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Sarah Harris

@sarahhasendo

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PhD Candidate @uniofnottingham | Research Fellow @unibirmingham | Trustee @cystersgroup | Freelance Health Journo | [email protected] | 🍉

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In Gaudi we trust 🇪🇸 by @sarahhasendo

It’s been almost a year since I officially joined the Cysters team as a Trustee, and what an incredible year it’s been 🤩

For those of you who I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting yet; Hello! I’m Sarah, a south-asian endometriosis researcher and journalist, who is deeply passionate about dismantling the gender health gap.

I was deeply honoured when my good friend @neelamheerashergill asked me to formally join the Cysters team, after being a huge fan of their work for years. I’m so excited for the charity to begin its new chapter, and most importantly, for Neelam to finally get the recognition she deserves after selflessly working behind-the-scenes for almost a decade.

Through my role as a Trustee, I’m hoping to continue bridging the gap between academia and community-led research. For too long, the academic space and the charity sector have been working in silos - both towards the same goal of creating health equality - when they should be collaborating. Cysters has always been a huge advocate for co-production, and I’m passionate about seeing this work continue.

I’m excited to continue working with Cysters, and being a part of change ❣️ by @sarahhasendo

the sun was a paid actor 🙂‍↔️ by @sarahhasendo

We cannot build better menopause care while continuing to leave so many people out of the conversation. Too many people remain invisible in menopause research, unheard in healthcare and excluded from the decisions shaping their care.

And that's exactly why we brought Marginalised & Menopausal® to life in Manchester

A space where different experiences, identities, bodies and voices could come together. Where conversations went beyond the usual menopause narrative. Where lived experience wasn't an afterthought, but the expertise at the centre of the room. From race and culture to disability, LGBTQIA+ experiences, POI, surgical and medically induced menopause, perimenopause and access to treatment, we wanted to make space for the conversations that are too often overlooked.

Representation isn't just about being in the room. It's about having the power to influence what happens next.

To everyone who joined us, shared their stories, facilitated conversations, challenged thinking, supported the day and helped bring this community together: thank you.

We didn't just create an event. We created connections, challenged assumptions and gathered voices that deserve to shape the future of menopause research, healthcare and policy to feed into our community insights.

The conversation needs to change. And it needs all of us. This is why Cysters exists. 💜

#MarginalisedAndMenopausal #MenopauseMatters #InclusiveMenopause #MenopauseResearch #Cysters by @sarahhasendo

🌟 A huge congratulations to our trustee, Sarah Harris!

We are incredibly proud to celebrate Sarah, who has been named one of Cardiff University's 30(ish) Social Impact Award winners for 2026!

Sarah is an NIHR PhD candidate, freelance journalist and endometriosis advocate whose work is helping shine a much needed light on inequalities in women's health. As a trustee of Cysters, Sarah has played a pivotal role in leading and co-authoring our groundbreaking research, in collaboration with Endometriosis UK, exploring delayed endometriosis diagnosis in ethnically diverse communities.

The research highlighted a deeply concerning inequality: people from ethnic minority backgrounds experience longer diagnostic journeys for endometriosis than their white counterparts.

This is exactly why representation in research matters. For too long, the experiences of marginalised communities have been overlooked, underrepresented and missing from the evidence used to shape healthcare. The research was presented in Parliament in March 2026, helping bring these inequalities into spaces where change needs to happen.

This recognition is so well deserved. Congratulations Sarah! ❤️

From all of us at Cysters, thank you for the work you do and for helping us challenge the status quo.

#Cysters #Endometriosis #EndometriosisResearch #HealthInequalities #EthnicHealthInequalities by @sarahhasendo

📣Instagram, we need your help!📣

We are currently collecting evidence for our rapid review of evidence relating to menstrual health and period equity programmes in the UK.

This review is part of a wider project that will aim to produce a practical and accessible resource that community organisations can use to evaluate, improve and demonstrate the impact of their work.

If you, or your organisation, has either published or unpublished evidence, relating to this topic, please get in touch so that we can share more information with you about our research, and how you can help! by @sarahhasendo

🚨 FINAL 20 TICKETS! MARGINALISED & MENOPAUSAL 2026 🚨

What if talking about menopause felt less lonely, more joyful, and a little bit FUNNIER? 👀💜

On 31 October, we’re bringing our community together for a day of honest conversations, connection, laughter and change. And trust us, you don’t want to miss this!

