Name: Irene Gabashvili
Location: Silicon Valley, California
Occupation: Founder of Aurametrix, Inc
As a child in the Kransnodar region of the Soviet Union, Irene Gabashvili read about female scientists like the pioneer of radiology, Marie Curie, and found herself inspired by the idea of not only breaking the glass ceiling, but inventing an entirely new method of helping patients within the field of medicine. She found herself always wondering about the origin of life, and she translated this relentless curiosity into her study of physics and biophysics at such illustrious institutions as Texas Health Center and the Department of Medicine at Stanford University.
Over time, Irene realized that there was a serious need for people to be able to alleviate symptoms for certain chronic ailments and conditions on their own. She believed that it was important to find a way for patients to apply analysis to their daily lives so they could live healthier, with more tools to monitor diet, activity and symptoms at their disposal. By uniting new technology with her understanding of science and medicine, Irene developed Aurametrix, a simple, straightforward tool that allows anyone to see how they can make tiny changes to alleviate some of their more negative symptoms, even if it’s just something straightforward, like avoiding that extra slice of fried eggplant or getting nine hours of sleep instead of seven.
“I noticed there were a lot of people suffering from food sensitivities, allergies, metabolic disorders, and microbial imbalances,” Irene explains. “These types of disorders are difficult for physicians to diagnose because the symptoms vary from one individual to the next and can be triggered by an enormous variety of factors. Though rarely life-threatening, they can take a social and economic toll on people as they spend years of personal trial and error to understand what diet and lifestyle adjustments are needed to alleviate the symptoms.”
“Aurametrix can analyze hundreds of “health variables” and quickly narrow down the factors that are positively and negatively influencing one’s symptoms."
Irene created software that might not answer her nagging question about the origin of life, but definitely can provide the response to the inquiry, “How can I live better?” Aurametrix empowers people to take control of their health in a way that might not be available simply through the traditional doctor-patient interaction.
At its core, it’s like a digital nurse that looks at all of the different details that can contribute to a person’s symptoms in order to figure out what parts of their life are making them feel better or worse. These factors can be pretty easy to miss, but her software takes the guess-work out of it. “Aurametrix can analyze hundreds of “health variables” and quickly narrow down the factors that are positively and negatively influencing one’s symptoms,” Irene elaborates. “People can also use it to fine-tune their diet and exercise to reach their optimal health plateaus.”
Predictably, Aurametrix takes up a lot of Irene’s time, and she finds herself always searching for that unattainable 25th hour in every day. When she’s not working, Irene likes to jog, and finds herself at peace while hiking in the wilderness.
When she looks ahead and thinks of how her newly-launched program can help people, Irene is excited at the prospect of attracting more users who will use Aurametrix to figure out what’s making them suffer and to eliminate unnecessary discomfort. “I hope that more and more people will understand how Aurametrix could change their lives,” she says. “Together we can create a healthy future.”
When it comes to helping other women who are looking to break into the field of biomedicine, Irene has a few key pieces of advice. “Believe in yourself, dream and aim high,” she says. “Don’t be afraid to ask successful people for advice.”
For helping the world better understand how to take action and work towards wellness -- and for blazing a trail in the biomedical community -- we think that Irene Gabashvili is quite a Cool Girl!
Take a look at Aurametrix! You can also see their tutorial videos, or follow them on Twitter, Google +, and Facebook.
