<figure class="wp-block-image alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="252" height="300" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Anne-headshot_2018-e1532470981667-252x300.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-26375" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Anne-headshot_2018-e1532470981667-252x300.jpeg 252w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Anne-headshot_2018-e1532470981667-859x1024.jpeg 859w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Anne-headshot_2018-e1532470981667-990x1180.jpeg 990w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Anne-headshot_2018-e1532470981667-768x915.jpeg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Anne-headshot_2018-e1532470981667-739x880.jpeg 739w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 252px) 100vw, 252px" /></figure>



Great workers make for great places to work, and at 23andMe, it all starts at the top with CEO and Co-Founder Anne Wojcicki.



This week, Glassdoor, one of the world’s largest job and recruiting sites, made it official and named Anne among its 2019 Employees’ Choice Awards honoring Top CEOs, U.S. SMBs. The award highlights leaders who <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/articles/23andme-named-one-of-the-best-places-to-work-in-2019-on-glassdoor">employees love working with</a> and is unique because winners are selected based on<a href="https://www.glassdoor.com/mz-survey/start_input.htm?cr=&amp;c=PR&amp;showSurvey=Reviews"> reviews shared</a> on Glassdoor by their employees.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-best-places-to-work">Best Places to Work</h2>



It’s the second time in the last six months that 23andMe has been recognized by Glassdoor. Late last year, 23andMe was named as one of the<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/news/23andme-named-one-of-the-best-places-to-work-in-2019-on-glassdoor/"> Best Places to Work in 2019</a> on Glassdoor. Again, like the Top CEO award, that honor was based entirely on reviews from 23andMe employees. This makes<a href="https://www.glassdoor.com/Award/index.htm"> these awards</a> even more reputable because there is no self-nominating process. The Top CEO award is based on the opinion of those who know the workplace best, the employees.



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="190" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/23andme-banner-1491416147859-1024x190.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-26738" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/23andme-banner-1491416147859-1024x190.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/23andme-banner-1491416147859-300x56.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/23andme-banner-1491416147859-768x142.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/23andme-banner-1491416147859-880x163.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/23andme-banner-1491416147859-1180x219.jpg 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/23andme-banner-1491416147859.jpg 1478w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



“It’s an honor to recognize incredible leaders who exemplify exceptional vision, trust, and communication from their employees&#8217; perspectives. Glassdoor’s Top CEOs award continues to be more competitive every year,” said Christian Sutherland-Wong, Glassdoor president and chief operating officer. “I congratulate each leader on their achievement.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-reviews">Reviews</h2>



On Glassdoor’s site, employees can anonymously<a href="https://www.glassdoor.com/survey/start_input.htm?contentOriginHook=PR&amp;showSurvey=REVIEWS"> submit reviews</a> about their company. When they submit a review, they are asked to rate various factors about their employment experience, including their overall satisfaction and other workplace attributes like senior management. As part of these ratings, employees are also asked to rate whether they approve, disapprove, or are neutral about the job their CEO is doing. Among the approximately 900,000 companies reviewed on Glassdoor, the average CEO approval rating is 69 percent. Anne was ranked on this year’s list with a 97 percent employee approval rating.



Check out the Employees’ Choice Awards for the Top CEOs in 2019 on the U.S. SMB list here:<a href="https://www.glassdoor.com/Award/Top-CEOs-at-SMBs-LST_KQ0,16.htm"> https://www.glassdoor.com/Award/Top-CEOs-at-SMBs-LST_KQ0,16.htm</a>.



Interested in joining our gene pool? Learn more here.



