STD Testing Makes a House Call with myLAB Box
Photos courtesy of myLAB Box
The future of reproductive healthcare in United States remains uncertain. Many people are asking themselves what they would do if they no longer had healthcare coverage, or if they couldn’t access Planned Parenthood. The search for solutions that are independent, but parallel, to the traditional healthcare systems has already begun. And as is the case for many answers we seek in the modern age, those inquiries often start on the internet. If you Google “at-home STD testing kit,” for instance, you’ll come across something called myLAB Box.
myLAB Box was created in 2013 by Lora Ivanova and Ursula Hessenflow. The inspiration for the start-up manifested during an otherwise unremarkable, though relatable, moment between friends: they had gotten together to drink, bitch about bad dates and discuss things that they wished they had the power to change about the world.
“I’m sure you found yourself in those situations where you’re talking with a friend, or an idea comes to your mind and you thought: ‘Oh my God, it would be great if somebody did that?’” Ivanova said, “I promised myself that one year, that I would—if I had that idea, I would be that somebody who would actually do something about it.”
Ivanova and Hessenflow’s concept for at-home STD testing arose from discussing the problematic conversations they’d had with partners about STDs: “We started talking about how awkward it is to have these [sexual health] conversations with partners—and why is that? We both kind of walked away from that conversation feeling like there’s got to be a better way … there’s just gotta be something out there.”
It’s not just relationships that can make talking about STDs awkward: healthcare professionals aren’t exactly known for their tact, either. “Some actually say things like, ‘You don’t look at risk,’ or ‘You don’t seem like you need to worry about it.’ It doesn’t take a ‘promiscuous lifestyle’ to get an STI. It just takes one encounter.”
Ivanova was also quick to point out that the overall user experience in the traditional healthcare system isn’t exactly lauded, “They say, you know, ‘We’ll call you if something is wrong.’ That’s not really a good experience for the user: ‘You’ll hear from us sometime in the next week if there’s a problem’— what if you miss a phone call? You think, ‘Oh my god, do I have HIV?’”
Thus driven, Ivanova and Hessenflow went on a quest for accessible, affordable and reliable STD testing that could be purchased online without a prescription and provided actionable information for the consumer. Despite not having any previous experience in healthcare (Lora was self-described as “climbing the corporate ladder” in greater Los Angeles—she and Hessenflow both have backgrounds in PR) the two started researching what it would take to bring at-home STD testing to life (the internet, an idea and dedication can get you a long way as an entrepreneur).
“The biggest finding was there was nothing out there,” Ivanova said, which affirmed that she and Ursula had found their cause. They began researching everything from patents to pharmaceuticals. Healthcare is not the easiest industry to infiltrate when it comes to innovation, but they persisted.
