An Interview with Dr. Amy McCoy on Research That Finds You, Advocacy, and Closing the Gap

Dr. Amy McCoy's first real exposure to research came from her own hospital bed - on bed rest with a preeclampsia diagnosis during her pregnancy, when a gynecologic oncologist in her training program pulled her onto a research project and taught her grants and study design. Years later, research found her again through pregnancy, this time her daughter's: born at 35 weeks, a week too late for RSV prophylaxis, she caught the virus three weeks after discharge and spent two and a half weeks in the ICU. So, when her practice partner asked McCoy to join an RSV vaccine trial as a sub-investigator, the decision was easy. "We see a lot of RSV cases in young babies, and they can get very nasty," she says. "It was easy to see the impact a maternal vaccine that could protect their babies would have."

That vaccine has since moved into routine clinical practice. McCoy, a practicing OB-GYN of 16 years, later stepped into the PI seat herself when her practice partner moved and could no longer continue - a transition she describes as a learning curve, but one backed by strong support from her site team and Velocity's central team. She's in clinical practice four days a week, with Wednesdays and evenings carved out for research.

Where Sponsors Should Be Looking Next

Dr. McCoy's clinical vantage point gives her a specific, granular read on where women's health research is underinvested - and where a study would find patients waiting. She points to non-hormonal menopause treatment as a rare recent bright spot, and to signs of movement in birth control research. But she returns, with something close to frustration, to gaps she sees daily in practice: limited research into GLP-1s for Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, despite what she calls a known positive effect on patients; and, most of all, women's sexual dysfunction, an area she says trails decades behind the research invested in men's. "I could sign five or six people a day for that," she says. "It's such a need." Patients switch to her practice specifically because they didn't feel comfortable raising the issue elsewhere - a population, in other words, that already exists and is already looking.

She's equally direct about the funding gap behind the research gap: prostate surgery reimburses at a higher rate than a hysterectomy, testosterone replacement for men pays better than hormone replacement for women, and estrogen vaginal cream - roughly $70 a month out of pocket - isn't covered under Medicare, while Viagra is covered in full. "There's just a discrepancy in what's covered for women," she says.

A Practice Built Around Removing Taboo

What drew Dr. McCoy to OB-GYN, after starting medical school with pediatrics in mind, was the variety - delivery, clinic, surgery, and clinic again inside a single day - paired with a clear sense of unmet need. "Women take care of their families," she says. "They make sure their mom, their spouse, and their kids are doing their medical treatment. But a lot of times, women put themselves on the back burner." She tells her patients directly: "You cannot be the best mom or wife or daughter if you're not taking care of your own health first."

She's watched that reticence erode over her career. Early on, patients often couldn't tell her whether their own mothers had gone through a hysterectomy or when they'd hit menopause - it was, in her words, too taboo to discuss. Sixteen years later, patients arrive with a complete medical history and direct questions about menopause or decreased sex drive. She pushes that openness actively: when colleagues doubted patients would engage with HPV educational materials out of embarrassment, her response was blunt - 85 percent of people have HPV, and it isn't something to feel ashamed about.

An Unplanned Career, Twice Over

Dr. McCoy had been planning to attend law school until a classmate asked her for a ride to a nearby medical program's application day; she applied on the spot. It's a pattern she recognizes in how the rest of her career has gone, research included, and one she's now watching repeat in her own kids. Her son, graduating next month, recently told her he wants to develop better mental health drugs - ones that target more than one or two receptors. "My initial thought was, that's good," she says. "That's much needed!" Her daughter, younger and still undecided, is currently focused on a move from Alabama to London; Dr. McCoy, who grew up partly in England near the air bases at Lakenheath and Mildenhall, has been gently steering her toward the countryside instead, without much success - a Harry Styles concert may end up settling the matter. Either way, she seems at ease wherever her children land. Given how her own career started, she knows better than most that there's value in going with the flow.