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23andMe Blog

23andMe Blog Team

Glassdoor Names 23andMe’s Anne Wojcicki A Top CEO

We love what we do every day at 23andMe, and it shows. Today, 23andMe is among the winners of <a href="http://www.glassdoor.com/index.htm">Glassdoor</a>’s annual Employees’ Choice Awards, a list of the <a href="https://www.glassdoor.com/Award/Best-Small-and-Medium-Companies-to-Work-For-LST_KQ0,43.htm">Best Places to Work in 2019</a>. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/BP19-Logo-Verical-English-ALT.png" alt="" class="alignright size-full wp-image-26737" width="214" height="278">
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This award is unique because unlike other awards, there is no self-nomination or application process. It’s based entirely on reviews from our employees who voluntarily and anonymously offer their feedback about working at 23andMe on the Glassdoor website. To determine the winners of the awards, Glassdoor evaluates all <a href="http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/index.htm">company reviews</a> shared by employees over the past year. 23andMe is on the list for the small to medium sized company, those with 1,000 or fewer employees.
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“I especially appreciate this award because it’s reflective of our 12 years of effort to make 23andMe a place where people genuinely want to be and feel they can thrive,” said Anne Wojcicki, 23andMe’s CEO and Co-Founder. “It is a pleasure for me to come to work every day and share a mission with so many great people. We will continue to develop our environment to make it the most supportive, engaging and welcoming workplace possible for all people. ”
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What rises to the top of the reviews by employees is an appreciation of the company’s mission, its push for diversity in its workforce, and the support employees feel both from the company and their colleagues. 
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As one review states:
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“If you love the intersection between science and tech, you won&#8217;t find anywhere else like 23andMe. People are great to work with, company culture is AMAZING, intelligent but humble, great sense of family and mission between teams, and care of both our customers and our employees.”
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Maintaining that kind of culture has been by design, company officials said.
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“This kind of feedback illustrates that 23andMe has been able to maintain its culture and sense of mission even as it has doubled in size in the last 18 months,” said Mark Lipscomb, Vice President of People at 23andMe. The critical comments are also valuable, helping the company make adjustments to improve. So for example, after seeing anonymous comments from engineers about the need for clearer career paths within the company, senior executives began working to create those opportunities.
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But in general, the positive feedback illustrates that 23andMe employees have a solid drive and passion for 23andMe’s mission to help people access, understand and benefit from the human genome. 
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We also try to have fun while doing that! You can see a bit more about the company on our Glassdoor page.
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By the way, 23andMe is hiring. You can find out more <a href="https://www.23andme.com/careers/">here</a>.
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23andMe Named One of the Best Places to Work

