Each year, our Viome female teammates in science and technology come together, opening the doors of our laboratory in Bothell, Washington. The invitation goes out to young women in the community who are curious about STEM careers and want to know more. Our encouragement of these singular individuals to explore science, technology, engineering, math, and business is part of our foundation for supporting the community where we do business.
Viome’s Annual Women in STEM and Business tour
Our annual event hosts a full tour of the Viome labs, giving a detailed view of our processes and the science and data behind our wellness platform. A panel of Viome experts in clinical nutrition, laboratory testing and data, and clinical research spark a discussion with attendees. They each tell everyone a little bit about what they do and field questions about the big picture of Viome, learning more about STEM careers and how to get started.
The Viome STEM Panel Speakers
Kara Millbury, Viome Laboratory Technical Supervisor
Laura Whicker, Viome Data Analytics and Solutions Engineer
Mariya Pavolva, Viome Lab Accessioning Team
Mori Mehrtash, Viome Clinical Studies Coordinator
Hilary Keiser, Viome Translational Science, Clinical Nutrition Team
Hosts: Anu Jain, Viome Vice President of Community Relations, and Jennafer Shurter, HR Manager
Tour Highlights and Personal Stories
Anu introduces the Viome philosophy and science, and the panel
"...like Hippocrates said, that let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food. And so with that motto, really, food is so personalized."
With those words of wisdom, Anu Jain, VP of Community Relations, kicks off the Women in STEM panel with a brief word to the attendees of one of Viome's core scientific philosophies.
Question on how your microbiome health can be impacted by your geographical location
Hilary Keiser, Translational Scientist, covers some ground on how your microbiome is influenced by where you live and travel. She also briefly touches on the basic idea of composition versus function as it relates to the different "characters" within your microbiome and how they influence digestion and health.
How Viome Precision Supplements are formulated for each individual
Once again, Hilary speaks on how function trumps composition, even when looking at the individual ingredients in each person's Precision Supplement formulation. This includes not only probiotics but fibers, vitamins, herbs, extracts, and more.
Facts about Viome customers’ data and privacy
Laura Whicker, Data Scientist, and Hilary discuss the rigorous care taken with customers' data and samples. This is not only how the information is de-identified when it arrives in the lab for the best possible privacy and adherence to HIPAA regulations but also the marked difference between DNA versus RNA and the possibility of using that to identify someone.
Exploring a career in STEM for Mori Mehrtash
Mori Mehrtash, Study Coordinator, talks about her realization of her career and her decision to join the Viome Team. It turns out that legitimately helping thousands of people, rather than one person at a time as a physician, kicked off the beginning of her career at Viome.
Joining Viome and progressing to HR Manager for Jennafer Shurter
Jennafer Shurter, HR Manager, shares how she took a chance with Viome as a startup company and flourished. She quickly got promoted from a support representative to full HR Manager and moved to work at the corporate headquarters in Washington state.
Touring Viome and then joining the team for Mariya Pavolva
Mariya Pavlova, one of our newest lab accessioners at Viome, shares how she was influenced to join the Viome team when she took the invitation to the previous year's Viome STEM Lab Tour and what she initially saw and liked about the Viome team.
