Pulsar is currently sponsoring eight Female Founders on Awakenhub’s Shegenerate Programme. All eight are based in Northern Ireland and have a science or tech based startup. Here’s software engineer Lauren Burns talking to Awakenhub in a recent blog post. Lauren is in the early stages of her founder journey creating something incredible, the ‘Path’ Health app. Path is an app currently in development that tracks the symptoms of chronic illnesses affecting women, to accelerate diagnosis and aid research with the goal to give women the tools to advocate for themselves by putting data in their hands.

Users enter their symptoms into the app which generates a health summary to give to their GP. This contains a clear, valuable track-record of the patient’s health history and any important patterns identified which can lead to quicker diagnosis. A wonderful and needed resource. Awakenhub asked Lauren some questions about her founder journey so far.

To get us started – how would you describe yourself in 6 words or less?

Curious techie that loves having conversations.

What prompted you to start your business?

In October 2020, All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Endometriosis released a report that revealed the average diagnosis time for the condition was 8 years in the UK, having not improved this number in over a decade. These facts shocked us and drove us to look into the issues that surrounded the diagnosis and treatment of Endometriosis and other conditions that affect primarily those born with female reproductive organs. At Path, we believe that those assigned female at birth deserve better treatment, empathy and increased access to the healthcare they need to live happy, healthy lives.

Tell us a little bit more about you?

I’m a 23 year old software engineer currently living in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Alongside building Path, in my spare time I love going to ballet and spending time with my Corgi, Jeff.

I have worked in the tech sector for the past six years, both as a Software Engineer and Technical Product Consultant. My passion for education and encouraging women into STEM careers is one of the reasons why I co-founded a Belfast-based Undergraduate Women in Tech community to support young women during their years at university. I am also the current UK Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET) apprentice of the year.

I started working for a Belfast based tech company based at 18 as part of an apprenticeship scheme. I then spent the next five years completing my degree part-time whilst working as a full-stack software developer building large-scale government projects designed to improve the lives of millions living across the UK.

Joining the tech industry a few years ahead of schedule gave me the opportunity to get involved in a lot of projects outside of my day job. These included leading code camps for hundreds of students and building educational programs specifically designed for “at-risk” young people, giving them the skills to get their first job. There’s no better feeling in the world than when a 16-year-old tells you that you’re the reason they’ve secured their first job.

I can’t resist a hackathon, and in 2020 I won the Women Who Code global hackathon with a machine learning solution that predicts the likelihood that a patient admitted to hospital with Covid-19 would require admittance to the ICU. This system can help hospitals manage the supplies required to save critically ill patients.

Fill us in on your female founder journey.

Even in the short amount of time that I’ve been on this founding journey, there has been some very high “highs” and some very low “lows”. However, in those low moments when I’ve picked myself up and tried again, I’ve learnt how resilient I can be.

I believe that everyone should give themselves space to think less about climbing the career ladder and focus more on what they love. Try new things, change your job, and try again, without the pressure of feeling like you’re never going to make it. When you find a role you really love, it will all be worth it. This also applies to my female founder journey as the passion I have to meet our goals with Path Health is all the driving force I need.

How did you hear about AwakenHub and what prompted you to apply for SheGenerate?

I learnt about AwakenHub from a member of the Catalyst community, and as soon as I looked it up I just knew I had to be part of this supportive and welcoming community of inspirational women.

What are you hoping to get out of the SheGenerate process?

A support network of female founders who can help each other make their business goals a reality ✨

What does success look like to you – in 12 months and in 5 years?

In 12 months success would be working on the business full-time with our first product build complete and ready for acceptability trials. In 5 years time, success would be our app being used by private clinics across the UK, Ireland and the US to help women advocate for themselves and get the diagnosis they deserve faster.

As a founder – what are your non-negotiables?

Whenever I receive an opportunity that scares me, I always tell myself: “If it scares you, it’s worth pursuing”.

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