Spit, iHeartRadio’s newest Podcast with 23andMe is among the top podcasts for a reason.
<div id="attachment_26513" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-26513" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/217_WesandAlex_JohnLegend_7_17_2018-300x200.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-26513 size-medium" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/217_WesandAlex_JohnLegend_7_17_2018-300x200.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/217_WesandAlex_JohnLegend_7_17_2018-768x512.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/217_WesandAlex_JohnLegend_7_17_2018-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/217_WesandAlex_JohnLegend_7_17_2018-880x587.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/217_WesandAlex_JohnLegend_7_17_2018-1180x787.jpg 1180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Anne Wojicicki, John Legend and Baratunde Thurston in conversation for the podcast Spit.</div>
Hosted by the writer, comedian and cultural critic,<a href="http://baratunde.com/"> Baratunde Thurston</a>, the four episodes so far offer unscripted conversations with an eclectic mix of artists, scientists, and thinkers, on how DNA testing is changing perspectives about identity, family, and race.
Listening to Spit feels a bit like eavesdropping on frank intimate conversations. Whether it’s<a href="https://www.johnlegend.com/"> John Legend</a> talking with 23andMe CEO and co-founder Anne Wojcicki about his ancestors who were slaves, or<a href="https://falloutboy.com/"> Fall Out Bo</a>y singer<a href="https://www.instagram.com/petewentz/"> Pete Wentz</a> speaking with Dr.<a href="http://www.genomes2people.org/about/director/"> Robert Green</a> of the Broad Institute, whether genetics is deterministic, the themes are wide-ranging and fascinating.
“Genetics is wild and interesting,” Wentz said during his free-flowing conversation with Dr. Green.
<div id="attachment_26512" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-26512" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/KatherineTyler_PeteWentz_Spit_2018-3663-300x200.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-26512 size-medium" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/KatherineTyler_PeteWentz_Spit_2018-3663-300x200.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/KatherineTyler_PeteWentz_Spit_2018-3663-768x512.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/KatherineTyler_PeteWentz_Spit_2018-3663-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/KatherineTyler_PeteWentz_Spit_2018-3663-880x587.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/KatherineTyler_PeteWentz_Spit_2018-3663-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/KatherineTyler_PeteWentz_Spit_2018-3663.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Pete Wentz talking with Baratunde Thurston for the Podcast &#8211; Spit 2018. Photo: Katherine Tyler, for iHeart Radio</div>
Growing up in Middle America, Wentz, whose family originally came from Jamaica and has mixed Portuguese and Jewish roots, said he grew up feeling like “a mutt.” Learning more about his DNA would offer him a chance to explore his family’s origins.
“Since we have this technology why wouldn’t you want to find out?” Wentz said.
As a new parent, Wentz also was curious about the health side of testing and what a person could learn about risks or traits that they might pass on to their children.
People are empowered by the notion that they can learn about risk, said Dr. Green. But he added that there is a certain irony about genetic testing in that many go into this believing that genetics is somehow deterministic, but it’s not.
From his research, Green said one of the biggest comprehension hurdles for people in thinking about genetics is what risk and probability mean.
“That’s the change I see,” he said. “Removing the thinking that ‘you will get this’ to ‘you have a slightly higher or lower probability of getting this.’”
These kinds of surprises popped up in each of the podcasts.
<div id="attachment_26523" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-26523" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/melissa_etheridge_podcast_20180620_077-300x200.jpg" alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-26523" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/melissa_etheridge_podcast_20180620_077-300x200.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/melissa_etheridge_podcast_20180620_077-768x512.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/melissa_etheridge_podcast_20180620_077-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/melissa_etheridge_podcast_20180620_077-880x587.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/melissa_etheridge_podcast_20180620_077-1180x787.jpg 1180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Musician Melissa Etheridge talking about family during Spit podcast. Photo: © Matthew Eisman for iHeartMedia. All Rights Reserved</div>
During the conversation between singer Melissa Etheridge, who has several adopted children, and filmmaker<a href="https://www.thankyouforcomingmovie.com/"> Sarah Lamm</a>, who just completed a film following her search for her sperm donor father, the two talked about family, and what that means.
&#8220;I think we&#8217;re going through this on a worldwide thing, this sort of blood idea, of blood and family, and mine and my tribe, and how that&#8217;s being blown apart by stuff like this,” said Etheridge. “The truth is family is family. You can make family. Family is love, that&#8217;s the bond we have. Blood is a whole other story. It&#8217;s interesting, it&#8217;s great, but it&#8217;s a whole thing.&#8221;
DNA testing can trigger all sorts of conversations, said Tracy Keim, 23andMe’s vice president of consumer marketing and brand.
“Topics like family, identity, race, and how we’re connected with the rest of the world are all influenced by DNA,” she said.
Last month we wrote about the<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-research/a-new-survey-on-attitudes-about-race-and-genetics/"> interesting conversation on race</a> between the singer<a href="https://www.wyclef.com/"> Wyclef Jean</a> and Northwestern University professor<a href="https://www.polisci.northwestern.edu/people/core-faculty/alvin-tillery.html"> Alvin Tillery</a>. Tillery shared his own harrowing story of surviving a lynching attempt as a 9 year-old in New Jersey in the 1980s. Working with 23andMe on<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-research/a-new-survey-on-attitudes-about-race-and-genetics/"> a recent survey</a>, Tillery is looking specifically at how DNA testing is impacting people’s perceptions of race. One f
<div id="attachment_26514" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-26514" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/RachelKaplan_23andMeWyclefJean2018-5843-300x200.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-26514 size-medium" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/RachelKaplan_23andMeWyclefJean2018-5843-300x200.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/RachelKaplan_23andMeWyclefJean2018-5843-768x512.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/RachelKaplan_23andMeWyclefJean2018-5843-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/RachelKaplan_23andMeWyclefJean2018-5843-880x587.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/RachelKaplan_23andMeWyclefJean2018-5843-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/RachelKaplan_23andMeWyclefJean2018-5843.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Baratunde Thurston (left), Wyclef Jean and Al Tillery. Photo: Rachel Kaplan</div>inding from the study is that people have a much more nuanced understanding of race than Tillery thought they would.
Wyclef’s takeaway was that the science of DNA could help bring people together by emphasizing how much they have in common — humans are 99.5 percent similar genetically.
“We have so much more in common than you could even imagine,” he said.
We encourage you to have a listen to iHeartRadio’s Spit, with 23andMe. Below are the four episodes so far. There will be more to come. 
<ul>
<li>Episode 1: How Are We All Related, with John Legend and Anne Wojcicki</li>
<li>Episode 2: Does Race Really Exist Or Did We Create It, with Wyclef Jean and Alvin Tillery</li>
<li>Episode 3: What Does It Mean to Be “Family,” with Melissa Etheridge and Sara Lamm</li>
<li>Episode 4: How can science change the stories we’ve grown up with? Exploring Identity, with Pete Wentz and Dr. Green. </li>
</ul>

