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Today she also has two kids, 4 and 6, with ex-husband and Google cofounder Sergey Brin.
Q: It looks like you exercise.
What do you like to do?
A: I bike.
I ride anElliptiGO[an outdoor elliptical bike] every day to work.
I can’t deal with a workout that’s just a workoutit has to be integrated into my life.
I need to be doing something that’s productive.
Driving is such a waste of time these days.
you’re free to’t get anything done when you’re driving.
Q: As an entrepreneur with two kids under 7, how do you manage the elusive work-life balance?
It’s about priorities and choices.
For the first six years, I didn’t go on a single business trip without them.
They’re such good travelers, and my kids know a ton about genetics.
I’m not trying to didactically teach them, but they have all kinds of questions.
Growing up, I traveled with my parents all the time for their work.
On the Stanford campus everyone was passionate about what they were doing, so we saw that.
People had these esoteric interests, like liquid helium, and I loved meeting them.
My parents were really good at exposing us to people who really care about what they do.
Q: Was there a specific person who influenced you?
A: I really loved my pediatrician.
We’re still friends.
He had to kick me out of his practice at 25.
Having a great relationship with a physician made such a huge difference in my life.
I could argue with him.
I’d have 30- to 40-minute visits with my doctor and we’d talk about everything.
Having doctors who help you think about your health and problem-solve…that was really spectacular for me.
A: For sure.
I was trained by my parents and my doctors to really be empowered with my health.
Doctors and pharmaceutical companies only make money when you’re sick.
There’s no incentive to keep you well.
It’s a horrible story and my mom remembers it so vividly.
She always told us, “If you don’t advocate for yourself, no one will.
You have to take charge.”
So I’ve always had this relatively fearless nature.
Of course you question your doctor.
Why would I follow that advice?
Q: Did that interest in self-advocacy shape your decision to found the company?
Genetic diseases aren’t inevitable.
you could change your fate.
Back when I was investing, I saw this genetics revolution.
But it drove me crazy that pharmaceutical companies weren’t trying to utilize it more often.
I’d look at it every day and think, Well, when is it coming?
And the second thing I found really fascinating is how the pharmaceutical world works.
Over the past 20 years, we’ve only gotten worse at drug development.
We waste billions of dollars on research that’s not productive.
People don’t get to learn from the failures.
You don’t have to follow the rules.
Were you surprised when you got the letter from the FDA?
A: Yeah, completely.
But I understand it now.
So we were like, “How is that regulated?
It’s just information.”
Q: You mentioned BRCA testing.
Do you feel like it’s always better to know your genetic risk for breast cancer?
A: It’s a matter of personal choice.
Some people don’t want to know, and that’s fine.
But it’s nice for women to be able to make that choice for themselves.
Q: So how has that changed what you do?
I’m more aware.
It raises the question: What are the behaviors that I can control?
But health is an accumulation of all your activities throughout your life.
And I’d always rather prevent a disease that treat it.
So if you could tell people about their risk elements, that’s important.
We’re interested in understanding who’s genetically at higher risk for a cancer.
One of the things we want to look at are escapers.
They’re people who carry a dangerous mutation for cancer or something, and they don’t get sick.
So maybe we can look at their genes and see whyand that can be a target for medication.
Q: What other research are you doing at 23andMe?
They investigate circadian rhythm and how genetics plays a role.
With Stanford, we found two genetic associations with rosacea, a skin rash.
Most drug development today is slow.
You have a hypothesis and then run animal models.
But we’re clearly different from mice, even though we share a lot of DNA in common.
The idea that you could start with a human model is super interesting from a drug-discovery perspective.
Thanks to our database, we can start with a much better target.
Q: Was it exciting to hit the 1 million mark?
With critical mass we can do everything we want to do.
In science that’s the driver: numbers.
Q: What’s the thing you’re proudest of?
That we’ve saved lives.
There was a guy who was hospitalized before he got his data.
He’s in his 40s and has cystic fibrosis and didn’t knowhe’d had all these different surgeries.
The first two months I went through all the emotions and was like, ‘Am I happy?
Am I upset?'"
It’s not neutral information.
It changes the equation.
But she decided to have prophylactic mastectomies on both breasts.
She said, “Now I’m going to be around for my kids.”
Photo Credit: Jean-Phillippe Piter
