Story of a woman in STEM | Dr. Geetha Manjunath | TEDxPSGTech

Summary

The speaker shares her inspiring journey from childhood curiosity to a successful career in computer science and engineering. Despite societal biases, she pursued her passion for technology, excelling in academics and research. Her career spanned from building India's first supercomputer to leading a research lab at HP. A personal encounter with cancer motivated her to co-found Niramai, a startup using AI and thermal imaging for non-invasive breast cancer screening. Her story underscores the power of following one's heart and the potential of Indian innovation to solve global health issues.

Takeaways

• 🌟 The speaker emphasizes the importance of following one's passion and curiosity, which led them to explore technology from a young age.
• 🎓 They chose to pursue engineering despite it being a non-traditional path for women at the time, highlighting the significance of making career choices based on personal interest.
• 🏆 The speaker excelled academically, becoming a top student in their field, illustrating the value of hard work and dedication.
• 🔍 They opted to stay in India for higher education to contribute to local research, showcasing a sense of national pride and the desire to challenge stereotypes.
• 💡 The speaker's career was driven by a love for their work, not external rewards like salary or promotions, underscoring the importance of intrinsic motivation.
• 🛠️ They took risks in their career, such as starting a new group to build a parallel compiler, demonstrating the courage to pursue innovative projects.
• 🌐 The speaker's work at HP Labs involved international collaboration, highlighting the benefits of global research partnerships.
• 🎓 After 15 years in industry, they chose to pursue a PhD, showing that it's never too late to continue learning and growing.
• 🏥 A personal experience with cancer in the family inspired the speaker to shift their focus to healthcare technology, emphasizing the power of personal connections to drive innovation.
• 🌟 The speaker founded a startup to develop a non-invasive, radiation-free breast cancer screening method, demonstrating how technology can address significant health issues.
• 💪 They encourage taking opportunities that align with one's passion, even if they come with risks, and to not be afraid of failure, advocating for a proactive approach to career and life choices.

Q & A

What was the speaker's initial reaction to seeing a computer for the first time?

The speaker was intrigued and wanted to understand how it worked, which was a reflection of their inquisitive mindset developed during childhood.

Why did the speaker choose to study engineering despite it being a non-traditional choice for women at the time?

The speaker chose engineering due to their passion for maths and physics, and their belief in following their heart's decision, supported by the encouragement from their surroundings.

How did the speaker's visit to the Indian Institute of Science influence their decision to stay in India for higher studies?

The visit inspired a sense of nationalism and confidence in Indian capabilities, leading the speaker to decide to stay in India and prove the potential of Indian research.

What was the speaker's approach to their education and career in the field of computer science?

The speaker integrated their education with their life's passion, treating it not as a separate entity but as an extension of their love for the subject, which helped them excel in their career.

Why did the speaker decide to join the team building India's first supercomputer instead of pursuing opportunities abroad?

The speaker was motivated by the opportunity to contribute to a significant technological milestone in India and to demonstrate the capabilities of Indian researchers and engineers.

What was the turning point that led the speaker to focus on breast cancer research?

The speaker was deeply affected by the diagnosis of advanced breast cancer in a close friend and family member, which prompted them to explore ways to contribute to solving this critical health issue.

How did the speaker's experience with thermal imaging lead to the founding of Niramai?

The speaker discovered the potential of thermal imaging for breast cancer detection but recognized its limitations in accuracy. This led them to found Niramai to develop a non-radiation-based, accurate thermal imaging solution for breast cancer screening.

What challenges did the speaker and their team face while developing the breast cancer screening technology at Niramai?

The team faced challenges in improving the accuracy of thermal imaging for breast cancer detection, which involved fine-tuning algorithms and conducting extensive experiments to ensure the technology's reliability.

How has the speaker's work with Niramai impacted the global healthcare landscape?

Niramai's technology has been recognized and accepted in various regions including the US, Europe, Africa, and Asia, demonstrating the potential of Indian innovation to address global health challenges and save lives.

