Beyond the Band-Aid: How Two Clinicians Are Transforming UTI Care
The folders arrive first—thick with lab results, symptom logs, screenshots. Evidence carefully assembled, cross-referenced. Then comes the woman herself, walking into The UTI Clinic prepared with data, hoping to be seen and heard.
“Many women step into our clinic ready for battle,” says Aubree Ng, PA, co-founder and clinical director of The UTI Clinic. After more than a decade in urogynecology, she recognizes the posture immediately—the defensive crouch women adopt after years of dismissal. “They’ve learned to armor themselves with data and documentation because too often, their lived experience alone hasn’t been enough.”
It’s a stance shaped by experience. Ng and her co-founder, Dr. Leah Posthuma, a Harvard-trained urogynecologist, have seen firsthand how conventional UTI care often leaves women cycling through short-term solutions without long-term relief. Patients move between urgent care visits and repeated rounds of antibiotics that resolve acute symptoms but fail to prevent recurrence. As Ng explains, patients were “stuck in a cycle of urgent care visits and repeated rounds of antibiotics, yet they aren’t getting better.”
UTIs are painful, disruptive, and deeply distressing. They occur at inconvenient times and can shape daily decision-making. They are also common. More than half of women will experience at least one UTI in their lifetime, and a significant proportion will go on to develop recurrent infections. Clinically, recurrent UTI is typically defined as two infections within six months or three within one year.
Despite this prevalence, many women report feeling dismissed or minimized when symptoms persist. Over time, this can create both physical and psychological strain.
For decades, UTI care has relied heavily on antibiotics. While antibiotics can be lifesaving and remain an essential part of treatment, repeated courses raise well-documented concerns about antimicrobial resistance and can affect the body’s microbial balance. For some women, this approach addresses the immediate infection but does not interrupt the recurring pattern.
Listening closely to patients’ lived experiences led the founders to question whether incremental tweaks to existing protocols were enough. The answer, they concluded, was no. Ending the cycle would require rethinking how recurrent UTIs are understood, diagnosed, and treated.
Looking Beyond the Acute Infection
At The UTI Clinic, that rethinking begins with widening the clinical lens. Rather than focusing solely on eradicating bacteria during acute infection, the clinic considers broader factors that contribute to bladder health.
Emerging research suggests that the urinary microbiome may play a role in bladder health. In addition, tissue integrity, hormonal influences, immune function, and metabolic health can all shape susceptibility to infection and recovery patterns. This integrative framework expands beyond symptom suppression toward prevention and long-term resilience.
Dr. Posthuma, currently completing a master’s degree in herbal medicine, is also expanding the clinic’s therapeutic toolkit to include evidence-informed botanical approaches alongside conventional diagnostics and treatment.
The goal is not to abandon antibiotics, but to place them within a more comprehensive strategy to reduce recurrence and support overall bladder health.
A Model Grounded in Validation and Partnership
The UTI Clinic’s approach centers on expanding diagnostics and integrative care, as well as validation. By shifting from interrogation to curiosity, the founders aim to rebuild trust and establish a partnership- a foundational component to their model of care.
Beyond the exam room, their advocacy addresses broader structural issues: gaps in research funding, overreliance on antibiotics without preventive frameworks, and the systemic patterns through which women and marginalized groups are minimized in healthcare.
Their work positions recurrent UTIs as legitimate, complex conditions worthy of specialized attention. Women deserve to walk into a clinic knowing their pain is already believed.
Follow their journey: The UTI Clinic | Instagram
About Women at the Helm
Women at the Helm is an interview series celebrating the founders and leaders redefining what’s possible in women’s health. We spotlight the bold voices driving innovation in femtech—women who are building with purpose, leading with vision, and reshaping care for the better.