How two alumni are transforming the way women navigate healthcare
Alumni:
Eliz Celik, ‘25, Biomedical Engineering, Cornell Duffield College of Engineering
Puloma Bishnu, ‘25, Biomedical Engineering, Cornell Duffield College of Engineering
Cornell planted the seed
When Eliz and Puloma arrived at Cornell, they shared more than a major, they shared a goal to build something that could improve lives.
As Meinig Family Cornell National Scholars, both women engaged in leadership, entrepreneurship, research, and innovation. Eliz interned with biotech startups and participated in Cornell’s Jiang Fellows entrepreneurship program, while Puloma worked at two biotech startups, and founded SensTech, a biomedical engineering project team that continues to thrive on campus.
Although their Cornell experiences took different paths, they eventually came together through a senior design project developing an at-home HPV screening kit. That collaboration would become the foundation for something much bigger.
“We realized we had experienced many of the same frustrations navigating women’s health, despite coming from very different backgrounds,” said the founders.
Turning personal experiences into a mission
The idea for their next project, Ayna, didn’t come from a school project – but from lived experience.
Puloma spent years searching for answers after developing PCOS, seeing multiple physicians before receiving a diagnosis and then being told to “look it up” herself when seeking treatment options. Eliz faced different challenges, growing up in a household where conversations about women’s health were rarely discussed, leaving her to educate herself through online resources.
Together, they recognized a common problem; millions of women struggle to find trustworthy, personalized information about their health, often navigating overwhelming amounts of conflicting advice on their own.
Building Ayna
Today, Eliz and Puloma are co-founders of Ayna, a platform designed to help women discover personalized over-the-counter health solutions based on their individual health profiles.
Rather than replacing healthcare providers, Ayna helps women better understand available resources while guiding them toward clinical care when needed. The founders said they hope the platform is especially valuable for women living with chronic conditions and those in healthcare deserts where access to specialists is limited.
Cornell lessons that still guide them
Both founders credit Cornell with giving them the confidence to lead.
For Eliz, entrepreneurship programs and startup internships provided practical leadership experience that she now uses daily as COO. For Puloma, founding a multidisciplinary engineering team taught her resilience, collaboration, and how to build an organization that could outlast its founder.
Together, those experiences prepared them for the realities of entrepreneurship, particularly learning to persevere through uncertainty and rejection.
“Building a company at the pre-seed stage means hearing ‘no’ far more often than hearing ‘yes.’ What keeps us moving is remembering the women we’re building this for.”
Looking ahead
The team is currently expanding partnerships with clinicians, community health organizations, and academic medical centers while launching community pilots to better understand women’s healthcare needs.
Their long-term vision is simple: Make personalized, evidence-based women’s health guidance more accessible for everyone.
Advice for future Cornell entrepreneurs
When asked what they hope readers remember most, their answer reflects the entrepreneurial spirit they developed at Cornell.
“If you have ever been inclined to build something you care about, do it. We can promise you that you will not regret it.”
