Top 101 Anne Wojcicki Quotes

One of the most exciting aspects of 23andMe is that we’re enabling you to watch a revolution unfold live during your lifetime, and I think that the decoding of the genome, in my opinion, is the most fascinating discovery of our lifetime, and you get to be part of it.

Incorporating genetics into a platform with the reach of ResearchKit will accelerate insights into illness and disease even further.

I believe that we all have freedom to shape our own life and the world around us.

23andme is very independent and committed to focusing on transparency.

Knowing your genetic health risks will help you make better decisions.

If you don’t read it, you don’t know. I mean, that’s why I have a PR team. They read it and tell me if there’s something, and that keeps you focused. I know my family and me well enough; why do I need to read about myself? I’m not going to change, I’m very stubborn in this way. I am what I am.

Most medications don’t work effectively for a lot people.

I think it’s important to have flexibility to work wherever is best for you. I actually encourage people to work at the cafe – or from home or wherever works best for them.

There are a lot of people in D.C. who have never been on Twitter or Facebook and don’t get what’s happening.

There’s nothing worse than walking into a hospital and seeing people sick and miserable and having a horrible treatment.

It is important to democratize personal genetics and make it more accessible.

Did you know that there was a study in 1961 that found that 90 percent of physicians wouldn’t tell you if you were diagnosed with cancer?

I have always been interested in health care and doing something that is dramatic.

One of the things that got me interested in genetics was the relationship between genes and environment. We are all dealt a certain deck of cards, but our environment can influence the outcomes.

The consumer is really underutilized in health care.

It’s interesting: I think, genetically, there are people who need different things, like exercise. I need the exercise, others not so much, and I think more and more, we’ll start to understand why people’s bodies function in certain ways.

We should revel in tons and tons and tons of ideas. Some of them will manifest and lead to a drug discovery, and some will not.

A lot of genetic testing hasn’t been integrated into healthcare because it has been expensive. I want to make people realise that they have the ability to be in charge of their own health.

I want the world’s data accessible.

I have deep respect for Rep. Jackie Speier and all that she has done to open doors for women everywhere.

Fashion was never my forte.

Being the first FDA-authorized direct-to-consumer genetic test out there is revolutionary.

One of the best aspects of health care reform is it starts to emphasize prevention.

I usually start my day when my kids wake up.

Health is not sort of like a 6-month project. Health is a lifetime accumulation of behaviors.

I think that for people who are trying to make a difference, you have to start the company being naive. You wouldn’t do it if you understood all the work. I work a lot. I wish it was easier.

I carry my iPad and laptop with me everywhere.

I have an unreasonably optimistic view of the world.

I’ve come to the conclusion that you shouldn’t have to see a genetic counselor. It should be a choice.

I feel that gender balance in the work environment is actually the best recipe for success.

Nobody can quantify for you what’s the impact of eating fiber every day, for instance. We can say we think it’s good. But some people might say ‘Oh, it reduces your risk of colon cancer by 20%, some people might say it reduces your risk by 25%.’

I had a very unusual childhood in that I grew up on the Stanford campus and I never moved.

The FDA serves a real purpose: To protect public health.

I’m at a slightly higher risk for type 2 diabetes, and my grandmother had diabetes. My hemoglobin a1c, which is one of the measures, started being a little high when I was drinking a ton of that coconut water.

When I was young, I ate Ho Hos every day.

I think that the idea of people wanting to steal your genome remains a little bit in the world of science fiction.

I first heard about ‘genes’ when I was six years old. At dinner one night, I heard my mom tell my sister, ‘It’s in your genes.’

It’s very important that children learn to use technology – it’s part of life – but also that they learn when to put it down.

My perfect weekend is going for a walk with my family in the park. I don’t think there’s anything better.

I’m action-oriented.

I think it is absolutely crazy in this day and age that I have to go through a trial and error method to see if my child is allergic to an antibiotic or peanuts. I should just know.

As the knowledge around personalized medicine continues to grow, consumers should expect their healthcare providers to begin to incorporate genetic information into their treatments and preventative care.

If consumers were more empowered, they would take more responsibility for their health.

There’s a whole group of people who are 100-plus and have no disease. Why?

I hope that Los Altos is one of the first cities to have self-driving cars, and if that’s true, well, awesome, because there’s a lot of parking lots that we could get rid of and use for parks. That would be amazing!

I think the biggest problem in clinical trials is that they are underpowered. And that fundamentally, the studies are just too small.

Traditionally, when you talk to people who have Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s, they’ll talk about how they’re in five or six studies, and they’ve been sequenced by each study. That’s just fat in the system. Just have a single data set that then you can share. You can make the entire system more efficient.

People are used to dealing with risk.

It’s one of the things I want people to understand about science… You don’t have to be the best person in the world at it. But you can be good, and there are so many different opportunities in science.

My mom was a problem solver.

Being in Silicon Valley makes me strict when it comes to my children’s technology use. I am surrounded by it all day, so I try to avoid it when I get home. I set screen-time limits, because I think it’s good to diversify activities.

I spend a lot of my spare time with my family. My sisters, parents, and in-laws all live nearby.

There’s enough data showing that the fitter you are, the better you eat, the more likely you are to stay healthy longer.

We care a lot more about not having the disease than treating it.

There’s nothing more raw in life than when you’re sick.

It’s worth knowing more about the complicated environmental and genetic factors that could explain why traumatic brain injuries lead to long-term disabilities in some people and not in others.

You should know how to take care of yourself. That’s one of the things that I got from my mother most – she always said that if you don’t take care of yourself, no one will.

Billions of dollars have been put into genetic research.

There’s massive government initiatives going around the world, and you see that there’s a real enthusiasm for genetics.

It doesn’t matter how rich or poor you are: when you’re sick, you want the exact same thing.

There’s going to be space travel at some point.

The fact that my environment influences my life so much – and that my environment is in my control – gives me a great sense of empowerment over my health and my life.

Pharma companies don’t have a direct relationship with consumers, so they’re always subjects.

I still meet old-school scientists who are like, ‘Oh honey, women aren’t good at science.’ You kind of dismiss them as insane.

I guess I’m just fiercely independent.

23andMe is pleased to bring public funding to bear on data and research driven by the public – our more than 180,000 customers.

One of the things is, I don’t read my own press. I never watch myself.

You don’t do new things and try to change the system without generating debate.

We all want our genetic information. Why would you not want genetic information?

People are used to dealing with risk. You are told if you smoke, you are at higher risk of lung cancer. And I think people are able to also understand, when they are told they are a carrier for a genetic disease, that is not a risk to them personally but something that they could pass on to children.

Why should I need a prescription to spit into a vial and get my DNA read? Why can’t I get my own blood drawn without a doctor’s permission? It’s my blood.

If we can actually decrease the failure rate from nine out of 10 drugs failing in clinical trials and instead have seven out of 10 instead failing, that is a major victory for drug discovery and for people having better therapy.

Our approach to medicine is very 19th-century. We are still in the dark ages. We really need to get to the molecular level so that we are no longer groping about in the dark.