Katie Jacobs Stanton, the former head of media at Twitter, is taking a job as head of marketing for gene startup Color Genomics. It’s an unusual and interesting shift for Stanton, who has largely worked on the media side of the digital arena, with stints at both Google and Yahoo, too.
Former Twitter executive Katie Jacobs Stanton is headed for genomics startup Color as CMO
The well-liked digital media exec is taking a new direction.
She’s been an angel investor in Color and has been helping out on some projects there since leaving Twitter earlier this year.
In a recent primer on the company by Mark Bergen, he notes: “Among the wave of Silicon Valley biotech newcomers is Color Genomics, a company founded by two software veterans that provides affordable genetic testing on hereditary health risk. A year ago, the startup began shipping risk tests for breast and ovarian cancer; today it’s announcing options for an additional eight different types of cancer tests for women and men.”
That substantive challenge is apparently what drew Stanton in. “I’ve always been drawn to mission driven technologies that democratize access to information so I jumped at the opportunity,” Stanton wrote in a blog post. “Color’s mission of democratizing access to genetic testing takes this principle one important step further: it can save people’s lives.”
Meaning it’s actually meaningful!
Stanton, who is well regarded in Silicon Valley and had considered a number of other offers in digital media, also announced the move on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
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