Anne Wojcicki
FDA clearance is an important step on the path towards getting genetic information integrated with routine medical care.Collection: Medical
It's crazy to me that in this world of electronic medical records Walmart has so much information about how we shop, but no one has that information about our health. Why can't my doctor say, 'Wow, Anne, based on your lifestyle and behavior, you're five years from being diabetic.' But I can go to Target, and they know exactly what I'm going to buy.Collection: Medical
One of the things that got me interested in genetics was the relationship between genes and environment. We are all dealt a certain deck of cards, but our environment can influence the outcomes.Collection: Relationship
The FDA serves a real purpose: To protect public health.Collection: Health
The reality is that the only way change comes is when you lead by example.Collection: Change
One of the best aspects of health care reform is it starts to emphasize prevention.Collection: Health
It's worth knowing more about the complicated environmental and genetic factors that could explain why traumatic brain injuries lead to long-term disabilities in some people and not in others.Collection: Environmental
Making personalized medicine a reality will require a strong partnership between 23andMe and the physician and medical communities.Collection: Medical
There's a beauty in being unrealistic.Collection: Beauty
The paternalism of the medical industry is insane.Collection: Medical
The pharma industry is one of the few industries that comes up every year and brags about how much worse they got - like, now it costs $2 billion to make a drug, and it was a billion 5 years ago.
Part of the beauty of Silicon Valley is that people generally encourage you to think crazy. It's the hypothesis that there's nothing sacred that can't be changed.
I was really raised in a gender-neutral household. I always knew I was a girl, but it never occurred to me that there was a limitation.
You don't do new things and try to change the system without generating debate.
I have mothers with small children come to me and say, 'You found that I had early breast cancer - because of you, I don't have cancer.' You've just prevented that person from dying early, and to prevent an early, unnecessary death is incredibly meaningful.
It's interesting: I think, genetically, there are people who need different things, like exercise. I need the exercise, others not so much, and I think more and more, we'll start to understand why people's bodies function in certain ways.
It doesn't matter how rich or poor you are: when you're sick, you want the exact same thing.
One of the things is, I don't read my own press. I never watch myself.
I'm not going to change; I'm very stubborn in this way. I am what I am.
When Amazon emerged, people had these debates about whether people would put their credit cards online.
When I graduated from college in 1996 and the Internet was taking off, I remember this feeling that there was an open range where anything could be built.
There are a lot of people in D.C. who have never been on Twitter or Facebook and don't get what's happening.
As a child, I had a teacher who told me, 'Look, Anne, one person can't make a difference.'
I think we are definitely suffering from an information overload, but I believe that there is going to be better and better ways of organizing that information and processing it so that it will enhance your daily life.
We care a lot more about not having the disease than treating it.
Most important about what Ashoka is doing is that they make people believe that change is possible. That belief can go viral.
I have deep respect for Rep. Jackie Speier and all that she has done to open doors for women everywhere.
Incorporating genetics into a platform with the reach of ResearchKit will accelerate insights into illness and disease even further.
It's one of the things I want people to understand about science... You don't have to be the best person in the world at it. But you can be good, and there are so many different opportunities in science.
There's clearly things you can do in your environment to try to prevent disease, and I want to know what those things are.
Being the first FDA-authorized direct-to-consumer genetic test out there is revolutionary.
If we can actually decrease the failure rate from nine out of 10 drugs failing in clinical trials and instead have seven out of 10 instead failing, that is a major victory for drug discovery and for people having better therapy.
If you are somebody who has a disease, you are not complaining when someone starts to do work for you. That is your hope.
Being in Silicon Valley makes me strict when it comes to my children's technology use. I am surrounded by it all day, so I try to avoid it when I get home. I set screen-time limits, because I think it's good to diversify activities.
I tried to minimize exposure to technology before two. After that, I've taught the kids to use devices in moderation. It's important for them to learn how to control their behaviour themselves. Simply restricting access makes them want it more.
It's very important that children learn to use technology - it's part of life - but also that they learn when to put it down.
I do let the kids play on devices when we eat out - it's better than being thrown out of a restaurant.
I really like raw connections, and so I've always had a harder time in politics because I feel there's a lot of veneer around everything.
If health care is a $2.7 trillion industry, and a huge percentage is paid by the government, then you have to be involved in politics to make a difference.
When I was young, I ate Ho Hos every day.
Did you know that there was a study in 1961 that found that 90 percent of physicians wouldn't tell you if you were diagnosed with cancer?
My perfect weekend is going for a walk with my family in the park. I don't think there's anything better.
I did a lot of fun things before I had kids - I traveled a lot. Now, I just really love being with my kids.
Once a week, I might stay late at work. It's sometimes very efficient to work until 7 P.M. - and then come home to kids who are clean and ready for bed. Those days are good.
I like company lunches because I think going out wastes valuable time; plus, a lot of good ideas come up over lunch.
There's massive government initiatives going around the world, and you see that there's a real enthusiasm for genetics.
We have been trained not to think about our health care until there's a problem.
There's enough data showing that the fitter you are, the better you eat, the more likely you are to stay healthy longer.
I still meet old-school scientists who are like, 'Oh honey, women aren't good at science.' You kind of dismiss them as insane.
Some genetic variants can be informative about one's risk for Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease.