductive physiology, and digital signal analysis. Beyond the science, however, her motivation lies in bringing hormonal health to the center of precision medicine, an area that has long been neglected.
By understanding the body’s natural signals, we can change the way we diagnose, treat and empower people throughout their lives.”
Siobhan Kelleher, Founder and CEO of OnaWave Medical
EndoSolve was not the first project. It is the result of years of exploration, failure and rediscovery in women’s health. Siobhan and her first collaborator, Sinéad Hughes, started with a different approach: improving fetal monitoring using bioelectric signals to improve outcomes for both mothers and babies. The results were promising, but institutional and commercial barriers made progress impossible. “We could have stopped there, but we pivoted to secure funding to bring the concept to life.” Siobhan recalls: “We knew the problem was bigger. Women’s health needed more than one solution, it needed a revolution.”
Next, they developed a keyhole surgery technology designed to improve the recovery of intact tissue samples. The idea worked in theory, but was not technically feasible. Still, rather than turning away, they redoubled their commitment to women’s health, exploring areas such as postpartum depression, undiagnosed polycystic ovary syndrome, recurrent miscarriages, and subfertility. Among all these conditions, one stood out: endometriosis.
“Women were literally knocking on doors for years looking for answers,” says Siobhan. “They didn’t want sympathy, they wanted proof, something to show that it wasn’t all in their heads.”
This became the seed of EndoSolve. What began as a search for a biomarker soon revealed something much bigger: a platform that could map the lifelong hormonal rhythms of both women and men in conditions such as premature ovarian failure, irregular bleeding, miscarriage and endometriosis. “Pelvic health is not a women’s issue, it is a human issue,” stresses Siobhan. “That understanding shaped our mission: to revolutionize pelvic and hormonal healthcare using the body’s own biological intelligence.”
From the beginning, EndoSolve was built on collaboration. “It all started with friends, researchers, doctors and patients who believed that healthcare could be more fair and accurate,” he says. Sinéad Hughes’ initial dedication helped turn an idea into tangible evidence, while the next phase of the project was strengthened by a growing team. When transition funding was secured from the European Innovation Council (EIC), John Hegarty joined as COO, bringing decades of Baxter Healthcare leadership, and Hari Om Aggrawal joined as CTO, turning down a professorship to devote himself fully to technology. “Their decision to join was a turning point,” reflects Siobhan. “It gave us technical depth and confidence to think big.”
Kathleen M. King, public advisor and patient, has also been on the project from the beginning, ensuring that every step of EndoSolve reflects real patient experiences. “Kathleen reminds us why we are doing this,” says Siobhan. “Ensuring that every step of EndoSolve reflects the lived experiences of those it seeks to serve.”
The road has not been easy. Finding a lab willing to test their technology on an animal model of endometriosis proved impossible, so they built their own. “We were the first at the university to use female rats,” explains Siobhan. “Before us, all studies used men, which didn’t make sense when studying a condition specific to women.” Managing the animals’ four-day hormonal cycle was challenging, but produced groundbreaking results. Unfortunately, just when success seemed close, disaster struck. Ambient noise interfered with their data, and during the lockdown, their samples were lost. “It was heartbreaking,” he admits.
Then, just as he was ready to begin a study with human volunteers, COVID-19 shut down the university. Shortly after, Sinéad left the project. “For a moment it felt like everything had collapsed,” Siobhan recalls. But rather than give up, she approached Kathleen and the patient advisory group with an unconventional idea: “If we placed devices in your homes, would you record and share your data?”
And they did it. From homes across Ireland, women (and men) recorded biosignals and shared their experiences. “His confidence transformed everything,” says Siobhan. “It wasn’t just data; it was solidarity.” That collective effort became the proof of concept that secured their EIC transition grant. “We owe a deep debt of gratitude to these volunteers: their trust and generosity transformed EndoSolve from a scientific concept to a collective achievement,” he adds with quiet pride.
EndoSolve’s ambition is bold: reduce the time to diagnose endometriosis from years to days using a combination of wearable sensors, a smartphone app and machine learning. Today, people with endometriosis often wait up to a decade to receive a proper diagnosis, a delay caused by denial of symptoms, misdiagnoses, and lack of access to specialists. By offering a non-invasive, at-home companion test, EndoSolve aims to close that gap. “We want to make early and accurate diagnosis a reality,” says Siobhan. “No one should have to live in pain, waiting for answers.”
The vision doesn’t stop there. In the long term, the team hopes to create a digital pelvic health ecosystem, an integrated model of care that combines reproductive, hormonal and chronic pain management. “Our goal is to make hormonal health the cornerstone of precision medicine,” explains Siobhan. “It’s not just about illness, but about permanent well-being.”
For Siobhan, this journey has been as personal as it is professional. “EndoSolve changed the way I look at science,” he says. “I began to believe that the data would tell the story, but now I know that empathy, courage and perseverance are equally essential tools of discovery.” The evolution of the project (from setbacks to progress) has shown him the power of collaboration and trust. “Every time a woman writes to us saying, ‘Thank you for taking our pain seriously,’ it reminds me why we do this,” she says.
She often thinks about teenage girls who miss school because of pain, women who are told their symptoms are “normal,” and couples who deal with heartbreak after recurrent miscarriages. “If we can help just one person understand their body better, it will be worth it,” he says.
In the end, EndoSolve is not just about technology, but about transforming lived experience into action. It’s about showing that science, guided by compassion and curiosity, can rewrite what’s possible in healthcare. “Women and men have waited long enough for science to catch up with their reality. Now, it is finally happening,” he concludes.
