Danika Kelly realized there was a lack of data regarding female physiology when she tried to research brain injuries in female alpine athletes.
The University of Calgary double alum, BA'15, MSc'21, recalls taking her master's in kinesiology and exercise science and being unable to find literature related to her chosen topic.
All she could locate were hypothetical scenarios related to menstruation, pregnancy and birth-control regimes at altitude. There was nothing about the unique physiological, physical or social needs of female alpinists.
"That is when I decided to step back and look at the issue across the board in the life sciences and in the health sector more broadly," says Kelly, co-founder of My Normative, a health-research platform addressing the sex and gender data gap in the health industry.
Kelly met co-founder Renee Kokts-Porietis, BSc'18, MSc'20, during their undergrads as a part of the Dinos Rowing program. Their friendship and respect for each other grew while experiencing similar research challenges which prompted them to start My Normative in 2020, which works with researchers and innovators in the life sciences through data collection and management to identify, assess and address differences in sex and gender data.
Venturing into entrepreneurship
Kelly was inspired by her time at UCalgary to pursue entrepreneurship.
Studying anthropology equipped Kelly with skills in systems thinking and health innovation. It was, however, during her final BA year, when she was recruited as a social scientist-in-training to work on the Hult Prize competition with other budding entrepreneurs to tackle real-world social issues, that Kelly realized she could make a career out of the two fields.
UCeed's impact
Kelly credits university-based investment funds like UCeed for fostering innovation and supporting early stage startups. She believes that incredible ideas are born at universities and since they are by nature in the research and development stage, it is important to have institutionally built-in mechanisms like UCeed to support and nurture these ideas as they gradually transform into early-stage startups.
"Getting UCeed on board at the early stage was one of our first institutional investments," says Kelly. "The investment from UCeed helped us to leverage other means of funding within Canada's granting system, especially in terms of matching and in-kind contributions."
Growing community impact
Being an entrepreneur in the health technology sector has presented Kelly with unique challenges. "There are a lot of platitudes [about the challenges of] entrepreneurship," she says.
Throughout her journey, however, she discovered that most people are willing to help. "If you have expertise in your field that can significantly move the needle and push forward in that domain, finding people who value that is incredibly empowering," Kelly says. "It also helps you understand your individual capacity and where you truly thrive."
Over the years, My Normative has experienced steady growth in community impact. "It has been exciting to see that the feedback from our earlier studies and case studies showed that participants were able to use the data they collected," says Kelly. "Instead of facing concerns and observations about recall bias regarding their health issues, people were able to meaningfully advocate for themselves."
Video Credit: Husaina Husain, Communications
The journey ahead
Recently, My Normative announced a partnership with the University of Alberta, along with support from UCalgary, on a new study to address critical gaps in sex and gender data within neuroscience and multiple sclerosis (MS) research.
"This collaboration is a continued strategic relationship-building, effort and opportunity with local universities, especially the ones that my co-founder and I graduated from, which is very exciting," says Kelly.
Kelly hopes the study will provide a deeper understanding on how hormonal variability impacts experience of MS and will be able to make insightful recommendations into how health experts account for that in future treatments.
To learn more about the study and Kelly's platform, visit the My Normative website.
About UCeed
Managed by Innovate Calgary, the University of Calgary's Innovation company, UCeed is a group of philanthropically powered pre-seed/seed-stage investment funds with a mandate to help the most promising early stage companies bridge the gap between innovation and commercialization. UCeed portfolio companies receive investment and business development support during the critical transitional stage of the startup journey. Investees utilize UCeed funds to accelerate key business and technology/product development milestones, preparing and positioning themselves for follow-up investment.