The Podcast Spit

Since the inception of 23andMe, our mission has been to help people access, understand and benefit from the human genome. 
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Anne-headshot_2018-e1532470981667-252x300.jpeg" alt="" class="alignright wp-image-26375" width="280" height="334" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Anne-headshot_2018-e1532470981667-252x300.jpeg 252w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Anne-headshot_2018-e1532470981667-859x1024.jpeg 859w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Anne-headshot_2018-e1532470981667-990x1180.jpeg 990w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Anne-headshot_2018-e1532470981667-768x915.jpeg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Anne-headshot_2018-e1532470981667-739x880.jpeg 739w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 280px) 100vw, 280px" />
We have also built a significant research team that has published over 100 scientific papers. In 2015, we launched 23andMe Therapeutics to develop novel treatments and cures based on <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-health-ancestry/">genetic insights</a> from the consented 23andMe community.
<h6>Novel Treatments</h6>
Today, I am thrilled to <a href="https://mediacenter.23andme.com/press-releases/gsk-and-23andme-sign-agreement-to-leverage-genetic-insights-for-the-development-of-novel-medicines/">announce</a> that we are launching a collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to accelerate our ability to make those novel treatments and cures a reality. <code style="display: none;"> </code>
I hear regularly from customers that they want to be part of a solution that is improving health care. We all have some disease or health issue that we care about. 23andMe has created a research platform to enable customers to actively participate in research — to not wait for solutions to appear, but for people to come together and make discoveries happen.  By working with GSK, we believe we will accelerate the development of breakthroughs. Our genetic research — powered by millions of customers who have agreed to contribute — combined with GSK’s expertise in drug discovery and development, gives us the best chance for success.
<h6>Choice</h6>
Our top priority is our customer, and empowering each individual with the options to participate in research. As always, customers choose whether or not to participate in research. Customers can choose to opt-in or opt-out at any time. 
I started 23andMe with the belief that by getting people interested in learning about themselves and participating in research, we would all benefit. Today is an important milestone in how 23andMe will be able to impact the lives of those with disease and how we will be able to improve the future of healthcare.
Finally, I want to recognize GSK for their commitment to empowering consumers to play a role in creating impactful new treatments and helping redefine how we discover novel medicines in the future.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/sig_small_transparent.jpg" alt="" class="aligncenter wp-image-23161 size-full" width="318" height="133" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/sig_small_transparent.jpg 318w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/sig_small_transparent-300x125.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 318px) 100vw, 318px" />

A Note On 23andMe’s New Collaboration with GSK

ZDogg — aka Dr. Zubin Damania, a doctor and a hip-hop humorist of healthcare — was in the house at 23andMe last week, for a conversation with our CEO and co-founder Anne Wojcicki for his <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ZDoggMD/videos/10155753496107095/">Facebook Live show, Incident Report</a>.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG-6024-300x169.png" alt="" class="alignright wp-image-25880 size-medium" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG-6024-300x169.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG-6024-768x432.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG-6024-1024x576.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG-6024-880x495.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG-6024-1180x663.png 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG-6024.png 1334w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Thick with fun and facts, the wide-ranging hour-long conversation was meant to focus on what direct-to-consumer genetic testing means for health care professionals, many of whom have been critical of offering genetic health risk reports to consumers. In the last few years, 23andMe has <a href="https://medical.23andme.org/">engaged with physicians</a> and other health care professionals both for training but also to improve what we do.
&#8220;To me, the most important thing that 23andMe is doing is we&#8217;re giving the consumer a voice in healthcare for themselves,&#8221; Anne told Zubin.
But she added that to make the kinds of changes to the healthcare system that would empower consumers, it has to be in partnership with the medical community.
A longtime customer of 23andMe, Zubin has carved out a unique following among his fellow physicians, not just an entertainer but as a healthcare visionary and evangelist for what’s being called the Health 3.0 Movement. This started back when he was still in residency at Stanford when he first started making parody rap videos tweaking the lyrics of Tupac or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfieCuBrMyE">Jay Z rhymes</a> with his own, railing against what he sees as a dysfunctional healthcare system that offers more rewards to treating illness than on preventing them from happening in the first place.
Beyond poking fun at the system, Zubin also set up a widely lauded but now closed clinic in Las Vegas called <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfieCuBrMyE">Turntable Health</a>, that attempted to flip that paradigm around, based not on a fee per service but instead on a sort of monthly membership fee in a full-service clinic set up to keep them healthy. The emphasis was on prevention and fostering a deeper doctor-patient relationship.
Check out Zubin and Anne’s conversation.
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<iframe loading="lazy" width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VL9PA8nxNzY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

