Arianna Rivers

I've been working as a CT analyst in the medtech field for about a year and three months now, and it's been more fulfilling than I ever expected. I analyze CT scans of the heart from hospitals all over America and Japan, reviewing the scans, going through quality checks, and determining the disease burden for patients before sending that critical information to doctors so they can provide the right treatment. What makes this work so meaningful to me is that I have a lot of family who has battled coronary artery disease - some have won their battles and some have lost. My aunt had a triple bypass, and they weren't able to find out until it was time for the surgery because the scans and diagnostic tests she was getting weren't providing enough information in time. My uncle passed away after having a bypass and a stent. I didn't expect to be in this field or doing what I'm doing and to actually have family who's been experiencing it, but every scan that I look at really does put pressure on me in a good way because I always feel like it's my family on the other side of the screen. I came to this role with a bachelor's degree in exercise science with a minor in business from Texas State University. After graduating, I became a health consultant and did that for a little under two years. Then I took a career break and became a substitute teacher, which is when I discovered my passion for teaching and learned a lot about representation in books. That experience led me to where I am now as a CT analyst, and I'm also in the process of writing and illustrating a children's book about understanding people's differences, using squirrels and birds as characters. The work I do with HeartFlow is important because we're helping to close a gap in the health industry where too many people are getting open-heart surgery without needing to. Our non-invasive CT scans help lower the amount of false positives and give more accurate results, catching disease early before it's gone too far.