# Gauri Naik

> Dr. Gauri Naik is a Ph.D. biotechnologist, serial entrepreneur, and Co-Founder & CEO of OptraHEALTH, a Silicon Valley AI health-tech company building conversational AI and revenue cycle automation tools for genetics, genomics, and clinical workflows. With 11 U.S. patents, a career spanning digital pathology (BioImagene, acquired by Roche), and products deployed at leading health systems across the US, Europe, and Asia, she sits at the intersection of molecular biology, machine learning, and enterprise health IT.

- **Role:** Co-Founder and CEO at OptraHEALTH
- **Organizations:** OptraHEALTH, Optra Ventures, OptraSCAN, Optra Systems Inc., BioImagene Inc.
- **Nationality:** American (Indian-American)
- **Education:** Ph.D. (Biotechnology or related field), Not publicly disclosed
- **Known for:** 11 published U.S. patents including pioneering AI chatbot patent for clinical genomics workflows (US Patent 10,754,882), Co-founded BioImagene Inc., acquired by Roche Diagnostics, Built GeneFAX with Amazon Alexa integration capable of answering 500,000+ questions about hereditary cancer

## Career timeline

- **2003** — Co-founded BioImagene Inc., a Silicon Valley digital pathology startup focused on digital imaging for pathology slides.
- **2009** — BioImagene acquired by Roche Diagnostics; Gauri exits after 6 years.
- **2010** — Co-founded Optra Systems Inc., an engineering services company for medical device and lab instrumentation firms.
- **2014** — Became investor and board member at OptraSCAN, a digital pathology company with offices in San Jose and Pune, India.
- **2016** — Presented iPhronesis — a big data analytics platform for personalized and precision medicine — at international conference in Phoenix; published in Journal of Pharmacogenomics & Pharmacoproteomics.
- **2017** — Co-founded OptraHEALTH, focusing on AI-driven genomics, clinical automation, and conversational health platforms.
- **2018** — Launched GeneFAX at the American Society of Human Genetics Conference in San Diego; integrated Amazon Alexa to answer 500,000+ questions about hereditary cancer.
- **2019** — Partnered with InformedDNA to expand remote genetic counseling via GeneFAX CounselorConnect.
- **2020** — US Patent 10,754,882 granted for AI chatbot technology automating clinical workflows for genetic test results (August). Partnered with Myriad Genetics to deliver 'Gene' chatbot for hereditary cancer patients.
- **2022** — Filed patent infringement lawsuit against Invitae Corporation over AI chatbot technology. Partnered with Bionano Laboratories for genetic counseling. Added WhatsApp channel to HealthFAX.
- **2023** — Launched HealthGPT (March), trained on 65 million medical ontologies. Settled patent dispute with Invitae on licensing terms. Expanded to APAC with Bumrungrad Hospital, Thailand.
- **2024** — ENGAGE study — conducted with Johns Hopkins Hospital — published in Journal of Cancer Survivorship validating AI patient education platform. Significant RCM results with major health client.
- **2025** — Added Clinical Intelligence Engine to HealthFAX platform (May). OptraHEALTH featured at HIMSS 2026.

## Achievements

- 11 published U.S. patents including pioneering AI chatbot patent for clinical genomics workflows (US Patent 10,754,882)
- Co-founded BioImagene Inc., acquired by Roche Diagnostics
- Built GeneFAX with Amazon Alexa integration capable of answering 500,000+ questions about hereditary cancer
- Launched HealthGPT trained on 65 million medical ontologies and 2 million curated Q&A pairs
- Won Woman Entrepreneur Award from the Government of India
- Successfully licensed AI chatbot patent to Invitae following 2022 lawsuit
- ENGAGE study with Johns Hopkins Hospital published in Springer Nature's Journal of Cancer Survivorship
- OptraHEALTH deployed across health systems in USA, Europe, and Asia (Thailand's Bumrungrad Hospital)
- Editorial and advisory board member, Journal of Applied & Translational Genomics
- Advisory board, International Organization for Rare Genetic Disorders
- Myriad Genetics partnership reached 1 million annual quiz users for hereditary cancer information
- Speaker at international conferences in personalized medicine, genomics, and HIMSS

## Latest updates

- **2026-05** — OptraHEALTH attending HIMSS 2026 in Las Vegas showcasing AI orchestration capabilities.
- **2025-05** — OptraHEALTH added Clinical Intelligence Engine to HealthFAX platform.
- **2024-09** — HealthFAX RCM achieved breakthrough results with a major health system client.
- **2024-01** — ENGAGE study results published in Journal of Cancer Survivorship (Springer Nature), validating OptraHEALTH's AI patient education platform in collaboration with Johns Hopkins Hospital.
- **2023-05** — Bumrungrad Hospital (Thailand) partnership announced — first major APAC deployment of HealthFAX.
- **2023-03** — HealthGPT launched — a healthcare-specific transformer model trained on 65 million ontologies.

## Links

- Website: https://optrahealth.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gaurin
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/gaurioptra
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/optrahealth/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/gauri-naik
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-16