What advice does the speaker give to individuals facing opportunities and making life choices?

The speaker encourages individuals to follow their hearts and not to be deterred by fears of failure or concerns about money and fame, but to pursue what they are passionate about and believe in.

Outlines

00:00

😀 Embracing Curiosity and Breaking Barriers

The speaker begins by expressing regret for not being able to attend an event due to health reasons but is delighted to see the gathering of students and academia. They introduce themselves as a curious individual from childhood, with a passion for understanding how things work, such as a radio or a computer. The speaker reminisces about their decision to pursue engineering despite societal expectations, choosing to follow their passion for math and physics. They emphasize the importance of doing what one loves and the support of one's surroundings. The speaker's academic success, including topping their class and state in computer science, is attributed to their love for the subject. They also discuss their decision to stay in India for higher education, driven by a sense of nationalism and the desire to prove India's capabilities.

05:02

💼 Career Choices and the Pursuit of Passion

The speaker shares their career journey, starting with their dream job of building India's first supercomputer. They highlight the importance of focusing on work that aligns with one's passion rather than monetary gains or promotions. A pivotal moment in their career was when they chose to work on a parallel compiler, despite a lower salary offer, because it aligned with their interests. This decision led to the formation of a successful team and the development of a superior product. The speaker then discusses their move to Hewlett-Packard's research lab in India, where they were motivated by the opportunity to prove India's research capabilities. They emphasize the value of research that has a real-world impact and the importance of understanding the broader implications of one's work.

10:02

🔬 Transitioning to Research and Innovation

The speaker recounts their transition from industry to academia, pursuing a PhD while working at Hewlett-Packard. They developed a framework for enabling web tasks on low-end mobile phones, aiming to make web applications accessible without programming knowledge. This research was recognized as one of the top three theses. The speaker then moved on to mentor others on applying technology to real-life business problems, focusing on the value that technology can bring to solving real-world issues. They also discuss the importance of machine learning in healthcare, such as predicting ICU admissions, and the personal motivation behind their work following the diagnosis of breast cancer in a close family member.

15:05

🌟 Founding Niramai and Impacting Global Health

The speaker shares the story of founding Niramai, a startup focused on using non-radiation-based thermal imaging for breast cancer screening. They discuss the initial challenges and the decision to quit a high-ranking job to dedicate more time to this cause. The speaker and their team worked to improve the accuracy of thermal imaging for cancer detection, leading to a breakthrough in cancer screening. They have since obtained international patents and screened over 54,000 women across India and other countries. The speaker concludes by encouraging listeners to pursue opportunities that align with their passions and to not be afraid of failure, as it can lead to new paths and solutions to significant problems.

Keywords

💡Inquisitiveness

Inquisitiveness refers to a natural curiosity and desire to learn or know more about something. In the video, the speaker's childhood curiosity about how things work, such as wanting to open a radio to see its inner workings, is a prime example of inquisitiveness. This trait is crucial as it drives the speaker's lifelong pursuit of knowledge and innovation, leading to a successful career in engineering and research.

💡Engineering

Engineering is a professional discipline that applies scientific principles to design, build, and maintain structures, machines, devices, systems, materials, and processes. The speaker chose engineering over medicine, despite societal expectations, because of a passion for math and physics. This decision reflects the video's theme of following one's heart and pursuing what one is passionate about, which is a recurring message throughout the speaker's journey.

💡Research

Research in the context of the video involves systematic investigation and study of materials and sources to establish facts and reach new conclusions. The speaker's transition from engineering to research highlights the importance of exploring new frontiers and the value of contributing to the body of knowledge in one's field. Research is portrayed as a means to innovate and solve real-world problems, which is a central theme of the speaker's career and the video's message.

