Divya Nag: Difference between revisions

 

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{{contradicts other|Stem Cell Theranostics|date=December 2025}}

{{contradicts other|Stem Cell Theranostics|date=December 2025}}

Nag co-founded Stem Cell Theranostics in 2011.{{cn|date=December 2025}}<!–This is not a valid source for claiming founding, or anyu other encyclopedic fact, here: <ref>{{Cite web|title=Divya Nag – A Medical Technology Enthusiast and Stem Cell Theranostics|url=https://www.divyanag.com/|website=DivyaNag|language=en-US|access-date=2020-05-16 | format = self-published blog}}</ref>–> Stem Cell Theranostics is a biotechnology company that pioneered the use of skin cell derived stem cells to use in drug discovery platforms.<ref name=”:0″ /> Specifically, they would take skin cells and convert them to stem cells and then re-differentiate them into heart cells through the addition of transcription factors.<ref name=”:4″>{{Cite web|title=Apple adds rising star with background in FDA approvals & product testing to medical team|url=https://9to5mac.com/2014/04/19/apple-hires-rising-medical-star-divya-nag-with-fda-approval-product-development-experience/|last=Gurman|first=Mark|date=2014-04-20|website=9to5Mac|language=en-US|access-date=2020-05-16}}</ref> Since the heart cells, now being grown in a dish, are derived from a patient, they contain genetic profile and thus drugs can be tested in a patient specific manner.<ref name=”:4″ /> The motivation behind Nag’s company lies in the fact that most drugs do not make it to the final stages of clinical trials due to cardiovascular effects and further, most drugs that are recalled after passing the final stages, are recalled due to negative effects on the cardiovascular system.<ref name=”:4″ /> Nag wanted a cheap and fast way to test the effects of a drug on human cells, instead of in mice, so speed up the drug discovery process and bring harmless and specific treatments to patients as quickly as possible.{{cn|date=December 2025}}<!–The following content regarding cheap, fast, and mice, are not in this source. Moreover, the source largely quotes Nagy’s YouTube presentation, and so is just reiterating self-published material. <ref name=”:5″/>–> As Nagy states in a [[YouTube]] video that was accessed for her ”Fierce Biotech” “Top Women in Medical Devices 2014” accolade, “We’ve tested every single drug that has been pulled from market due to cardiotoxicity and have shown with 100% accuracy that we could have spotted it on day one of its conception.”<ref name=”:5″>{{Cite web| author = Lawrence, Stacy | date = October 15, 2014 | title = Top Women in Medical Devices 2014: Divya Nag, Apple/StartX Med/Stem Cell Theranostics | work = FierceBiotech.com | url=https://www.fiercebiotech.com/special-report/divya-nag-apple-startx-med-stem-cell-theranostics|access-date=2020-05-16| language=en}}</ref>

