Leda Health

Madison is a co-founder of a sexual health innovation known as the Leda Health Kit, a DIY sexual assault evidence kit that allows survivors to collect time-sensitive evidence in the comfort and privacy of their own space. Sexual assault is drastically under-reported in the U.S. as an astonishing 77% of survivors do not report (according to the DOJ). There are a myriad of reasons for the lack of sexual assaultt reporting. Still, one of the main reasons is the systemic lack of institutions made for supporting survivors of sexual assault. While exploring how to provide an option to the 77% of survivors who don’t make it to the hospital, the Leda Health Kit was born. By submitting an alternative for sexual assault survivors that allows them to self-collect evidence, we remove many of the steps victims currently go through to get tested by institutions that they do not trust.

Sexual assault survivors have two options today: going to the hospital or going to the authorities. Both lead to constricting and humiliating predicaments, a large reason why 70-90% of all sexual assaults go unreported. Our kit empowers victims to come forward and seek justice in the safest and personally empowering way possible. We will sell our kit to consumers through distribution channels, such as universities and corporations, so the survivor/consumer never bears the cost. We hope that with our kits, victims will be able to self-test when such an incident occurs and collect evidence in a timely manner to use as needed when needed moving forward. 

The current system in place for sexual assault survivors is failing them. There are over 200,000 rape kits in backlog within the United States alone, two out of three rapes go unreported, and the 10 to 30 hour reporting process that survivors go through is said to be invasive and traumatizing. The global situation is no better than the one in the United States and there haven't been any innovations in the sector in decades.

Our lead solution involves a kit containing six swabs (anal, oral, and genital) and a compartment for collecting clothing to preserve time-sensitive evidentiary matter from sexual assault survivors. There is an online application that goes along with the kit and provides a “walk-through” and other guidance on using the swabs and other equipment. The survivor can choose to hold on to their kit or send it to our lab for testing when they are ready to take the next step. Beyond that, Leda Health as a company has started many grassroots campaigns to raise sexual health awareness and gather low/no cost resources so we can help survivors with more than just the process of getting justice. 

If you - or someone you know - is a sexual assault victim, you likely know how unfortunately hopeless the testing system is. Our kits will allow victims to produce samples in 15 minutes. Moreover, we would see a substantial increase in the number of reported cases of sexual assault. Leda Health has a unique perspective in developing a product that will encompass the needs of victims because one of our founders, Madison, is a survivor of sexual assault. Our product is addressing their direct needs by effectively providing a unique vehicle to justice, which will be exponentially quicker than the 10-30 hours that it takes to complete a sample at a hospital. It is also currently very costly to pursue a case - we will be able to sell our kits for thousands of dollars less than the hospital bill and while hopefully minimizing trauma for the survivor.

As over 200,000 rape kits sit on shelves untested in the US alone, it is obvious that this is one of the biggest problems in our society right now. Leda Health plans to help these victims by allowing for our consumers to test themselves.

We believe that The Elevate Challenge can provide us with resources that would benefit our production and expansion plans by allowing us to expedite these processes. Additionally, winning this challenge will allow provide a platform to reach more survivors of sexual assault.

Every 98 seconds, someone is sexually assaulted in the United States. It is estimated that over 200,000 rape kits currently sit untested in police departments and crime lab storage facilities across the country in what is known as the Rape Kit Backlog, and these numbers are estimated to jump greatly during this time of disaster. Each kit represents a lost opportunity to bring healing and justice to a survivor of sexual violence and safety to a community. 

We hope that with our kit, victims are able to self-test when such an incident occurs, so they can collect evidence in a timely manner, and use it when needed moving forward. 

We believe individuals across the world should be given access to affordable ways to self-collect their evidence after sexual assault. From 1st to 3rd world countries, sexual assault testing is an arduous task that requires hospital or government intervention. 

As a victim of sexual assault, I am passionate due to the ability to help other individuals who lack the courage to go to the authorities or to a hospital, out of fear of being shamed. 

I was sexually assaulted on a college campus. Based on studies - over 90% of sexual assaults go unreported on college campuses and depending on the study, 63% to 80% of sexual assaults go unreported generally.

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Personally, after my sexual assault, I did not even want to touch myself—let alone let anyone touch my body or console me. I am not alone, and there are plenty of individuals out there that share similar stories.

