Anjali Prabhakaran ’22 is creating for others the support networks she longed for growing up.
Prabhakaran is founder of the startup Pelorus Health, which is building a software platform to help patients better manage metabolic diseases through health data tracking and an extensive network of community support.
Pelorus Health was one of six Ohio State student startup ventures chosen for the inaugural President’s Buckeye Accelerator cohort. The yearlong program, directed by Ohio State’s Keenan Center for Entrepreneurship, provides the teams with $50,000 in funding as well as mentorship, skill building and community to help prepare them to launch their businesses.
For Prabhakaran, her business startup comes from a personal space. Prabhakaran has a rare liver condition called glycogen storage disease. Growing up with this chronic illness certainly wasn’t easy and it’s why she’s dedicating herself to helping others with these types of conditions.
“I hope Pelorus Health brings awareness to the struggles individuals go through when living with a chronic illness,” Prabhakaran says. “And I hope it brings more attention to how important community is when taking care of one’s health.”
After graduating from Ohio State with a degree in human nutrition, Prabhakaran has become a research assistant at Case Western Reserve University, with the vision to work in the health tech startup space. She recently spoke to us about her own startup and what it’s been like as part of the first Buckeye Accelerator cohort.
The problem this project is trying to solve is one you know all too well, am I right?
Absolutely. Doctors would give me technical information and my parents were always very supportive, but I didn’t feel I could talk to them about my day-to-day struggles. Pelorus Health was born out of a desire to help patients connect with others who could really understand what they were going through.
I hope this can grow into a supportive community where everyone can find meaning and hope.
How important is that support network?
It’s incredibly important. The patient support network caters to mental health. If you’re struggling mentally, it’s hard to lead a happy and fulfilling life. Having that patient support network helps people feel understood in their struggles and motivates them to take care of themselves.
Hearing advice from others on how they exercise, how they shift their diets, how they tackle the practical daily challenges helps me improve my physical health and that opens a lot of doors.
I hope Pelorus Health brings awareness to the struggles individuals go through when living with a chronic illness and I hope it brings more attention to how important community is when taking care of one’s health.
Have you always wanted to be an entrepreneur?
I have always planned to go to med school to be a physician. That was how I saw myself helping patients like myself. Then I became familiar with the startup culture.
A few of my friends were involved in the Best of Student Startups (BOSS) competition, and I found out about the President’s Buckeye Accelerator. It showed me different solutions to helping people with their health outside of being a doctor. The idea took off from there.
What’s it been like starting your own company?
It’s both overwhelming and exciting. When it comes to building your own company, all the structure you knew as a student goes out the window. But once I found my footing through the President’s Buckeye Accelerator, that lack of structure and freedom to explore excites me. More than anything else now I see a world of possibilities.