💡Nationalism

Nationalism, as used in the video, is the belief in the importance and value of one's own nation and its interests. The speaker expresses a sense of nationalism, choosing to stay in India to prove that Indians are capable of significant contributions to the field of research. This decision is tied to the video's broader theme of overcoming barriers and challenging stereotypes, showcasing the potential of one's own country.

💡Algorithm

An algorithm is a set of rules or steps used to solve a problem or perform a computation. In the video, the speaker discusses the importance of algorithms in research and how they can be applied to solve real-world problems. The development of a new algorithm for breast cancer detection is a key part of the speaker's story, demonstrating how technology and innovation can have a profound impact on healthcare.

💡Innovation

Innovation refers to the introduction of new ideas, devices, or methods. The video emphasizes the speaker's innovative spirit, from building India's first supercomputer to developing a new method for breast cancer screening. Innovation is portrayed as a driving force behind progress and a key to solving complex challenges, aligning with the video's theme of breaking barriers and achieving breakthroughs.

💡Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is a type of cancer that forms in the cells of the breast. In the video, the speaker's personal connection to the disease and the high mortality rate among women worldwide motivate her to focus on developing a new screening method. Breast cancer serves as a poignant example in the video of the real-world problems that can be addressed through research and innovation.

💡Thermal Imaging

Thermal imaging is a technology that detects and measures heat, which is then converted into images. The speaker discusses the use of thermal imaging for breast cancer screening, challenging the conventional skepticism about its accuracy. The development of a thermal imaging-based screening method is a key innovation highlighted in the video, demonstrating how technology can be repurposed to address significant health issues.

💡Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Artificial Intelligence refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines to perform tasks like learning, problem-solving, and perception. In the video, AI is used to enhance the accuracy of thermal imaging for breast cancer detection. This integration of AI with medical technology exemplifies the video's theme of leveraging cutting-edge technologies for social good.

💡Patent

A patent is a form of intellectual property that gives the inventor exclusive rights to an invention. The video mentions the speaker's 26 granted international patents, including 10 U.S. patents, for the breast cancer screening technique. This highlights the significance of the innovation and its global recognition, reinforcing the video's message about the power of innovation and intellectual property in advancing solutions to global challenges.

💡Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship is the process of designing, launching, and running a new business. The speaker's decision to leave a high-paying job to found a startup, Niramai, exemplifies entrepreneurship. This move underscores the video's narrative of taking risks for a cause one is passionate about, and it illustrates how entrepreneurial ventures can drive innovation and have a significant societal impact.

Highlights

Speaker unable to attend due to health reasons but expresses happiness for the gathering of enthusiasts.

Speaker shares personal background, including marriage and children, and a childhood curiosity about how things work.

Recollection of the first encounter with a computer in 1983 and the fascination it sparked.

The importance of following one's passion for mathematics and physics, leading to the choice of engineering over medicine.

The decision to pursue engineering despite the lack of female representation in the field.

Academic achievements, including topping the computer science branch and state.

The philosophy of integrating education with life and personal interests.

The choice between advanced education in the U.S. or India, with a nationalistic inclination towards India.

The transformative experience of working at the Indian Institute of Science and the decision to stay in India for research.

The journey of building the first supercomputer in India and the team's achievements.

The opportunity to build a parallel compiler, despite a lower salary offer, to pursue a passion for innovation.

The establishment of the parallel compiler group and its success in outperforming U.S. compilers.

Joining Hewlett-Packard Research Labs in India to prove the research capabilities of Indians on the global stage.

The realization of the broader impact of research beyond academic achievements.

The decision to pursue a PhD after 15 years in industry, supported by a husband's encouragement.

The development of a new framework for web applications accessible to non-programmers, called 'programming by demonstration'.

The motivation behind starting a healthcare technology company, Niramai, after a personal encounter with breast cancer.

The innovative use of thermal imaging for breast cancer screening and the challenges faced in its accuracy.

The decision to quit a high-profile job to focus on developing a life-saving technology for breast cancer detection.

