Influential Woman · Academic Research

Ashlesha Gogate

Computational Biologist, UT Southwestern Medical Center

Dallas, TX

Certifications · Degrees · Memberships

Degree Bachelor's in Engineering with major in Biotechnology Degree Viswaiswaraya Technological University Degree 2020 Degree Master's of Science in Bioinformatics Degree Georgia Tech Degree 2022

Her Story

About Ashlesha

I'm a computational biologist at UT Southwestern Medical Center, where I've been working since January 2023. I have about four years of professional experience in research, starting back in 2020, plus another year and a half from grad school. My areas of expertise are bioinformatics, neurodevelopment, and computational biology. My most notable professional achievement so far is my first-author research paper that I published in December 2024 on autism. I'm really passionate about neuroscience, autism, and neurodevelopment because it's so widespread nowadays and we see it in the community. That passion, along with the basic skills I learned in school, is what's kept me going and what I attribute my success to.

Her Interview

Ten minutes with Ashlesha

01What do you attribute your success to?

I attribute my success to my school for giving me the basic skills that I need to do my job, and then also just having a passion for neuroscience and autism and neurodevelopment. Because it's so widespread nowadays, we see it in the community, and I think that's what's kept me going.

02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?

The best career advice I've ever received was to not just look at the short-term benefit of a particular position. If you're deciding between company X and Y, don't just go behind the money. See what work they're doing and what the future of you working in that sector looks like, and then make a decision. You need to see long-term.

03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?

I would say always be interested in the science and let that guide you. You need to be passionate in the biological area you're looking at. Even though you are computational like me, understanding the science is also equally important.

04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?

I think the biggest challenge is how to effectively use AI in computational pipelines without divulging a lot of information about patients, which is considered restricted. So how to ethically use AI is a big challenge right now. But it's also a good opportunity, right? Because you get to process so much data at once, and you speed up in writing code, so it's like a good and also a bad thing.

05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?

Being consistent, being hardworking, and being truthful about if you even mess things up and owning up to it. I think those are good values to have.

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