Bahar Genetics
Our Mission
The foundation for our company's purpose.
Bahar Genetics Inc aims to build an AI-driven learning tool app, the Genovation Project, designed to educate healthcare professionals in British Columbia on integrating unbiased omics services responsibly and effectively into their practice. This tool will provide on-demand, in-depth omics knowledge and support clinical decision-making, emphasizing omics privacy and ethical considerations.
Our Core Values
The foundation for our company's culture.
Dignity
We uphold your dignity while honouring the privilege you grant us to walk alongside you in your genetic testing and counselling journey.
Integrity
We are admired and respected for our commitment to honesty, trust, and transparency. We have strong values that we follow consistently.
Diversity
We respect and appreciate differences in age, gender, ethnicity, education, physical abilities, race, and religion among individuals.
Family
Genetic counselling is a way for people to understand how genetic illnesses can affect them and their family. We respect how you and your family make decisions.
Empowerment
We inspire and empower those around us. We extend respect and responsibility to everyone and lift each other up at every opportunity.
Personal Development
We value individual and collective wellness and healing towards total liberation (mind, body, spirit and soul) in your genetic testing journey.
Our Leadership Team
Dr. Cornelius Boerkoel
Chief Medical Officer
Nasim Monfared, CGC
Product Manager
Nilou Noursadeghi
Chief Executive Officer
The Journey of Founding Bahar Genetics
After shadowing a genetic counselling session with a pancreatic cancer patient, Nilou Noursadeghi grew a desire to study genetics in pancreatic cancer.
In her third-year undergraduate degree at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Nilou learned that advancements in genome science and technology are evolving the oncology field rapidly toward the direction of personalized treatment plans using genetic testing and targeted therapy. Oncologists can work with genetic counsellors to test patients for genetic cancer risks, interpret test results, and discuss what it may mean for the family. Yet, many patients need to be made aware or need easy access to this fascinating opportunity. Thus, Nilou planted a vision to open a virtual genetic counselling service to provide timely access to genetic counsellors worldwide. With great enthusiasm and high academic achievements, Nilou earned a scholarship to study spatial transcriptomics on pancreatic cancer tissues in the Genome Science and Technology UBC Master's Program and became a teaching assistant in the advanced molecular genetic undergraduate courses. She blended herself so well into the lab that she became a co-author of 4 publications within only two years of her research while running the UBC Genetics Club. But suddenly, Nilou's academic and career desires became significantly personal.
On May 17th, 2021, Nilou's mother was diagnosed with terminal stage IV pancreatic cancer. During this time, Nilou reached out to her professor to work on her mother's case and discuss options for clinical genomic testing. While Nilou's mother was receiving chemotherapy, she designed a Ph.D. project to understand the role of drugs on the metabolic health of stage IV pancreatic cancer patients. Today Nilou is even more committed and motivated to improve care and access for patients and families with the most cutting-edge science available.