The global impact and recognition of Niramai's technology, including granted patents and regulatory clearances.

The personal fulfillment and lives saved through early detection of breast cancer using the developed technology.

Encouragement for pursuing opportunities with a 'why not' attitude, focusing on the goodness and passion in the work.

Transcripts

okay hi good morning everyone i'm really

sorry that i'm unable to come there

um

because of health reasons

um

very happy to see that uh you know all

the enthusiasts are

coming together uh students and academia

uh coming together to uh discuss a very

important

uh non-cash non-technical topic of

why not i think breaking the barriers i

think it's an excellent theme that has

been chosen for this topic

just to sort of give a little bit of

more of a personal background of course

i am i'm married i have two children i

think i developed a

mindset of inquisitness uh you know

during my childhood because i always

wanted to know how things work you know

if i see a radio i want to like open it

up and see how it works i saw a computer

it was in 1983

84.

and that is when it uh you know kind of

uh you know alluded me i said like

what's happening how is it able to add i

was you know very very simple

uh

you know interface was there at that

time no windows nothing just a simple

command line interface started in an

exhibition and i want to know how it

works

so um it was stuck in my mind and i

always loved maths and physics so when i

finished my 12th standard and

in front of me was like this standard

question for most 12 standard students

uh you know in early career especially

you know i'm talking about 20 30 years

ago

engineering or medicine irrespective of

what others said i did choose

engineering

and uh

i guess uh you know if i extend that uh

like you know why not engineering even

if there are not of course we have a

very few girls in the class

um i guess five of us in the computer

science class or something like that

going by the decision that your heart

wants you to take the passion the like

what you actually want to do right and

getting the support of the surrounding

is really really helpful

then i moved on and actually did very

well in my

engineering career i ended up

topping the computer science

branch as well as actually as a topper

for all the branches for the state

um it's just because i just loved what i

was reading you know that that

connection of what you like and what you

want to do and what you're doing or

you know like uh somebody said you know

do what you like and like what you do

either of the two has to be done and

that's uh that's really really helpful

to give you 100

and not treat uh like education as a

separate thing from your life it's like

that's what my life is that's what i

love doing it right i had this choice in

front of me

you know a lot of my colleagues uh

particularly

both male and female almost all of them

i guess

at that time months was before 90s

they were choosing um you know advanced

education outside india so again the

question was

u.s or india

and incidentally during my project work

i had

been and visited uh to indianist of

science which is a research organization

of india as you know which is one of the

premier research institutions uh that is

when um you know i was thinking why not

india right you know and i was slightly

you know and even now kind of

nationalist i feel indians can do a lot

and we need to prove to the world that

we can do a lot and so i said i'm going

to stay back and that

kind of an exposure uh you know forced

me to get rid of all those unnecessary

biases and as i said uh hindrances i had

in my mind and

i became much more an open person um

almost spent uh spent 24 7 just uh

studying science engineering computer

science uh looking at uh research right

you know and so

isc gave me a lot of fundamental uh

thinking about research right you know

um

how to do something that not

like nobody else has done or no not many

people have done before days and then on

i decided i have to be in a research

career

so again there was a choice

uh is it going to be um you know i'm

going to work inside india or outside

and it had to be researched and there

were very few research institutions

literally one or two

at that time in india doing computer

science research and

um

and then i sort of gave my hundred

percent uh to

and i ended up topping even my masters

and then won the gold medal uh in from

iic

then obviously i did get into the my

dream job which is that i'm a team

building the first super computer from

india

and then i had some really interesting

you know

insights there as well uh just focusing

on the work and not really the money or

the salary and not really about the

promotions or something i remember there

was one case i just went to my manager

and said i don't like the work i'm doing

because

i can do more and and i think

and there was another company which was

uh you know offering lower salary but uh

an opportunity to build a complete

parallel compiler so i told like you

know they are calling me and i know it's

lower salary but i really want to build

