Her Story
About Karenn
Karenn Ayala-Montalvo is an Organ Health Specialist based in Los Angeles, California, working in genetic diagnostics with a focus on nephrology and transplant medicine. In her current role at Natera, she supports clinicians in utilizing advanced genomic testing to identify hereditary causes of chronic kidney disease and to monitor transplant health through donor-derived cell-free DNA testing. Her work centers on helping nephrology and transplant teams improve early detection, clinical decision-making, and long-term patient outcomes.
She brings more than 15 years of experience in medical sales, including prior roles at MicroGenDX, where she supported molecular diagnostics in orthopedic surgery and urology before transitioning into organ health and renal genetics. She earned her undergraduate degree in Sociology from the University of California, Los Angeles, where she developed a strong foundation in understanding social and cultural determinants of health. She later completed her Master of Business Administration at Pepperdine University, strengthening her expertise in business strategy, healthcare markets, and client engagement.
Her professional approach is deeply shaped by both her academic training and personal experience as a caregiver for a parent living with stage 4 chronic kidney disease and type 1 diabetes. This perspective fuels her commitment to patient-centered care and her belief that “there is a patient behind every sample.” She specializes in genetic diagnostics, genomics, transplant nephrology, general nephrology, chronic kidney disease genetic testing, and donor-derived cell-free DNA testing, with a strong emphasis on improving awareness, access, and outcomes for patients and families navigating complex kidney disease journeys.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Karenn
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to doing what I love, but also the values that my parents instilled in me. I was not born in the U.S., and my first language was not English. My dad was a long-time agricultural worker, and he may not have had the education to help me navigate the educational system, but he gave me his own advice and instilled a lot of values - hard work and not giving up. And just being humble enough to say, hey, I don't know this, I need help. Those values have carried me through everything.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I have ever received is to not get in my own way and to simply take action.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Don't be afraid, even if you're the only woman in the room. You'll find yourself in many rooms where you might be the only woman or the only woman of color, and it's intimidating. But you just have to do it. You have to trust yourself and not let fear stop you.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I think we've come a long way with helping patients with kidney transplants, but there's still so much work to do. There are still way too many patients that are losing their organ transplant. It's not enough. The day that we can say someone can live with a kidney transplant their entire life, that's the day we can celebrate. Right now, we're not there yet. Patients are still losing their organs. And I think the adoption rate among providers is another challenge. Genetics is not new technology, yet the adoption rate out in the community is very, very slow. There are still a lot of providers, a lot of nephrologists, that are not ready to implement genetic testing in their standard of care.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The most important value to me in both my work and personal life is ensuring alignment between my personal values and the values of the organization I work for. I deeply connect with my company’s saying, “there is a patient behind every sample,” because it reminds me to see the human impact behind every task. It resonates personally as well, as I think of my father in that context. This perspective keeps me grounded in a patient-centered approach and guides everything I do in my role.
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