Dr Harriet Treacy, Grit Alumni Female Co-Founder and CEO of Beyondbmi
Please tell us a little about yourself and your role as CEO and Co-Founder Beyondbmi? What inspired you to setup the company?
I qualified as a doctor in 2013 working in the NHS initially followed by Australia and finally, came back and worked in both a public and private setting in Ireland.
I had gravitated towards Emergency medicine as I really enjoyed the fast pace and the diagnostic component of emergency medicine. I was increasingly seeing a lot of chronic disease such as people presenting with T2D or cardiovascular disease and always felt a bit helpless, like there was more I could be doing to help people to slow down or prevent chronic disease and their complications.
However, for people living with obesity, there was rarely somewhere reputable you could signpost them to. So I knew then that I wanted to be part of building something that really helped people to better manage chronic disease.
I was accepted on the RCSI GP training scheme in 2018 as I felt chronic disease management was where my passion lay but I knew that digital transformation was happening and there was a really great opportunity for me to use my skills and experience as a doctor to build something, and hopefully my colleagues, would be proud of – so that led me to upskilling in design and innovation and eventually building Beyondbmi.
What problem are you solving?
Poor access to reputable medically-led obesity management.
What advice would you give a female healthcare professional that is interested in becoming an entrepreneur?
Ask yourself why? I think entrepreneurship has been glamourised somewhat when really it is not for everyone and that is not a bad thing.
If after asking yourself that question a few time, and you still want to be an entrepreneur, then you have to fall in love the process, not the outcome.
You will sometimes feel like you are constantly failing but if you believe in the value of the process and what the process does to you as a person, you will endure more and somehow enjoy those tough times.
It builds character, you learn to be proud of yourself for putting yourself out there and you realise you have a unique opportunity to learn and challenge yourself which, if you love learning, I don’t think you will regret.
We are delighted to have you join the summit as part of the Grit alumni, can you please share with us your testimonial and value received from participating in the program?
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