Fostering Collaboration: Why Aishu Sukumar of Gates Ventures Joined StartUp Health’s Alzheimer’s Moonshot Impact Board
Aishu Sukumar contributes to several Alzheimer’s initiatives at Gates Ventures, leading efforts including the Diagnostics Accelerator (DxA) program in partnership with the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF). Sukumar joined the impact board of StartUp Health’s Alzheimer’s Moonshot earlier in 2024, so we caught up with her in her Boston office to learn about her professional journey and where she sees Alzheimer’s innovation heading next.
StartUp Health: Aishu, it is exciting to have you on our Alzheimer’s Moonshot Impact Board representing Gates Ventures and your work at the Diagnostics Accelerator. Why don’t you start by telling us about your background and how you ended up doing this work.
Aishu Sukumar: I’ve always had this lifelong fascination with how the human body works and a very keen interest in problem solving. I spent a good part of six years being a research scientist, focusing on early stage research and oncology and little bit on neurodegeneration. I love answering these fundamental questions to understand the high burden diseases better. Then I got a research fellowship at the Wyss Institute at Harvard Medical School, where for the first time I got to work more on the translation of fundamental research and innovation to an actual product. This was a huge revelation as to what it takes to get something from an idea to bringing it to market as a solution that people would use. After that, I worked on a healthcare tech startup that was integrating public health information, particularly in rural regions and countries. I learned a lot about the unique challenges startups face in this process.
But I realized I wanted more clarity on pharma and biotech and drug commercialization. To build these skills I spent a few years at a boutique consulting firm where I got to work on a range of indications, from oncology to metabolic diseases. I got a more nuanced understanding of the different stakeholders and players in the healthcare ecosystem.
All along the way, I knew that my North Star was having an impact in a high-burden disease area.
StartUp Health: That brings us up to today. Tell us about your current role and work at Gates Ventures?
Sukumar: At Gates Ventures, I lead some of our Alzheimer's efforts, particularly the Diagnostics Accelerator program, which is a partnership with the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF). The goal here is to bring a non-invasive, low-cost, scalable, and accessible diagnostic solution to market. So think about a blood test for Alzheimer's or an eye exam or digital tool that really helps you identify the disease earlier.
StartUp Health: You’ve worked on a wide range of healthcare topics and diagnostic areas. Is there anything about working on Alzheimer’s specifically that appeals to you personally?
Sukumar: When I was in college, one of my close friends’ parents was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's, and I got to see just how absolutely devastating it can be. There wasn’t much my friend could do but watch her mother slowly descend into dementia. Being the only child of a single parent, the entire burden fell on my friend. This made me reflect on how this is probably the reality for millions of people and how only now we're starting to scratch the surface on solutions.
StartUp Health: You’re heavily involved in leading efforts at the DxA. Tell us how that initiative came to be and what you’re working on specifically.
Sukumar: The Diagnostics Accelerator was established with the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF), and Gates Ventures is one of its funders. Through the DxA we support everything from early-stage researchers who are working in biomarker identification and discovery, all the way to late-stage companies who are focused on bringing these solutions to market.
We recognized that there’s NIH and NIA funding for early-stage research and VC's and hedge funds and other investors who invest in these companies where the risk is relatively lower and return is higher. And there was this kind of gap that needed to be filled in areas like Alzheimer’s where the path to treatment was less clear and the risk was higher. And we felt that this is where philanthropy can make a difference.
StartUp Health: Having worked with a range of startups through the DxA, what are some of the markers of success that you’ve seen across the program?
Sukumar: One thing I've found is that where companies have had a lot of success is when they have a very clear vision, a path to it, and a strong technology. Of course, that is not enough to overcome all the barriers. It's also about the team and about having a very clear commercialization strategy. It's about having the right kind of experience. And also, it's about making sure that the solution that they're developing is sustainable.
Sometimes you have founders who start with the scientific, academic mindset and so they have strong technology but really have limited commercial experience. Others have this idea and this product that they've tapped into and they want to leverage it in Alzheimer's disease, but don't necessarily have an understanding of the specific market challenges. So I think where we've seen the biggest success is founders who've been able to understand the value they bring to the table, while also recognizing the gaps and challenges that they are yet to tackle and finding an effective way to address those.
StartUp Health: So it comes back to knowing thyself? Your strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats? We run companies through a tried-and-true SWOT exercise on our quarterly workshops.