Nag co-founded Stem Cell Theranostics in 2011.{{cn|date=December 2025}}<!–This is not a valid source for claiming founding, or anyu other encyclopedic fact, here: <ref>{{Cite web|title=Divya Nag – A Medical Technology Enthusiast and Stem Cell Theranostics|url=https://www.divyanag.com/|website=DivyaNag|language=en-US|access-date=2020-05-16 | format = self-published blog}}</ref>–> Stem Cell Theranostics is a biotechnology company that pioneered the use of skin cell derived stem cells to use in drug discovery platforms.<ref name=”:0″ /> Specifically, they would take skin cells and convert them to stem cells and then re-differentiate them into heart cells through the addition of transcription factors.<ref name=”:4″>{{Cite web|title=Apple adds rising star with background in FDA approvals & product testing to medical team|url=https://9to5mac.com/2014/04/19/apple-hires-rising-medical-star-divya-nag-with-fda-approval-product-development-experience/|last=Gurman|first=Mark|date=2014-04-20|website=9to5Mac|language=en-US|access-date=2020-05-16}}</ref> Since the heart cells, now being grown in a dish, are derived from a patient, they contain genetic profile and thus drugs can be tested in a patient specific manner.<ref name=”:4″ /> The motivation behind Nag’s company lies in the fact that most drugs do not make it to the final stages of clinical trials due to cardiovascular effects and further, most drugs that are recalled after passing the final stages, are recalled due to negative effects on the cardiovascular system.<ref name=”:4″ /> Nag wanted a cheap and fast way to test the effects of a drug on human cells, instead of in mice, so speed up the drug discovery process and bring harmless and specific treatments to patients as quickly as possible.{{cn|date=December 2025}}<!–The following content regarding cheap, fast, and mice, are not in this source. Moreover, the source largely quotes Nagy’s YouTube presentation, and so is just reiterating self-published material. <ref name=”:5″/>–> As Nagy states in a [[YouTube]] video that was accessed for her ”Fierce Biotech” “Top Women in Medical Devices 2014” accolade, “We’ve tested every single drug that has been pulled from market due to cardiotoxicity and have shown with 100% accuracy that we could have spotted it on day one of its conception.”<ref name=”:5″>{{Cite web| author = Lawrence, Stacy | date = October 15, 2014 | title = Top Women in Medical Devices 2014: Divya Nag, Apple/StartX Med/Stem Cell Theranostics | work = FierceBiotech.com | url=https://www.fiercebiotech.com/special-report/divya-nag-apple-startx-med-stem-cell-theranostics|access-date=2020-05-16| language=en}}</ref>

The Stem Cell Theranostics website became inactive some time after April 2016,<ref name=SCTheranostics/> and as of December 2025, the “clinical trial in a dish” was being offered by the Joseph C. Wu-led company, [[Greenstone Biosciences]].<ref name= GreenstoneClinTrialDish>{{cite web| author = GB Staff | date = 2025-12-05 | title = Clinical Trial in a Dish | work = GreenstoneBio.com/ | url = https://greenstonebio.com/clinical-trial-in-a-dish/ | access-date = 2025-12-05 | url-status = | archive-url = | archive-date = | location = Palo Alto, CA | publisher = Greenstone Biosciences (GB) | quote = <small>At Greenstone Biosciences, we are redefining how new medicines are developed with our Clinical Trial in a Dish platform. Traditional preclinical models often fail to capture the complexity of human biology, leaving gaps that only emerge in costly and time-intensive clinical trials. Our approach changes that by bringing clinical trial design into the laboratory—before a single patient is enrolled. / Using patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), we recreate the cellular environments of real patient populations. These models incorporate genetic diversity, demographic variables, and clinical backgrounds… </small>.}}</ref><ref name= GreenstoneWuTeam>{{cite web| author = GB Staff | date = 2025-12-05 | title = Our Team | work = GreenstoneBio.com/ | url = https://greenstonebio.com/our-team/ | access-date = 2025-12-05 | url-status = | archive-url = | archive-date = | location = Palo Alto, CA | publisher = Greenstone Biosciences (GB) | quote = <small>Joseph Wu, MD, PhD / Co-Founder… Jade Chao, MPH, JD / Co-Founder… </small>.}}</ref>

=== StartX Med ===

=== StartX Med ===

American biomedical entrepreneur

Divya Nag
Born	c. 1991 (age 33–34) California
Alma mater	Stanford University
Known for	With Profs. Robert C. Robbins and Joseph C. Wu, and Andrew Lee, co-founded Stem Cell Theranostics; With Andrew Lee, co-founded Stanford’s StartX Med incubator.
Awards	Fortune 40 under 40, Silicon Valley Top 100 Innovators and Disruptors, 25 Coolest Women in Silicon Valley, Business Insider Most Powerful Millennials under 35
Scientific career
Fields	Biotechnology, stem cell biology
Institutions	Apple

Divya Nag (born c. 1991) is an American stem cell biologist, biotechnology entrepreneur, and a leader of Apple‘s Health and Research initiatives. While yet a Stanford undergraduate, Nag, working with faculty members Robert C. Robbins and Joseph C. Wu, and Stanford MD-PhD trainee Andrew Lee, helped found Stem Cell Theranostics, a company whose aim has been to develop patient-specific stem cells for use in a drug discovery platform.^[1][2][3][4]

Nag was also a co-founder, with Andrew Lee, of StartX Med, Stanford University‘s healthcare unit of its accelerator.^{[not verified in body]} At Apple, Nag leads a team designing tools that help ease communication between healthcare professionals, researchers, and patients to guide scientific innovation and improve health outcomes.

