Cervical cancer is considered one of the most preventable cancers a person can be diagnosed with, and early detection of the harmful cells is possible with a routine test women are directed to take yearly at their OB-GYN appointment.
But that test, known as a Pap smear, is often dreaded because of the discomfort and pain that can accompany it.
Rakeb Tesfassellasie, a third-year student at Georgia Tech, came up with an alternative to this uncomfortable procedure, hoping to encourage more young women to get tested and take care of their health.
Credit: Georgia Tech
Credit: Georgia Tech
“Everybody seemed like they wanted this innovation that didn’t happen for so long,” Tesfassellasie told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Tesfassellasie, alongside her partners, Shalom Ejiwunmi and Sophia Bereket, created Gorginea Care while they were students at Perimeter College. Gorginea Care, a cervical cancer screening prototype, aims to make women’s health care more accessible and affordable.
Their prototype is a departure from the uncomfortable and invasive speculum doctors use to dilate the vagina during Pap smears. Instead, a smaller speculum would be administered for women to use at home.
“Our idea is similar to a tampon shape or smaller, where women will be able to insert it themselves,” Tesfassellasie explained.
With Gorginea Care, women would be able to take their own sample from the cervix area, brush the sample into a solution and send it in to a doctor.
“The testing has not changed,” Tesfassellasie said. “It’s just the way the samples are collected.” She hopes this new way of administering the test will allow first-time patients and underserved communities to access this essential care.
While at Perimeter, Tesfassellasie and her co-creators earned a provisional patent for the technology. The project also won the 2024 Community College Innovation Challenge, which celebrates STEM solutions to real-world health problems.
After Tesfassellasie landed at Tech, she entered Gorginea Care in the university’s Idea to Prototype program, which is assisting her and her co-creators in building a full patent application, refining their design and customer discovery.
“Young women like me, my age, are scared to take the Pap smear exam because of how uncomfortable it is,” Tesfassellasie told the AJC, before saying she hopes the new test will prompt them to “take care of themselves early on before any risks that might happen as we get older.”
Spring was Tesfassellasie’s first semester at Georgia Tech, and hard work for her prototype still awaits her and her team. Even after school ends, she plans to continue moving Gorginea Care forward.
“For me, I’m gonna continue working on this project as much as I can,” Tesfassellasie said.
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