new parallel compilers he said okay fine

start the group so i started the

parallel compiler group inside uh

this organization and it's really here

just to take a

side look at this

you know if you feel strongly about

something that you want to do and you

know that it is kind of aligned with the

goal of the organization as well to ask

there is no problem no not many people

would have done you know taking back a

resignation right you know i said why

not you know i mean if if the same uh

opportunity is being created in my own

company where i have served why not so i

stayed back built the parallel compiler

team and we actually um

made

and developed this compiler

uh did a performance testing with the

u.s uh at that time called apogee

compiler and

we also proved that the performance wise

uh ours was much better and the kind of

you know satisfaction i was getting it

all this was was human you know among us

because i was just saying that you know

we're proving that an indian new normal

compiler is better than the us compiler

so of course we published and all that

there is another company hewlett-packard

which was starting their research lab in

india

and they contacted isc to see who can be

some of the initial members they

contacted me and said uh you know um

you know can i join them right that but

then i realized that

what they were asking me is to start a

research group in india again to prove

to the world that indians can do

research and that again motivated me a

lot and yes i became one of the

two members of the first two members of

hewlett-packard research labs in india

working as an extended team of

palo alto labs and and it was again

opening up of mine next level i would

say where i was able to interact with

international researchers

and

and understand how they view research

research is not

not just about getting two percent

improvement in performance or publishing

tons of papers it's yes that is also

good research but there's also research

beyond where uh

this meets the ground right now how does

this algorithm go and impact a

particular

life you know a particular solve a real

problem on the ground as when i spent

about 10 to 15 years with uh with

hewlett-packard interacting with

multiple researchers every year going

and presenting new ideas interacting

with them in you know in europe us

everywhere

i really understood that there's

definitely huge value in taking a simple

algorithmic change to solve a real

problem when i was at hewlett packard

uh you know my professor called and said

you have done masters you have a lot of

research mindset why

come in and join for phd

it was 15 years in industry and people

said are you sure uh you know you spent

15 years in industry you've not been in

class you really want to do uh phd my my

husband supported it and uh

i said why not so trust me along with my

uh herod packet job i took a uh doing my

phd in my favorite place of iic did

manage to complete and i heard later

that my thesis was recommended for

the top three best uh thesis and

and and in this theses i tried to

connect a real problem on the ground of

enabling web tasks from

low-end mobile phones in a way that it

is much more scalable can end users

create their own uh web applications

without knowing programming it's called

programming by driver browsing for the

web and that's a new architecture

framework that i came up with then when

i uh started off with my new

organization mentoring people

about how to take technology to

um

real life you know real business and and

when you are in a company you have to

look at where is the money coming right

so where is the sort of the end-to-end

who will pay for this new idea they'll

pay for this new idea not for the money

you're asking the question you're asking

the question because they are paying for

the new idea because there is value in

the new idea so the value is kind of you

know measured in terms of money in the

businesses actually so but the

end-to-end problem is how does this new

machine learning algorithm go on impact

for example uh of the life of a patient

in the hospital right so we did things

like predicting um

whether a person will get into an icu

next week so that we can plan for the

icu beds and also plan to give more

attention to the patient so that we stop

him from going to the icu and that time

something stuck you know

my

very close friend

and a cousin sister

bharti

suddenly got detected with breast cancer

she was a only american few years elder

to me and she was so close to me and

suddenly they said you know maybe it's

like stage four stage five already

metastasized um

and very few months to go it was

extremely shocking

and i just started reading about breast

cancer

and i saw that there's so many women who

are dying because of breast cancer

so this

got me thinking like i am doing so much

research in different problems uh you

know from u.s europe and also india but

here's this problem taking away lives of

so many women and i'm not doing anything

about it so

i started uh you know uh thinking about

it reading about what's the gap and so

on so forth and serendipity may have it

and i met one of my friends from palo