Nag was born in California and grew up in El Dorado County.^[5] Her parents immigrated to the United States from Jaipur, India, before she was born.^[5] Nag’s father, Harish Nag, is a software program manager at Intel Folsom;^[5] In interview, Nag has stated, “My dad always taught me, ‘If you’re the smartest person in the room, leave.'”^[5]

Nag attended Rolling Hills Middle School where she was the student body president.^[5] At age 13, Nag then became the youngest student ever to enter Folsom Lake College.^[5] She then pursued high school at Mira Loma High School in Sacramento, where she could partake in the International Baccalaureate Program.^[5]

During her time at Mira Loma, Nag had a desire to work alongside scientists, so she contacted many at the University of California, Davis, and was offered an internship by one, Alexandra Navrotsky, with whom she “researched how microscopic particles… could help stop forest fires…”, Nag stating, “We found if we could increase the quartz concentration in the soil, it can absorb a lot more heat and you require a much higher temperature for the fire to begin”, a practical result that Nag told her interviewer was being applied in fire management.^[5]

Nag was accepted to Stanford University in 2009 to pursue an undergraduate degree in bioengineering and medical anthropology.^{[6][dead link]} She began research in the lab of Joseph [C.] Wu,^[when?] studying stem cells, their induction, and their potential use in transplantation.^{[citation needed]} She also explored various aspects of cardiovascular disease.^{[clarification needed][independent source needed]} Nag began to work alongside Wu and Stanford professor Robert C. Robbins and Wu laboratory MD-PhD trainee in Chemical Systems Biology, Andrew Lee, to create a drug testing platform where rapid assessment of the efficacy of drugs on human heart tissue could be tested to expedite both drug discovery and patient treatment.^{[1][independent source needed][3][4][verification needed]} With Nag alongside,^{[independent source needed]} they—Robbins, Wu, and Lee, according to the company’s website at the time^[1]—founded the company Stem Cell Theranostics (various sources state its founding between 2011 and 2013), to begin to put their ideas to use in the healthcare sphere.^[2][4]

One year later, Nag co-founded StartX Med with Andrew Lee,^{[citation needed]} a spin-off of the accelerator program StartX at Stanford in order to help students like herself begin the process of biotechnology innovation and healthcare entrepreneurship.^{[citation needed]}

By 2012, Nag was heavily involved in both Stem Cell Theranostics and StartX Med so she decided to discontinue her studies at Stanford to lead her company and organization at the age of 20.^[7]

This article appears to contradict the article Stem Cell Theranostics. Please discuss at the talk page and do not remove this message until the contradictions are resolved. (December 2025)

Nag co-founded Stem Cell Theranostics in 2011.^{[citation needed]} Stem Cell Theranostics is a biotechnology company that pioneered the use of skin cell derived stem cells to use in drug discovery platforms.^[5] Specifically, they would take skin cells and convert them to stem cells and then re-differentiate them into heart cells through the addition of transcription factors.^[8] Since the heart cells, now being grown in a dish, are derived from a patient, they contain genetic profile and thus drugs can be tested in a patient specific manner.^[8] The motivation behind Nag’s company lies in the fact that most drugs do not make it to the final stages of clinical trials due to cardiovascular effects and further, most drugs that are recalled after passing the final stages, are recalled due to negative effects on the cardiovascular system.^[8] Nag wanted a cheap and fast way to test the effects of a drug on human cells, instead of in mice, so speed up the drug discovery process and bring harmless and specific treatments to patients as quickly as possible.^{[citation needed]} As Nagy states in a YouTube video that was accessed for her Fierce Biotech “Top Women in Medical Devices 2014” accolade, “We’ve tested every single drug that has been pulled from market due to cardiotoxicity and have shown with 100% accuracy that we could have spotted it on day one of its conception.”^[9]

