Using Data to Battle Iron Deficiency: How Dataquest Helped Priya Iyer Help Others

Priya Iyer, Data Scientist

Priya Iyer had a problem. Her startup, Tulalens, was helping women in urban slums struggling with iron deficiency. But before they could help the women in their program sell iron-rich foods, they had to determine categories of iron intake. They had the data — the challenge was how to handle it.

Iyer first tried using Excel, but it was too cumbersome. She soon realized she would need to know data science. Codecademy and Learn Python the Hard Way were her first stops, but neither worked: “I don’t learn well when people just tell me what to do and I can’t ask questions.”

Learning with Dataquest

That’s when she found Dataquest. She’d learned stats in her master’s degree program, but she never truly needed it until she started working on datasets at Dataquest. It didn’t take long for Iyer to conquer the programming challenge. She credits Dataquest with breaking the projects down into simple terms that helped her stay motivated and build a strong foundation.

A New Career

Today, Iyer is a senior analytics lead at biotech company Genentech, and she also freelances as a data science consultant. At Genentech, she focuses on improving patient access to drugs. At least 20% of her time goes to using Python to combine data and perform predictive analytics.

Dataquest continues to help her as she grows her skills: “I still refer back to the guided projects I’ve done. Being able to use Python to help benefit women was really motivating.”