alto research uh dr master and i was

also discussing with him broadly because

he was an imaging expert

and

he mentioned that i have read somewhere

that thermal imaging has been used for

breast cancer then i told like can we

do an experiment so we we were actually

working with the hospital so we i had a

multi-spectral camera we started

experimenting on two breast cancer

patients and seemed to pick something up

then i started digging about what's

going wrong what why it's not being used

and then i figured out it's not very

accurate if a

you know a person is trying to look at

the image and trying to interpret

so i discussed with my management i said

i won't work on this problem it seems

like an imaging issue and i would like

to put it up as my exploratory project

in my lab and

i said okay we'll put like half a person

or one person i guess and then my own

time and we started exploring this space

and after about one year i felt nobody

maybe not like you know i don't want to

just sort of you know spend very little

time on it

trust me i quit my job

i was going to be the head of the center

uh in a few months and i said no i want

to spend less of my rest of my life on

this with my job and asked couple of my

uh you know team members whether they

want to join me they said yes and we

started niramai which is

which is a new startup that we created

five and a half years ago

niramaya means

no diseases

and also it stands for non-invasive risk

assessment through machine artificial

intelligence

so here the question we are asking is

why not use a non-radiation based

thermal imaging for breast cancer

screening and if you google you'll hear

a lot of negatives on it but i said okay

what are the negatives about the

negatives uh are that they will not be

as accurate let's as technologies as ai

scientists let's look at and improve the

uh accuracy of this

because there are several advantages it

is non-radiation as i mentioned it's

portable it is much much more affordable

120 at the cost of mammography and most

importantly it can

catch cancer in women of all age groups

i lost my cousin sister and two other

family members

and similarly there are so many women 96

000 women last year died of breast

cancer in india alone

684 000 women die every year in the in

the world so how can we save all them

all of them or most of them

by enabling early detection and this

thermal imaging had an ability to detect

and catch early only thing it was it was

calling many people as cancer because

many people had

you know thermal abnormalities so we

asked this question once again why not

and said

let's try to build a solution we didn't

know where we were going whether we will

get the answer i said let's spend at

least two more years i i told my team

let's spend at least two more years

trying to figure out if we can find a

solution

and uh yes we are here now after five

years we have fine-tuned the algorithm

you know learnt a lot from the ground

experimented on different types of

cancers cancer subcases of breast cancer

and now we have developed this new

method of detecting breast cancer which

is considered a breakthrough in cancer

screening and diagnosis in the whole

world

we have 26 granted you granted patents

international patents on this technique

and 10 of them are u.s patents we have

now done more than 54 000 women screened

with this in 25 cities of india it's not

just in india it is now

uh you know accepted and regulatory

clear rather in um us as well as

in the europe in africa and some

countries in asia as well

this is also giving us an opportunity to

take indian innovation to the world and

show that indians can also solve real

problems

with innovation

and most importantly it's already saving

many many lives trust me just this

morning i got a call

from a person in chennai who said

there is this lady who is just 60 year

old

and

no actually 52 year old

and

she was hiding the fact that she had

lump and when she generally took the

analytics test which is the name of the

test we found that she really had an

issue and when an ultrasound was done it

was confirmed malignant

of course it's it's so i'm sorry that

she found cancer but

i'm also happy for her that she can now

live at least 10 more years

if not

more because 10 military's got her

cancer so i think you know one thing i

want to say is that there will be

several opportunities knocking at your

door

and if that opportunity you know you

feel for it you feel you want to do that

don't question yourself you know why

should i do it will i get money will i

get fame no you just do it because

there is

goodness in doing it you like doing it

and opportunities only knock a few times

every time it came in

instead of saying why should i do it i

said why not

what will happen if i fail so what

i will get another job

i will take some other

path i will work on some other problem

just give it a try

always try to choose what your heart

wants and don't worry about what you

don't know make sure that you know what

you know and you can ask help from

others

whenever you don't know

thanks a lot hope this was an

interesting and useful story