Krithika Kumar: Health Care Analysts Put the Patient First

Krithika Kumar ’20 arrived at Rice University with a general interest in the medical industry, but her career plans really began to solidify when she answered a call for undergraduate engineers to join a startup. Now a Senior Strategy Analyst for Accenture, Kumar recalls the invitation that set her feet firmly on the patient care path.

“Matthew Peña, then a postdoctoral research associate at Rice, was working on a medical device to help identify newborns who had trouble breastfeeding,” she said. “He sent a message out to the BIOE listserv asking if anyone could help him with the engineering aspects of the device. I had always been interested in healthcare innovation, so I contacted Matt, and we pitched BaroLac to Rice’s OwlSpark accelerator program.”

“That summer, as part of our participation in the OwlSpark accelerator, we connected with around 80 mothers (who had experienced issues with breastfeeding) and lactation consultants. Those customer interviews included conditions of each child’s birth and details of various breastfeeding problems. It was eye-opening and fascinating, and I worked on BaroLac all that summer as well as in my junior and senior years.”

She said her most difficult challenge was not the customer interviews or product innovation but the entrepreneurial lessons she had to quickly learn and master. Kumar had no experience with fundraising or moving through the early stages of a startup.

Read the rest of the ACTIVATE Engineering Communication story to find out how Kumar continues to put patients first as her career unfolds.