To celebrate the 2021 Women in Entrepreneurship Week, Oct. 18-22, The Skandalaris Center is highlighting five female-founded ventures and sharing their startup stories.
Today’s Featured Entrepreneur is Erica Barnell (Ph.D. ’19, MD ‘22) of Geneoscopy.
Founded in February 2016, Geneoscopy now has 35 employees. Geneoscopy’s novel method to extract RNA biomarkers from stool enables a new wave of noninvasive diagnostic tests to prevent, detect, and treat gastrointestinal (GI) disease. Geneoscopy was a Skandalaris Center Global Impact Award finalist in 2016 and winner in 2017, with a prize of $25,000.
In 2020, Erica Barnell was named to Forbes’ “30 Under 30” lists of top young entrepreneurs. “It’s my name that you see on the Forbes list, but Geneoscopy is a team effort,” Barnell said. “This is a tremendous honor, but more importantly it’s a validation that what we’re doing is important. It reminds us that we are building a product that’s going to impact health care, and that the work we do every day will ultimately add up to something big.” Barnell holds three patents related to cancer diagnostics. She was also named one of St. Louis’ top young entrepreneurs by the St. Louis Business Journal in 2016.
Tell us your startup story – how did you get to where you are now?
I developed the idea for Geneoscopy during my first rotation at WashU after meeting a 52-year old woman who arrived at the hospital with Stage IV colorectal cancer. The woman had never been screened before because she could not take time off work to have a colonoscopy. My previous research experience on the gastrointestinal biome inspired me to find a solution to this compliance problem and so a few months later I explored the idea of starting a company.
As a female-identifying entrepreneur, what challenges did you face? What tactics did you use to overcome those challenges?
As a young female entrepreneur in the healthcare diagnostics field, I faced an inordinate amount of comparison to Elizabeth Holmes, who is currently being tried for fraud related to her company’s activities. To combat this comparison, I made sure that the data we generated was completely transparent and I surrounded myself with experienced individuals who could guide me in the correct direction regarding compliance and quality.
What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned as an entrepreneur?
“No” is just the beginning of the conversation. We have been conditioned to rely heavily on other people’s opinions but as an entrepreneur, you must invest in yourself and be confident when it comes to pushing your ideas forward.
What advice would you give to women considering creating a startup or entering a career in entrepreneurship?
Find a mentor. We have all been through some of the same things and it is much easier to learn from someone else’s mistakes than to make them on your own.
If applicable, what activities, groups, etc. were you involved with at WashU? What student groups, professors, classes had the biggest impact on you during your time at WashU?
When I matriculated into the MD/PhD program at Washington University School of Medicine, I participated in the SlingHealth (formerly IdeaLabs) program. During my first year of medical school, this program offered me a support to launch Geneoscopy. Thinking back to 2015, when I came up with the idea for Geneoscopy, I am not sure we would have even been able to start the company without the support and expertise provided through the Washington University network.
Follow Geneoscopy on Twitter @GeneoscopyCo