Natasha Gajewski | |
---|---|
Born | Natasha Rana |
Education | Rutgers University (BA) |
Occupations |
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Spouse | Mark Gajewski[1] |
Children | 2 |
Relatives | Christopher Emery (stepbrother) Richard Kind (stepbrother) |
Honors | TedMED Frontline Scholar, Stanford MedX ePatient Scholar |
Natasha Gajewski (née Rana) is the CEO and Founder of Symple Health.[2][3]
Gajewski was born to Dana Roy and Riaz Hussein Rana.[citation needed] Her father, Rana, was a commercial pilot and later statistician. Rana immigrated to the United States from Zafar Chowk, Pakistan in 1960.[4] Gajewski has one sister, Holly Bossard. Gajewski has a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Statistics from Rutgers University.[citation needed]
After being diagnosed, in 2010, with the rare condition, Mixed connective tissue disease (MTCD), Gajewski was told by her physician to keep track of her symptoms between medical appointments.[5] This motivated her to improve health prospects for patients.[6][7][8] This led to the idea to create a mobile symptom journal.[7] Gajewski was initially faced with the prohibitive costs of developing a Mobile app after approaching developers from the United States and India.[9] To evaluate the feasibility and validity of the app, she attend Eric Ries's 2011 Lean startup - San Francisco where her idea was the 2nd-place winner and was voted "most fundable" and "most likely to succeed."[9][10] In a February 2017 Heart Sisters interview, Gajewksi said of her experience designing a mobile app:[11]
But there wasn’t [already a mobile app], so I went about making my own. Because I was actively sick at the time, I knew certain things that a healthy person might completely miss – something as simple as not using sliders on a screen because they’re harder to activate (and require more thought) than a button.
She has been described as a "revolutionary" in the engaged patient movement along with Dave deBronkart and Jamie Heywood.[12] In 2014, the Symple App had 60,000 users.[13] It is distributed through the App Store (iOS).[13] In 2016, Symple was recommended by a National Health Service general practitioner, Dr. Golda Parker, for patients to use to create lists of symptoms so they come prepared to appointments.[14] Gajewski's Symple app has been the subject of research in academic journals.[15] A 2017 academic study rated her mobile app as one of the "highest performing apps" for heart failure monitoring.[16] Gajewski provided input on point of care patient decisions in a 2016 study.[17] Danny Gorog of Macworld had positive remarks on the App, stating that it " is a powerful iPhone app that lets users track up to 20 different symptoms at once. It also functions as a health diary, to let you note the things you eat, daily exercise and medications you take."[18]
Gajewski serves as an Advisor for Princeton University's Keller Center eLab Summer Accelerator.[19] She is also a member of University of California, San Diego and Irvine's Health Data Exploration Project.[20] In December 2011, Gajewski was one of the Princeton alumni and women entrepreneurs and business leaders who served as a panelist for the event entitled "Women in Entrepreneurship" hosted by the Keller Center.[21] The panel explored the underrepresentation of women in venture capital and startup ventures to which, Gajewski reported "I just never imagined limitations based on my sex.”[21] Later remarking, “It just never occurred to me."[21] Gajewski is a faculty member for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation sponsored National Health Care Transparency Summit.[22] Gajewski serves on the Advisory Board of Flip the Clinic, a project of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.[23]
Gajewski resides in Princeton, New Jersey.[4] To combat her autoimmune disease, Gajewski practices Zumba.[24] Gajewski's parents later divorced, and her father remarried Jacqueline Nicole Marchal of Paris, through which, Gajewski gained three step-siblings including Christopher Emery.[25] Gajewski's mother remarried jeweler Samuel Kind, through which, she gained two step-siblings, actor and voice actor Richard Kind and Joanne Hinton.[26]