Spotlight on Harsha Gowda

We hear from Harsha Gopinath, dedicated father, GenV parent, and software engineer at GenV, who shares his personal experience as both a participant in the program and a team member, highlighting the impact of GenV’s innovative approach to advancing child health research.

What is your role at GenV?

I’m a software engineer at GenV, where I focus on participant relationship management. My work spans everything from development to the ongoing maintenance of the systems that support this vital program.

What inspired you to join the GenV program as a participant?

GenV is aiming to answer many important, yet unanswered questions about health and genetics. For example, why are children born with allergies, or genetic and rare diseases? I joined because I want to contribute to finding answers that could help prevent such conditions in the future. By answering these questions, we can help future generations of Victorian children by providing information that could lead to preventative measures during pregnancy and beyond. 

As a GenV parent, how do you see GenV making a positive impact on the lives of children and families in Victoria?

As a father, I wanted to ensure that my child was healthy during pregnancy, and I know many other parents feel the same way. However, there are still so many unknowns—children continue to face rare genetic diseases with no clear cause. For instance, my sister was born with a rare disease, nephrotic syndrome, in India. My parents did everything they could to ensure her health, but no one knew why this happened.  

With GenV, I hope we can uncover answers that will help future parents be more confident during pregnancy and ensure their children’s health. I think prevention is better than cure. If we can identify some issues early, we may be able to avoid many health concerns and give children the best possible start in life.

In what ways do you think GenV leverages technology and innovation to advance child health research?

At GenV, we embrace the latest technologies to improve our research and collaborate more effectively with participants. We’ve automated many processes, ensuring data accuracy and efficiency. By embracing automation and cloud technologies, we ensure that our data is handled securely while facilitating advanced research. 

What is important to you as a GenV team member and as a participant?

GenV is built on trust, and I am proud to work on systems that put privacy and security at the forefront. It’s fascinating to be part of such a large and impactful project, with over 100,000 participants contributing valuable data that will shape future health research. As a participant, I’m fully committed to the success of GenV, consistently providing my data and taking part in surveys to help drive the research forward. I believe the insights we gain from this program will benefit both my family and many future generations. 

It’s an exciting time to be involved in such important work.