✨ Here’s what your ticket gets you:

📸 Be part of history! Have the opportunity to take part in a FREE photoshoot for our Faces of Menopause 2026 campaign, celebrating the real faces and experiences of menopause, with portraits set to be showcased in Parliament.

😂 A special comedy performance from Shazia Mirza! Because menopause conversations don’t always have to be sad, serious or clinical. There is space for joy, laughter and a little bit of chaos too!

🥪 Food and drinks included! We wouldn’t leave you hungry. Come for the conversations, stay for the samosay and chai.

🤝 Connect with organisations, supporters and researchers working to make menopause care more inclusive, culturally aware and accessible for everyone.

💜 Whether you’re navigating menopause yourself, supporting someone you love, working in healthcare, conducting research or simply want to learn more, there is a space for you here.

At Cysters, we believe community care means making space for our stories, our differences, our laughter and our liberation.

📍 Manchester
📅 31 October 2026
🎟️ ONLY 20 TICKETS LEFT!

Don’t wait until you see everyone else posting about it. Come and be part of the conversation.

🎟️ Book your ticket via the link in our bio!

#MarginalisedAndMenopausal #MenopauseAwareness #MenopauseMatters #FacesOfMenopause #Cysters by @sarahhasendo

📸 Want your face and your menopause story to be part of something bigger?

Book your ticket for our Marginalised & Menopausal® event where we’ll be taking beautiful portrait photographs of our community as part of our Faces of Menopause campaign.

Together, we’re challenging the stereotypes around menopause and making visible the diverse faces, bodies and experiences of menopause.

✨ Your portrait could be featured as part of our Faces of Menopause project in Parliament in January 2027, helping decision makers see who is too often missing from the conversation.

And we’re so excited to have our wonderful photographer Tom capturing these portraits with us. 📸

🎟️ Book your ticket and be part of the campaign.

Because menopause doesn’t have one face. It has many. by @sarahhasendo

Cysters has never been built by one person. It has been built by community. By people showing up, taking up space together, holding each other, challenging each other and refusing to let the work become smaller than the people it exists for.

So let's start there.

To our community. The people who have been here from the beginning. The people who came to biscuit and cuppa meet ups, who shared their stories, who trusted us with the bits of their lives that healthcare had made them feel they had to hide. The people who have filled rooms, joined calls, completed surveys, shared our posts, challenged systems, turned up when they had no spoons left and kept believing that things could be different.

You are the reason Cysters exists.

Cysters isn't just a charity. It's a movement, collective liberation, racial love, friendship, community. Putting people before projects, always. Fourteen years later, we know more than ever that the most important thing we have built isn't an organisation.

It's each other ✊🏿🍉🔥 by @sarahhasendo

welcome to the twentyfine café, can i take your order? 🌟☕️🌻💖2️⃣9️⃣🍵✨🫶🥐 by @sarahhasendo

11 YEARS 🚨

That's how long it can take for someone from an ethnically diverse background to get an endometriosis diagnosis.

Think about what that really means.

💔 Years of severe pain.
💔 Years of being told it's "just period pain".
💔 Years of missed opportunities, missed work, missed education and missed moments with loved ones.
💔 Years of medical gaslighting and fighting to be believed.

When Black, Asian and other marginalised communities are excluded from research, overlooked in healthcare and face barriers to accessing support, diagnosis gets delayed and people suffer.

Pain should not have to be proven.

We hear from people every week who have spent years searching for answers, often being dismissed before finally receiving an endometriosis diagnosis.

Nobody should have to wait over a decade to be taken seriously.

#Endometriosis #EndometriosisAwareness #WomensHealth #HealthInequalities #HealthEquity #PeriodPain #ChronicIllness #InvisibleIllness #ReproductiveHealth #MenstrualHealth #BlackWomensHealth #SouthAsianHealth #HealthcareEquality #HealthJustice #MedicalGaslighting #EndoWarrior #ChronicPain #PatientAdvocacy #HealthDisparities #Cysters by @sarahhasendo

by @sarahhasendo