After being diagnosed in 2010 with the rare condition mixed connective tissue disease (MTCD), Gajewski was told by her physician to keep track of her symptoms between medical appointments.[5] This motivated her to improve health prospects for patients.[6][7][8] This led to the idea to create a mobile symptom journal.[7] Gajewski was initially faced with the prohibitive costs of developing a mobile app after approaching developers from the United States and India.[9] To evaluate the feasibility and validity of the app, she attended Eric Ries's 2011 Lean startup – San Francisco where her idea was the second-place winner and was voted "most fundable" and "most likely to succeed."[9][10] In a February 2017 Heart Sisters interview, Gajewksi said of her experience designing a mobile app:[11]
But there wasn’t [already a mobile app], so I went about making my own. Because I was actively sick at the time, I knew certain things that a healthy person might completely miss – something as simple as not using sliders on a screen because they’re harder to activate (and require more thought) than a button.
She has been described as a "revolutionary" in the engaged patient movement along with Dave deBronkart and Jamie Heywood.[12] In 2014, the Symple App had 60,000 users.[13] It is distributed through the iOS App Store.[13] In 2016, Symple was recommended by a National Health Servicegeneral practitioner, Dr. Golda Parker, for patients to use to create lists of symptoms so they come prepared to appointments.[14] Gajewski's Symple app has been the subject of research in academic journals.[15] A 2017 academic study rated her mobile app as one of the "highest performing apps" for heart failure monitoring.[16] Gajewski provided input on point of care patient decisions in a 2016 study.[17] Danny Gorog of Macworld had positive remarks on the app, stating that it "is a powerful iPhone app that lets users track up to 20 different symptoms at once. It also functions as a health diary, to let you note the things you eat, daily exercise and medications you take."[18]
Advisory boards
Gajewski serves as an Advisor for Princeton University's Keller Center eLab Summer Accelerator.[19] She is also a member of University of California, San Diego and Irvine's Health Data Exploration Project.[20] In December 2011, Gajewski was one of the Princeton alumni and women entrepreneurs and business leaders who served as a panelist for the event entitled "Women in Entrepreneurship" hosted by the Keller Center.[21] The panel explored the underrepresentation of women in venture capital and startup ventures to which Gajewski reported, "I just never imagined limitations based on my sex,"[21] later remarking, "It just never occurred to me."[21] Gajewski is a faculty member for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation sponsored National Health Care Transparency Summit.[22] Gajewski serves on the Advisory Board of Flip the Clinic, a project of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.[23]
Personal life
Gajewski resides in Princeton, New Jersey.[4] To combat her autoimmune disease, Gajewski practices Zumba.[24] Gajewski's parents later divorced, and her father remarried Jacqueline Nicole Marchal of Paris, through which, Gajewski gained three step-siblings including Christopher Emery.[25] Gajewski's mother remarried jeweler Samuel Kind, through which, she gained two step-siblings, actor and voice actor Richard Kind and Joanne Hinton.[26]