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The Criminal Justice System: Statistics | RAINN

The majority of perpetrators of sexual assault will not go to prison. Although there is no way to right the wrongs of sexual assault, finding justice and getting resources into the hands of survivors is a goal that I strive to reach every day.

Leda Health is meant to alleviate the problems that hospital SAEKs pose by forming a commercial avenue for the conduct of testing, thereby closing the market gap caused by government backlogs. Our kits will be used in the privacy of the consumer's home, will be affordable, user friendly, and help secure the justice that sexual assault survivors deserve. Our understanding of this problem is better than anyone's, as we have painstakingly read case law to determine the sheer need for our product. We understand our critics, we understand the media, and we know how to move forward with regard to them both. 

We were written by 16 members of Congress. We have received 4 subpoenas and 17 cease and desist letters. As of right now, 1 of the subpoenas have been dropped, and 3 have been gone silent after our litigators got involved. We have not heard from any government individual since December 5th, making it seem that the initial reaction was in knee-jerk to a larger press agenda over our original name, MeToo Kit. We have since changed our name to Leda Health to silence critics and exemplify our confidence in our tremendous product.

We have an entirely probono litigation staff and legal advisors/scholars that believe in us heavily, through Pepper Hamilton and other lawfirms like UChicago Innovation Center and Wilson Sonsini. 

All letters are attached here: https://drive.google.com/drive...

Madison was one of the first individuals to have conducted research on Epstein-Barr Virus in Commercial Space populations, of which she spoke at TEDx about. This is an odd subject because most people don't think about mononucleosis happening to astronauts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOWu3GHYDDU

The innovation in our product stems from our belief that survivors should hold autonomy over their own bodies. Sexual assault survivors have two options today - going to the hospital, or going to the authorities. This is a constricting and humiliating predicament to be in, which is a big reason why 70-90% of all sexual assaults go unreported. 

Survivors are currently expected to completely process their assault and experience another bodily intrusion immediately after (having evidence collected by authorities). This makes survivors feel trapped like there is nowhere to turn. Survivors also have less of a chance for justice if they perform a hospital kit because their information is not privileged. This is where Leda Health comes in, providing a private, easy to use, affordable option that won't sit in backlog for years.

We have over 345,000 preorders to fulfill for the Fall 2020 school year. We are in the process of donating our remaining inventory before our branding change to those communities most impacted by the COVID-19 crisis.

Within the next five years, we expect to hit international markets, and the world as a whole. We expect to sell over 12,000,000 kits in 5 years.

We renamed the company from MeToo Kits Company to Leda Health Company, and are positioning 2020 for our redesigned approach toward those individuals who have experienced sexual assault, and those institutions that would like to prevent sexual assault from happening in the first place. We will be focusing on three parts: collection, confirmation, and community. 

The community piece comprises of sexual assault nurse examiners (SANEs) or other qualified professionals. Survivors are connected with SANEs, counseling services, witness collection, and medical and legal advice. We have been cultivating relationships with these professionals since September 2019; including the President of the American Forensic Nursing Academy, who sits on our Advisory Board.

We would like to commit the first order of 10,000 units (during summer 2020) to the frontlines of COVID-19. We would view this as an act of goodwill, and business development to partners who would like to see the effectiveness of our product in a pandemic. This will also help us combat misleading press that was released about us in early September.

We hope to ship 100,000 kits before the end of our first year of launch. We believe the outlet that The Elevate Prize gives us would allow us the ability to be on the frontlines of combating this epidemic.

Within the next five years, we hope to expand into the global market and provide other services.

We have successfully mitigated these barriers and are still in the process of doing so. After getting the legal team involved, all congress members have fallen silent. As mentioned, we have not heard from any government official since December 5th. Moreover, we have altered our marketing approach to ensure our previous critics that we are not trying to simply take advantage of monetizing the me too movement.

For confirmation or testing, we are partnering/have partnered with a testing laboratory. The partnership was executed with the help of the former Chief Scientific Officer of both Integenx and ANDE Forensics. They specialize in sexual assault testing, including semen detection, DNA profiling, and drug detection. Beta kit testing requires paying the laboratory a $10,000 retainer.