David Rowan is a retired Engineer in Houston, Texas, who, along with his wife, co-founded the Alexandra L. Rowan Foundation in honor of his daughter, Alex, who died from a Massive Pulmonary Embolism (MPE) caused by her birth control pill. Through his foundation, he raises awareness about MPE and recently published a biography of Alex called My Beautiful Memory that uses much of her journal entries and addresses the death and injury rates from hormonal birth control usage with proposals for reducing the losses. In this episode, we talk about Alex’s life before her MPE, the obstacles which prevent many women from making informed decisions about hormonal birth control, the shocking death rate associated with side effects of hormonal birth control, what parents can do to help their daughters make informed decisions, the simple test that every woman should take before starting hormonal birth control, and so much more!   To learn more about David Rowan, visit the show notes.