The HER Foundation is the global voice of HG Progress. We’re a 501(c)3 nonprofit that provides support, groundbreaking research, advocacy, and education on hyperemesis. Since 2000, we have been the leading source of information on HG and have helped over 2.2 million people across the globe.
HER is dedicated to helping those suffering hyperemesis and those who have survived it. The Foundation is here to be a voice of support and education to all who are faced with managing HG. Our mission is to provide education, research, support, and advocacy to improve management of HG so mothers and babies have healthy futures. HER Foundation EIN: 71-0912435.
Creating an Impact
Today, the website receives over 200,000 visitors each year from all over the world and manages a global volunteer network with over 900 participants. Additionally, HER is active at medical conferences and on social media educating and increasing awareness, as well as collaborating with universities on research studies to identify the impact and causes of HG, determine optimum management strategies, and drive change.
HER Foundation was a ray of hope during the physical and psychological misery of my first HG pregnancy. Their resources helped educate me and my loved ones about what I was going through and how to advocate for better healthcare solutions. It has made a world of difference in my second HG pregnancy that I’ve been able to get access to these medical interventions early on and minimize the effects of this debilitating condition.
- Rachael H., HG survivor
Improving Care | Improving Outcomes
Finding in our research that timely medical intervention improves the short and long-term health of both mother and child, Kimber works with the HER Foundation clinical advisors to create tools and resources to help families and medical professionals improve the care and outcome of mothers and babies. They have also created the HG Care app which is innovating HG management.
Improving care only happens if these resources are used, so HER attends international conferences to educate clinicians on best practices that address the issues mothers face every day and offer answers to practical management.
I had HG from 7 weeks until birth at 33 weeks. I was hospitalized for dehydration, preterm labor and a blood clot. I had IV fluids and home health care almost daily. Without HER, my doctors would have had no idea for to treat me. I did my research so I knew what treatments to ask for, and how to advocate for myself. My husband found the section on how family can understand HG so helpful. He was able to advocate for me and ask the right questions when I wasn't able to myself.
- Amanda Streets, HG survivor
Changing the Future
Thus, HER provides health care professionals with clinical tools and resources they need to provide consistent, proactive, effective care for patients with HG, and offers them and their families resources to better cope with this debilitating condition. This means a healthier future for mothers and their children.
HG was 10 unbearable weeks of constant suffering, horrifying for me, horrifying for my family, and deadly for my innocent, unborn child. When I recovered, I was shocked to learn that there was so little scientific research on HG, and there and then, decided to devote my life to studying HG.
- Marlena Fejzo, Geneticist, HG survivor
Looking Forward | Finding Answers
Dr. Marlena Fejzo, a Harvard-trained geneticist at the University of Southern California, is the world's leading researcher on HG and leads the HER Research Team. HER also works with international researchers and clinicians as part of the International Collaboration on HG (ICHG). She is the first to discover genes causing HG, including GDF15 which produces a hormone that when elevated causes many of the symptoms of HG.
Knowing HG is caused by our genes changes everything. No longer are patients blamed for their suffering, and now we can focus our attention on priorities such as how we can influence the expression of these genes, test prior to pregnancy to know who will develop severe pregnancy vomiting, and determine which medications are most likely to work based on a patient's genes.
- Kimber MacGibbon, RN & Marlena Fejzo, PhD
Nearly all of the research we do is funded by private donors as grants are extremely rare for HG. You can make HG history by getting involved and supporting HER collaborative research!
Financials
HER is a 501(c)3 registered public charity in the United States since 2002.
To send a check:
HER Foundation
10117 SE Sunnyside Rd. #F8
Clackamas, OR 97015 USA
Federal EIN: 71-0912435
The Hyperemesis Education and Research (HER) Foundation is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization established in 2002. We committed to transparency and the highest standards of financial accountability,
