Women in Bio Success!

This past Thursday (11/29) several RQS employees were fortunate enough to attend the kick-off event for the Women in Bio Pittsburgh chapter which featured keynote speaker Alexandra Drane. Alexandra is the founder and Chief Visionary Officer at Eliza Corporation. The event was buzzing with excitement as women in a number of life sciences fields came together and shared a common interest of wanting to improve healthcare and wanting to improve people's lives. Alexandra's speech was humorous and powerful. She discussed her current company (Eliza Corporation) as well as her previous three start-up companies. Alexandra has no regrets from past failures and in fact went into detail on everything she learned from her previous companies. I think being able to admit a mistake is the best way to move on and learn from it.

Alexandra's explanation of her current company was very impressive. She discussed how there are simple things that can be done to improve healthcare and it starts with the individual. Her company would conduct surveys to see how certain "intangibles" or "unmentionables" had an impact on one's health. These unmentionables included things such as "financial stress", "relationship stress", "trouble sleeping", "depression", "diet issues" and "sex" etc. The impact of these unmentionables on one's health is so prominent yet the healthcare system does not tend to focus on preventative measures for these things. Where is the aid for these unmentionables? Usually the aid comes after-the-fact rather than setting up any kind of structure or care before they become a real problem. This was such an interesting concept and Alexandra spoke about these issues with real passion. Her talk was inspirational not only for women, but for people in general.

This talked showed me that it's not just about being a women and it's not just about improving the healthcare system, it's about improving your own life and the ones around you by having control of the things you do. Being proactive and motivated and educated enough to make a conscience effort to improve your lifestyle choices will have a huge impact on improving your health.

--Jillian F. Walker