The Stem Cell Theranostics website became inactive some time after April 2016,^[1] and as of December 2025, the “clinical trial in a dish” was being offered by the Joseph C. Wu-led company, Greenstone Biosciences.^[10][11]

Nag and Wu laboratory colleague Andrew Lee co-founded StartX Med at Stanford University in 2012.^{[citation needed]}No mention of Nagy or foundung at this page: ^[12] StartX Med is an organization that supports students in their path towards innovating and developing healthcare based startup companies through Stanford.^[12] She was inspired by her own experiences starting Stem Cell Theranostics as she saw added hurdles in starting a healthcare startup compared to the typical technology startup that StartX supported.^[5] She wanted to help students navigate their way through finding laboratories and FDA approval as she had to for her company as well as create a collaborative environment for students interested in starting companies in the healthcare sector.^[8] StartX Med has now helped over 500 health technology companies, raised over $1 billion in aggregate, and partnered with top 10 pharmaceutical companies to bring ideas into practice.^[8]

In 2014, Nag was recruited to work at Apple in the Special Projects unit to innovate novel ways to make healthcare data easily usable by both patients and researchers.^[13] She leads a team that created ResearchKit, which is an app based tool that enables collection of health data from any user with a smartphone thus allowing researchers to broaden their subject and patient pools to expedite discovery and translation in medicine.^[13] The app allows doctors to alter patients to follow their prescribed treatment plans and also allows patients to provide updates to physicians.^[13] The app also allows patients to track their health and disease conditions in novel ways.^[13]

• Perez, Marco V.; Mahaffey, Kenneth W.; Hedlin, Haley; Rumsfeld, John S.; Garcia, Ariadna; Ferris, Todd; Balasubramanian, Vidhya; Russo, Andrea M.; Rajmane, Amol; Cheung, Lauren; Hung, Grace (November 14, 2019). “Large-Scale Assessment of a Smartwatch to Identify Atrial Fibrillation”. New England Journal of Medicine. 381 (20): 1909–1917. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa1901183. ISSN 0028-4793. PMC 8112605. PMID 31722151.
• Turakhia, Mintu; Desai, Manisha; Hedlin, Haley; Rajmane, Amol; Talati, Nisha; Ferris, Todd; Desai, Sumbul; Nag, Divya; Patel, Mithun; Kowey, Peter; Rumsfeld, John (September 1, 2018). “Rationale and design of a large-scale, app-based study to identify cardiac arrhythmias using a smartwatch: The Apple Heart Study”. American Heart Journal. 207: 66–75. doi:10.1016/j.ahj.2018.09.002. PMC 8099048. PMID 30392584.
• Nguyen, Patricia K.; Nag, Divya; Wu, Joseph C. (2012), Patterson, Cam; Willis, Monte S. (eds.), “Molecular Imaging of Cardiovascular Disease”, Translational Cardiology: Molecular Basis of Cardiac Metabolism, Cardiac Remodeling, Translational Therapies and Imaging Techniques, Molecular and Translational Medicine, Humana Press, pp. 485–531, doi:10.1007/978-1-61779-891-7_14, ISBN 978-1-61779-891-7
• Nguyen, Patricia K.; Nag, Divya; Wu, Joseph C. (February 1, 2011). “Sex differences in the diagnostic evaluation of coronary artery disease”. Journal of Nuclear Cardiology. 18 (1): 144–152. doi:10.1007/s12350-010-9315-2. ISSN 1532-6551. PMC 3657505. PMID 21136229.
• Nguyen, Patricia; Nag, Divya; Wu, Joseph (September 30, 2010). “Methods to Assess Stem Cell Lineage, Fate and Function”. Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews. 62 (12): 1175–86. doi:10.1016/j.addr.2010.08.008. PMC 3078641. PMID 20816906.