Elena Ruyter

New York, NY | eruyter@gmail.com

 Resume | LinkedIn

I am an insatiably curious person, a quality that’s led me to study everything from language and the arts to international development and healthcare. The more I explore the more I find myself happily tangled in complex problems both near and far from my home in New York. While this curiosity drove me to connect with and help others, I realized during my time in the Peace Corps in Burkina Faso that I needed more training to meet the needs of the people I was working with. I craved the skills not just to understand different human challenges, but to work with others to do something about them. That is why I became a designer.

After the Peace Corps, I pursued a degree in Integrated Product Design at the University of Pennsylvania. While there, I learned about the human centered design process and the critical role that economic forces and technology play in nuanced problem-solving. I cultivated a design practice grounded in aligning business goals with positive human impact and leveraging the power of research, co-creation and inclusive design to create solutions with intentions that match the impacts. I am currently working as a product designer at Flatiron Health, a company that builds technology for improved cancer care for patients, oncologists and researchers. My work focuses on helping oncologists order, manage and interpret the results of genetic tests that are critical for identifying more precise and effective cancer therapies.

When I’m not depleting the world’s reserve of post-it notes, you can find me happily covered in flour and oil while satisfying my love of cooking, on an excursion with my camera or reading up on the latest skill I’m attempting to master.