Emily Drabant wears many hats in her role at personal genetics company 23andMe. A neuroscientist trained at the Stanford University School of Medicine, Emily is asked to juggle a variety of tasks managing 23andMe’s Parkinson’s disease (PD) research initiative, such as recruiting people to participate in genetic testing, building partnerships with academic and industry researchers alike, and communicating about this research with the public and press.
MJFF spoke with Emily for the inaugural installment of our new feature, Three Questions for a Researcher. Read on to get to know her a little better.
MJFF: What is the biggest challenge you face in your research today?
ED: Our biggest challenge here at 23andMe is spreading the word and raising awareness about our research. (23andMe provides a personal DNA analysis service for individuals to learn about and explore their DNA. The company also strives to foster relationships to make genetic data available to researchers working to find new treatments for various diseases, such as PD).
Our research is so directly tied to the active participation of people with Parkinson’s, and as a small company, we don’t have the resources to get to all of the PD-centered events we’d like to. The thing is, once people with PD know about the opportunities to participate in research and get genetically tested, we find that they’re a very active group. So we want to give this opportunity to as many people as we can.
We want people to know that getting genotyped can help to drive research toward finding a cure for diseases like PD. We’ve done a pretty good job bringing people into our community via the Internet, but we’d love to do more. So far, our community of people with Parkinson’s numbers more than 8,000, but we’d love to get to 10,000 by the end of the year.
Here’s one great selling point: Those with PD are entitled to free lifetime memberships with 23andMe.
MJFF: What is one thing people would be surprised to know about your daily work with PD?
ED: I’d say it’s probably that I’m a neuroscientist, but I’m not at all sequestered in a lab all day. So much of my job is about interacting with people, whether it’s with patients on a recruiting trip, or in meetings with some of our partners such as The Michael J. Fox Foundation, or when I’m out in the field trying to build awareness about the services we provide by speaking to the media or with researchers in academia and industry. Many people are shocked to learn I’m a neuroscientist when we first meet. I guess in some ways I just don’t fit the mold.
MJFF: How do you unwind after work?
ED: Well I love to cook, and I’m particularly fond of making soup. There are thousands of ways to make great soup, and you can often work with whatever’s in the fridge to concoct something delicious. I’d have to say my specialty is Italian bread soup.
My fiancee and I have a dog named Peanut Butter who we love to take for walks in our nearby park. Once we get there, we can climb to the top of the hill to see breathtaking views over all of San Francisco.