Vacation of the Valkyrie – Back to the Blog

It’s been ages since I have written for the blog – the longest break since I started it back in 2008.  It wasn’t for any particular reason, other than being busy with a new job and somehow too busy to notice the inspiration for the stories that typically fuel my rantings.  I have been looking for the inspiration to re-start and found it on vacation.  I wrote most of this post on my way back from Stockholm, a place I had not been before this vacation.  Wow, what a great city – who knew that it was more than meatballs, IKEA and ABBA?  I’m guessing lots of people knew, but I was blown away by how amazing it was.

One of the particularly fun things about being in Stockholm is the widespread evidence of Vikings.  And where there are Vikings, there are Valkyries.

While Valkyries are, technically, Norwegian in origin, Norway and Sweden were part of the same united country until 1905.  And as you can imagine, the Vikings (and their myths) did not worry much about international borders back in the day (a day which was at least 1000 years ago).

As a reminder, the Valkyries are the mythological Norwegian goddesses who flew above the soldiers of war, helping decide who went to Heaven and who…did not.  I chose the name for this blog because that concept seemed apt to me, as a venture capitalist, in my “not everybody finds my sense of humor funny” kind of way.  Clearly VCs do not decide what companies live and die, but they often think they do.  Anyway, I was amused by the allusion so there it is.  My walk-up song at conferences, when I don’t choose it myself, is almost always Wagner’s Flight of the Valkyries. Considering it’s a big Bugs Bunny favorite, I am all in.  When asked, I tend to choose George Thorogood’s Bad to the Bone, but the Vikings hadn’t open their Spotify accounts yet, so didn’t have that song in the rotation. (ps – I saw Thorogood in concert this very week and damn, the dude has still got it).

The specific writing inspiration I saw on my Stockholm trip was THIS ARTICLE, entitled, ”First Genetic Proof that Women Were Viking Warriors.” I found the article when researching the Viking Rune stones that dot the landscape at Uppsala University outside Stockholm.  The article discusses a grave found with a Viking military leader that was long assumed to be a man until genetic analysis proved that the person was, in fact, a woman.

The popular news is rife with discussion about the role of women and whether women are capable of being, say, President of the US, or anything else useful for that matter (cue theme from Handmaid’s Tale).  While on vacation I have studiously tried to avoid the news, but no American is safe in Europe from being asked, “What in the hell is wrong with you people and your politics over there – are you all crazy?”  It’s hard to argue with that assertion right now.  And speaking of quotes, how about this one from the article about the female Viking Warrior:

“The gaming set [found in the grave] indicates that she was an officer, someone who worked with tactics and strategy and could lead troops in battle. What we have studied was not a Valkyrie from the sagas but a real-life military leader, that happens to have been a woman,” says Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson, Stockholm University, who led the study.

While in Stockholm I also took the time to visit the Nobel Prize Museum, which is super cool if you get the chance to swing by it.  I took note that of all the Nobel Prize winners throughout history, and there have been more than 990 of them, fewer than 7% are women (65 total women have won across all categories).  Of those who represent the prizes for Medicine, Chemistry and Physics, the categories that touch healthcare in one way or another, the number is even smaller – 4% – despite the amazing contributions of my fellow Valkyries out there in the world.   It is heartening to see names like Carolyn Bertozzi and Jennifer Doudna (Go Bears!) on the list, but no doubt many are unjustly missing.  I haven’t done the research to determine how many women have been on the various Nobel Prize selection committees over the years, but I’m guessing the answer is…not enough to make the numbers look representative of the actual contributions that women make to science, medicine and related fields.  Sigh.

On a positive note:  the heir to the Swedish throne is a woman and the majority of clergy in the state religion (Lutheran) are women.  Sweden is a highly progressive place that could teach America a thing or two about gender equality.

In fact, one of the Rune stones I saw on the Uppsala University campus, was further Viking evidence of more equitable thinking about the sexes.   Created in the 11^th Century AD, one particular stone was dedicated to a woman, which was unusual even for the time.  Even so, it was one of those recovered and placed in a location of prominence at Uppsala’s central square between the old University buildings and the Cathedral.

It is, er, well, let’s call it interesting to think that about 1000+ years have gone by since that stone was made and we still have so much controversy about whether women are worthy.  As some of you know I have been working to start a new women’s health venture fund for the American Heart Association, and the statistics I have been collecting during this endeavor make me wonder if the year 1100 AD is actually in the future.  A few tidbits for you:

• Cardiovascular disease is the No. 1 killer of women. 
• Women account for 66% of people living with Alzheimer’s disease in the United States
• Women are 2x as likely as men to be diagnosed with depression,  and people with depression have a 40% higher risk of developing cardiovascular and metabolic diseases.
• Only one-third of cardiovascular disease clinical trial participants are women, so data to inform optimal care is lacking.

I have been amazed at how many women friends of mine are unfamiliar with so many of these facts or facts that are adjacent anyway, about the poor state of women’s health and about how to best take care of their own selves!  It never ceases to amaze me that women die at 3x the rate of heart disease as compared to breast cancer, and that most women don’t seem to know that.  Specifically, while 1 in 39 women in the U.S. dies from breast cancer each year, cardiovascular disease is the cause of 1 out of every 3 deaths. That’s roughly one death each minute.

This is especially poignant in that much can be done to stave off heart disease (yes things can also be done to prevent breast cancer, but there is likely a larger genetic component than in the case of heart disease, where it is generally agreed that 20% of the factors are genetic and 80% related to social drivers of health).  Hey look, none of us want to have, much less die from either of these conditions, but we should at least be aware of all of the things we need to know to optimize our health the best we can.

Anyway, it’s good to be back writing and, as one who has recently been in the land of the Valkyries, I’ll say it’s a good time to respect all of those who walk this earth and to double-down on career and health equity for women, without regard to their feelings about cats.

Gratuitous video of George Thorogood singing Bad to the Bone on August 31, 2024

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