Janine O'Leary Cobb

In 1984, Janine O’Leary Cobb became a friend to women worldwide when she began publishing the newsletter A Friend Indeed. Janine started the newsletter while working as a professor at Vanier College in Montreal, Canada. After noticing a lack of adequate information on menopause in existing literature, and menopause’s characterization as a disease by some in the medical community, Janine decided to bring a more balanced, women-centered approach to the subject. The newsletter served as a way for Janine to address her own menopause experience and became a valuable source for other women about the natural process of menopause. The newsletter became a huge success and Janine was asked to write a book about the subject. Understanding Menopause has sold over 45,000 copies in Canada and was recently updated in 2001. Janine edited and published A Friend Indeed until 1998; the newsletter is now produced by a new publisher, Women’s Health Initiative, Inc. Janine is currently active with Breast Cancer Action Montreal and is a contributor for the latest edition of Our Bodies, Ourselves. See: www.bcam.qc.ca/index1.html.
September 2005