Rapping with Dr. Z at 23andMe

Today more than ever, it’s easy to focus on all that separates us, but our DNA tells another story. <div id="attachment_25469" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-25469" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/iStock-501466418-300x200.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-25469 size-medium" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/iStock-501466418-300x200.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/iStock-501466418.jpg 724w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Having just landed in a small boat, a refugee family walks up from the beach toward a road on the north coast of the Greek island of Lesbos.</div>
We are all much more alike than we are different. In fact, each and every one of us is 99.5 percent genetically similar. Those small difference shouldn&#8217;t separate us. All of us are 100 percent human. 
Today is<a href="http://www.un.org/en/events/refugeeday/index.shtml"> World Refugee Day</a>, a time to reflect on the plight of millions of people fleeing war, famine and persecution across the globe. 23andMe wants to raise awareness about the global refugee crisis, and celebrate the humanity we all share. 
Learn more about the worldwide refugee crisis visit the United Nations World Refugee Day<a href="http://www.un.org/en/events/refugeeday/resources.shtml"> website</a>, or to find out how you can help visit the<a href="https://www.rescue.org/"> International Refugee Rescue Committee</a>.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/40884_17_23ME_008_001v5.p181-634x1024.jpg" alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-25493" width="634" height="1024" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/40884_17_23ME_008_001v5.p181-634x1024.jpg 634w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/40884_17_23ME_008_001v5.p181-186x300.jpg 186w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/40884_17_23ME_008_001v5.p181-768x1241.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/40884_17_23ME_008_001v5.p181-545x880.jpg 545w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/40884_17_23ME_008_001v5.p181-730x1180.jpg 730w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/40884_17_23ME_008_001v5.p181-scaled.jpg 1584w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 634px) 100vw, 634px" />
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World Refugee Day

As part of a series on cutting edge women, The Today Show featured Anne Wojcicki, 23andMe&#8217;s CEO and co-founder.


The NBC crew followed Anne as she hustled through a typical day, juggling family life, and work meetings. The crew also got a glimpse of 23andMe&#8217;s Therapeutics lab, and sat down with her to talk about her vision for the future.


Check out the segment.

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23andMe’s CEO Featured On The Today Show

“Citizens worldwide have too long a history of being passive players in health care &#8212; blindly following <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-22084 size-medium" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Anne_Color_-Seated-250x300.jpg" alt="Anne_Color_ Seated" width="250" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Anne_Color_-Seated-250x300.jpg 250w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Anne_Color_-Seated-768x923.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Anne_Color_-Seated-852x1024.jpg 852w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Anne_Color_-Seated-732x880.jpg 732w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Anne_Color_-Seated-982x1180.jpg 982w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px" />instructions from providers.” 


The quote above, taken from a <a href="https://www.nature.com/news/stop-the-privatization-of-health-data-1.20268">Nature Comment</a> published yesterday by John Wilbanks and Eric Topol, encapsulates my motivation for co-founding 23andMe a little over 10 years ago.
I believed then as I do now that if people want to be healthier, they must take more ownership and responsibility for their health.
A key part to being an empowered health consumer is being in control of your health data, understanding it and using it to make the right decisions for you.  
<h6>Access</h6>
This is absolutely core to the soul and mission of 23andMe. The data is yours even though some may try to tell you it is not or they may make it challenging for you to get it.  I have had numerous instances throughout my life where I have had to work hard to get my health data – and those challenges continue to exist today.
My hope for 23andMe customers is that they not only learn about genetics but that they get a taste of what it’s like to be in control of important health information and that this inspires them to be more proactive with all their health data.