Sukumar: That's one of the big things that excited me personally about StartUp Health. Also, the StartUp Health model is such an incredible opportunity to bring these founders together and build this community where they get to learn from each other and organically collaborate. We tried doing some of that organically, but it isn’t easy. That’s where we thought StartUp Health really fills this gap and helps strong founders take their innovation to the next level.
StartUp Health: Speaking of collaboration, if you could wave a magic wand and get a few different companies around a table to share data, to share networks, who would be there?
Sukumar: Imagine if you could take a company focused on these blood-based biomarkers and someone focusing on digital tools and bring them together for this even stronger multi-modal marker. Maybe you can detect the disease earlier, maybe it can be more accurate or push the performance to the next level.
What I like to also think about is beyond just diagnostics to the entire Alzheimer's disease care continuum. From tools for supporting caregivers to education and awareness.
I think the different players in the ecosystem really need to come together, put their heads down and find solutions. And some of it is starting to happen, which is very encouraging to see.
StartUp Health: Do you feel like we’re at an inflection point in Alzheimer’s innovation? Is there a turning of the tide or is it still just a slow march of progress?
Sukumar: I definitely think we're at an inflection point, at the precipice of something. It is a very exciting place to be in and a very exciting time. I often hear from people who've been in the field for, like, 30 years, how there's just not been enough hope. Being able to have this conversation now just fills me with optimism that there's definitely a lot that can be done and that there is more interest and funding that's being put in this space. And I hope we can be intentional in leveraging this momentum and driving forward.
StartUp Health: You mentioned a minute ago, innovation around caregivers. It's such a burden. Globally, millions of people are secondarily affected, their whole lives shifted because of caring for someone with Alzheimer's. Are you seeing any innovation that can really support the caregiver?
Sukumar: I'm more peripheral to that space, but I definitely come across innovations in that space, whether it is around more education, awareness, or it is around direct support solutions for caregivers. Sometimes the big problem is not knowing enough, and that lack of knowledge builds anxiety. They don’t know what is normal and what needs attention. More recently, I have seen a few efforts focused on education and awareness building and also solutions that provide more direct support for caregivers, and am optimistic that this space will grow.
StartUp Health: When you think about your friend who's helping their parent through this, and you think about the work that you're doing with Gates Ventures, DxA, and StartUp Health, where do you hope to be in five years?
Sukumar: I see it as twofold. One is actually leveraging technology like AI and machine learning to build solutions that are more patient and caregiver centric. The second piece is education and awareness and having more concrete guidelines. It's great that there are all these solutions, but they need to reach the intended people. So I think bridging that gap will also be important.
I hope that we will be in a world where there is a clear care continuum pathway in Alzheimer’s much like knowing how to approach the condition when someone has a cardiac event. Clear diagnostic and therapeutic pathways, early identification and appropriate interventions, and reimbursement so that there is less fear and more clarity with navigating Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia.
StartUp Health: Let’s close with a call for innovation. Given your cross-industry view of Alzheimer’s, what would you like to have founders pitch to you as part of StartUp Health’s Alzheimer’s Moonshot?
Sukumar: I would love to see more collaboration and more multimodal solutions for detection of Alzheimer's disease. I think different solutions target different parts of the continuum and have different capabilities for identifying patients. I believe there is power in some of these solutions coming together. We have so many of these players working in different silos, and I would like to see them come together and leverage the data. At Gates Ventures we support the Alzheimer's Disease Data Initiative, where the goal is to democratize the data. I want to see more companies leveraging this. I also think we need to look beyond amyloid and tau and also consider copathologies and get a more nuanced understanding of the subpopulations within the Alzheimer's disease space.
StartUp Health: Thanks for taking time with us today and for adding your voice to the Impact Board for StartUp Health’s Alzheimer’s Moonshot.
Sukumar: It's been a very exciting start, and I'm pretty confident that we'll accomplish something meaningful here. Thanks to the StartUp Health team for bringing all the different innovators and leaders in the space together and building a strong community.
Listen to the interview on StartUp Health NOW
Call for Alzheimer’s Innovation
With support from the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) and Gates Ventures, we’ve launched a new global initiative created to develop a collaborative innovation community alongside leading companies, research teams, and stakeholders with a mission to accelerate progress in prevention, diagnosis, and management of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. Learn more and apply for an Alzheimer’s Moonshot Fellowship.
Become a Health Moonshot Champion
Health moonshots are fueled by passionate families, foundations, and industry organizations committed to achieving health moonshots. Learn how you can join other champions of the T1D Moonshot or one of our other global health moonshots.
Follow us on social media for daily updates on Health Transformers: X (Twitter), LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.