Founder Feature: Kaitlin Christine of Gabbi

As part of our ongoing Founder Feature series, we sit down with leaders of organizations we believe in to learn more about their role in the company, what inspires them and more. Read below for our conversation with Gabbi Founder and CEO, Kaitlin Christine.

Kaitlin shares how her personal and family experience with breast cancer inspired her to create Gabbi, a telehealth service aimed at eradicating late-stage breast cancer through education and early detection.

How did Gabbi come to life? What is the origin story?

When I was in my senior year of college, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had been getting her annual mammograms, but it turns out, that was the inappropriate screening for her (which is also the case for 50% of women). By the time her breast cancer was diagnosed, it was too late and my mom died from late stage breast cancer within 8 months of being diagnosed.

Fast forward about a year, and I find a lump in both of my breasts. I had to fight to be heard, to get the appropriate screening, and to get the right care. During a “preventative” surgery, I was diagnosed with breast cancer at only 24 years old.

I started Gabbi to ensure what happened to my mom and what happened to me, never happens to other women and their families.

Can you tell us about Gabbi’s features including the risk assessment tool and action care plan, and the science behind it?

Gabbi assesses a woman’s risk of breast cancer in less than 2 minutes, equips her with a personalized care plan, and serves as her breast specialist via virtual care.

The Gabbi Risk Assessment is the first consumer facing risk assessment and takes less than two minutes to complete. It is powered by our proprietary algorithm - accurately assessing risk for women of all ages and all ethnicities. We validated this risk assessment on the world’s largest and most diverse claims dataset in partnership with a national insurance company and continue to validate it against standard of care models.

The personalized care plan is based off the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Guidelines which allows us to tell you, based on your personal risk, what you need to do, when, and the frequency. For example, if after completing the Gabbi Risk Assessment, you are determined at increased risk, your personalized care plan could include starting breast MRIs at 30.

Knowing your risk is crucial to being able to determine what you can do about it, but once you know both of those things, how do you get care? That’s where Gabbi Care comes in. You are paired with a dedicated breast specialist who can prescribe what is outlined in your care plan (MRI, Mammo, Ultrasound, Genetic Testing, etc) all via virtual care.

Gabbi’s platform is backed by a lot of thorough research. What are some of the most staggering breast cancer statistics that people should know?

• 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime.

• Only 10% of women are aware of their breast cancer risk.

• Early detection is the key! If caught early, the survival rate of breast cancer is 99% (!) vs. if caught late it is less than 30%

• 50% of women have dense breast tissue – standard screenings (mammograms) are ineffective for them

• Only 10% of OBGYN/PCP assess the breast cancer risk of their patients and prescribe an appropriate plan based on risk

In your heartfelt mission to eradicate late-stage breast cancer, why did telehealth feel like the best avenue?

A few factors impacted this, but the biggest factor was that OBGYN/PCPs (the providers that most women see on an ongoing basis for general health) are inundated with patients and rarely able to spend more than 5 minutes with patients. Therefore 90% of these providers are not appropriately assessing risk. The place women are going to and expecting to have their risk assessed, it’s not happening.

But if we just assessed your risk and gave you a plan, you would still have to go back to your PCP/OBGYN to advocate for and receive a prescription for the relevant screenings in your plan (mammo, mri, etc). This creates a burden for the patient and PCP. This journey also increases the amount of time it will take to get the appropriate screening. It became very clear that Gabbi providing care would alleviate the burden for all parties and streamline the care experience.

What is one important lesson you’ve learned throughout your journey in building Gabbi?

It is more difficult than I ever could have possibly imagined. Starting something from nothing is difficult, and starting something from nothing that changes the way things are currently done is harder.

As a breast cancer survivor yourself, what do you do for ongoing maintenance care?

I perform monthly self-breast exams, receive a clinical breast exam annually, and have a breast MRI every 5 years.

We’ve heard that yoga played a part in your journey. Can you share more about that?

All my breast tissue including some muscle mass was removed during my double mastectomy. So I had to rebuild all of my pectoral, chest, and arm muscles from scratch. I tried all sorts of different types of exercise – cardio, weight lifting, Barre3, etc. None of them could be broken down to such a simple action that was non weight-bearing and layered on over time. Yoga was the only one that could be modified as my needs and abilities evolved over time, increasing in difficulty and advancing my practice. I have been doing yoga now for 7 years and am stronger than I ever was pre-surgery.

What is your hope with this CorePower Yoga partnership?

I am thrilled to be partnering with CorePower Yoga to equip all CorePower employees and members to know their risks, take control of their breast health, and to get Gabbi in as many hands as possible. With this partnership, we could save a woman’s life.

What is your hope for Gabbi in the next 5 years? 10 years?

In the next 5 years, we plan for Gabbi to be covered by all major insurance plans and offered in all 50 states across the US, ensuring women are able to get the right care, at the right time, and early detection is the norm – not the exception. In 10 years, we plan for Gabbi to have expanded our proprietary solution to other preventable cancers that affect women so that we are your on-demand virtual care for breast, ovarian, uterine, and colon health.