23andMe pioneered the idea of customers getting access to and owning their raw genetic data.  23andMe customers have always had the ability to access and download their raw genetic data and do with it as they please (Wilbanks and Topol mistakenly state that this data can only be shared with “certain listed <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-23374" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Research-Icon-285x300.jpeg" alt="Research Icon" width="285" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Research-Icon-285x300.jpeg 285w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Research-Icon.jpeg 673w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 285px) 100vw, 285px" />institutions”).  
We place no restrictions on whom a customer shares his or her data with.  I would strongly encourage the thousands of individuals who are participating in federally funded research projects that involve genetics to request their data.  To date, almost no federally funded studies enable individuals to get access to their data &#8212; notable examples include the <a href="http://www.research.va.gov/mvp/">Million Veteran Program</a> and the half a million patients in the <a href="http://rpgeh.kaiser.org/">Kaiser Permanente Research Program on Genes, Environment, and Health.</a>

<h6>Privacy and Security</h6>

To encourage responsible use of the raw data, 23andMe developed an <a href="https://api.23andme.com/">API</a> that empowers 23andMe customers to securely interact with applications developed by third parties that meet our criteria.  We recently announced a ResearchKit module that allows researchers to seamlessly integrate genetic information into their app-based studies. We are also actively working on ways to facilitate easier sharing of 23andMe reports with medical professionals for those customers who wish to do so.
The paper does raise the concerns about marketing around health care data in for profit companies.  Wilbanks and Topol warn of a future in which companies use customers’ health data to “aggressively market health-related services to people.” 
23andMe does not do that, though  we do occasionally send marketing emails that customers can easily opt-out of.
23andMe does use health data  – genotypic and self-reported phenotypic data – to direct research projects and questions to customers who <a href="https://www.23andme.com/research/">opt in to research</a> by signing our <a href="https://www.23andme.com/about/consent/">IRB-approved consent document</a>.  I believe that customers should have the opportunity to not just own their data but to connect with researchers and participate in studies that interest them.  
23andMe actively engages with both academic and pharmaceutical partners in research.  However we never sell or give individual level genetic or phenotypic information to any third party without explicit consent.
There is tremendous potential for making novel research discoveries in a large crowd-sourced community.  Wilbanks and Topol argue for the “transformative” potential if just 5 percent of the population donated their health data to science.  
I agree.  
<h6>Research</h6>
We’ve seen the power of this first hand at 23andMe.  We have well over a million customers with more than 80 percent consenting to participate in research.  The 23andMe research team and our collaborators have made discoveries in Parkinson’s, skin cancer, migraine, and many other areas of human health, publishing more than 50 papers – the majority in open access journals.  We consider our consented customers, research partners and not “human subjects” – on average each contribute to more than 200 studies and are key in helping us make new discoveries.
I applaud Wilbanks and Topol for highlighting what’s at stake as technological advances enable the collection of huge amounts of health information.  It is still immensely challenging to get access to and own most your health data and it is imperative that the collective health care system begin to enable individual data ownership.  None of the “transformative” potential will be realized if individuals can not access and own their data in a manner as simple as owning an online bank account.


I am also glad for the authors’ recognition of the immense potential for citizen-fueled science as one of the key benefits of putting health data directly into the hands of the people. With more and more projects like the <a href="https://www.nih.gov/precision-medicine-initiative-cohort-program">Precision Medicine Initiative</a> following our lead and developing protocols that not only allow anyone, anywhere to volunteer for research, but also return data to those volunteers, I believe we really can realize the healthier future we are all working towards.

Own Your Data: A Right and Responsibility for Better Health

Get two smart people in a room and let them talk.
That’s the premise for astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson’s show “StarTalk,” and it makes for thought-provoking conversations about <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-23580" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/neil-degrasse-tyson-and-genetics-guru-anne-wojcicki-on-a-future-without-disease-and-much-more-200x200.jpg" alt="neil-degrasse-tyson-and-genetics-guru-anne-wojcicki-on-a-future-without-disease-and-much-more" width="200" height="200" />science.


That’s what Neil got when he sat down with 23andMe’s CEO and co-founder Anne Wojcicki. As part of what Neil is calling his “Innovators” series, Neil started out with questions about why Anne started the company, and 23andMe’s mission.
And he wanted to know about her own hopes for future of 23andMe, but Neil also peppered the conversation with more fanciful and provocative questions about genetics.
Instead of a dystopian science fiction version of the future, Anne said that although there are some things to be concerned about, the possibilities for the future are much more hopeful.


“There’s a massive potential for good,” Anne told Neil.
Check out the conversation.
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Anne Wojcicki — Page 2