TMRW Women in STEM – Meet Sindhu Gollapudi

In the United States, women make up only 28% of the STEM workforce, and men vastly outnumber women majoring in most STEM fields in college. At TMRW, we’re proud to have an equal representation of women and men on our team – with women leading programs and new developments across engineering, biobanking and scientific affairs, embryology, technology, finance, and more. To celebrate the talented people that make our mission at TMRW possible each day and to empower the next generation of STEM-focused leaders, we’re excited to kick off our new series: TMRW Women in STEM. 

Today, we’re spotlighting Sindhu Gollapudi, our Program Manager, Scientific Affairs. 

Sindhu has a passion for modernizing healthcare and brings over six years of experience developing and implementing scientific programs. Prior to TMRW, Sindhu worked at CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield where she partnered with providers to support Medicaid patients seeking care and medical resources. She received her Bachelor of Science in Cellular and Developmental Biology from the University of Iowa and later earned her Master in Public Health from Tulane University. Sindhu was born in New Jersey, spent her adolescence and young adult life in Iowa, and now lives in New York City. 

What is your role and what does an average day look like?

I’m the Program Manager of Scientific Affairs which means I help plan, execute, and manage all of our ongoing studies at TMRW. We typically have three to seven studies at a time, with some focused on our products and others focused on the IVF industry overall. I also help ensure sure we’re on track to meet our goals, securing funding for our studies, supporting our study partners and collaborators, and analyzing study findings. 

I’d say about 60% of my day is centered on checking in with ongoing projects, and 40% is focused on planning for the future. Three questions that help me plan for the future are: What things do we need to keep an eye on for the month? What things do we need to keep an eye out for next week? And are we sort of in danger of missing any of those deadlines?

What do you love about science, tech, engineering, and math? How did you know this was right over English, history, and other subjects in school?

One of the things I have always enjoyed about science and math has been the logic: that everything has a right answer and a structured process to get to that answer. Science is like a puzzle – you’re trying to tinker to figure out what the missing piece is to understand how something works. I remember being the one student in 10th grade health class who wasn’t disturbed by the birth video we watched. The fact that we go from a couple of cells to people blew my mind. I genuinely thought life coming into the world was the coolest thing ever, and still do. Throughout school, my strongest subjects were biology and chemistry, where I learned that if there’s something we don’t know, there’s a way to discover more. 

There was a point in time when I tried to explore the “what if’s” with history and found that there was a level of subjectiveness depending on who won and who got to tell their story. I appreciate the openness of science and the willingness to ask and explore questions.

What did you study in college and how has that influenced your career?

Knowing that I loved cells and looking into the microscope to see them develop, I decided to major in biology in college. We had to choose a specific track within biology and our options were genetics, evolutionary biology, ecology, and cellular and developmental. I chose cellular and developmental because I was intrigued by the entire cell process — from a couple of cells to a fully formed animal or baby — and wanted to learn more. I participated in a couple of labs where we did manipulation on stem cells to turn them into heart cells or other tissues. I was amazed and remember thinking: “this is the most fascinating thing I’ve ever done.” I would enjoy doing the homework (it was never a chore) and would find myself forgetting my other assignments to focus on cell development. I knew it was a subject I wanted to focus on. 

My passion for women’s health and the world of reproduction has been a central theme in my career. When I was completing my Master's in Public Health, I had to complete a 300-hour practical learning experience and the internship I chose was in the field of maternal and child health. We worked on research to try to improve breastfeeding rates in Louisiana because the infant mortality rate was so high. My last role included a lot of projects and initiatives around women’s health and infant health. My role at TMRW merges many of my favorite subjects.  

How often do people seem to understand what you do? How would you describe your role to someone outside of STEM? 

Being a program manager is similar to being a project manager, where each study is a project we have to plan, develop, source materials, execute, and analyze learnings. One of the things that I find hard about being in STEM is that a lot of the language and concepts have been deliberately made to be inaccessible. People generally won’t understand what I do. 

I sometimes have a hesitation when describing what industry we’re in because there’s a lack of awareness – I usually say we’re in cryostorage, medical devices, and fertility tech. When I mentioned cryostorage to my husband, he said “oh, like in Futurama, when he freezes himself?” I think that women tend to understand the concept a bit more because there’s more conversation around egg freezing. If asked about Scientific Affairs specifically, I’ll explain that we partner with clinics and collaborators to conduct experiments on products and present our findings to the greater scientific community. 

Are there any women who opened doors for you along the way?

The two women in particular who supported my STEM education were my aunt and my mom. Both of them taught me that it’s cool to dream. 

My aunt was one of the first women from her high school to get into computer engineering in India in the 80s, a time when very few women were going into the field. She got accepted into one of the best engineering colleges in the country and then into the hardest focus area: computer engineering. After college, she founded her own company. Seeing my aunt be a trailblazer in her field has been so inspiring. Her story taught me that while it can be a man’s world out there, it doesn’t have to be, and you can make your own mark on the world as well. 

I think my mom was inspired by her sister as well. My mom was an accountant and later became a computer engineer. She taught me that the one thing you always have is your education and made sure to put learning first for both my sister and I. If we needed to do an extracurricular for school, she wouldn’t think twice and would be the first one there to make sure we had everything we needed. My mom has always given me as much support as possible — even in moments when I didn’t fully believe in myself. When I was planning for grad school, I was concerned that it was too far away. My mom reminded me that it was a good program and that I should give the new opportunity a chance. She provides the extra push to go and try new things. Even if I wanted to give up on my dreams, she is always there to pick me up and remind me that I can do it. I think that one person believing in you is enough. 

What is the next step for women who are interested in STEM? How accessible is your career and how can this be improved?

I think that having an interest in STEM is the driving force and the first step towards a career in these fields. If you have a strong interest and are 100% passionate, there is a lot of room to grow.

One thing I wish had been more available to me during high school and college is the awareness of careers in STEM outside of being a doctor or an engineer. When I first started college, I wanted to be a doctor and quickly realized that wasn’t the right path for me. I remember being told that if you have a biology degree you can only go pre-health, which is definitely not true. There are a ton of careers out there that don’t involve getting an MD, PharmD, or engineering degree. Now is a great time to explore a career in STEM considering there are so many healthcare companies that are doing such innovative work.