Bryan Johnson & Kate Tolo On Curing Their Incurable Diseases, Addressing The Disparity In Women's Health & The Don't Die Mission
September 21, 2026
AI Summary
5 min readThe Most Measured Woman in History
When Kate Tolo joined Brian Johnson's neurotech company at 21, she had no idea she'd eventually become the most quantified female in history—tracking 1,900 biomarkers daily, including her vaginal microbiome, breast size, and reaction time, all while managing a five-hour morning routine that begins with spitting into a tube at 6:30 AM. The project started when Johnson heard Tolo mention she had "suspected endometriosis," a condition she'd been told about seven years earlier. Within 42 days, Johnson had organized four different diagnostic modalities—a transvaginal ultrasound, an endometriosis-specific MRI protocol, a blood test, and a saliva test—to confirm what women typically spend six and a half years trying to get diagnosed. Along the way, they discovered Tolo also had PMOS (formerly PCOS) and adenomyosis, a condition where the uterus becomes swollen.
The Legibility Problem
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What you'll learn
- 1 (13:34) **Kate’s $2.6M Protocol & The Quantified Menstrual Cycle** - Kate explains her project to become the most measured female in history, tracking 1,900 biomarkers through her cycle to create a baseline dataset for female health.
- 2 (15:45) **What Is Endometriosis & The Diagnostic Nightmare** - Kate defines endometriosis and explains the traditional diagnostic and treatment pathway that leaves women suffering for years.
- 3 (16:55) **How They Got A Diagnosis In 42 Days** - Kate details the multi-modal diagnostic approach Brian organized that confirmed her endometriosis and revealed two other conditions she didn't know she had.
- 4 (19:19) **The Goal: A Simple Blood Test For Endometriosis** - Kate explains the immediate practical goal of their project is to make a blood test available that any woman can take at home to get a single signal for endometriosis.
- 5 (21:59) **The Core Concept: Legibility & The History of Female Health** - Brian introduces the idea that Kate is "not legible to herself" and that women have historically been seen as chaotic systems, like the planets before astronomy.
- 6 (28:30) **Translating Endometriosis For Men** - Brian offers a visceral analogy for endometriosis to help men understand the condition and stop dismissing it.
- 7 (31:42) **The "Don't Die" Mandate: Curing Incurable Diseases** - Brian and Kate frame their dual diagnoses (his autoimmune disease and her endometriosis) as a clarifying test for their mission.
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Guests on this episode
Show Notes
Bryan Johnson and Kate Tolo are entrepreneurs, partners, and the subjects of the Netflix documentary "Don't Die."
This conversation explores the couple's challenge to a presupposition around our mortality.
We discuss AI, consciousness, Kate's endometriosis diagnosis, and our culture's relationship with death.
I appreciated their openness. Enjoy!
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