Kaitlin Christine didn’t set out to become a healthcare founder, but life had other plans. After losing her mom to a late-stage breast cancer diagnosis that could’ve been caught earlier, Kaitlin went from searching for purpose to living it. Her own diagnosis at 24 sealed the deal: something had to change.
Now, as the founder and CEO of Gabbi, Kaitlin is leading a powerful movement to ensure no woman falls through the cracks again. Gabbi’s virtual breast health platform is revolutionizing early detection, getting high-risk patients into the right care fast, often within just two weeks. But for Kaitlin, this isn’t just about innovation. It’s about honoring her mom, rewriting the breast cancer story for women everywhere, and turning personal loss into national impact.
In this Q&A, Kaitlin opens up about her journey, her “dancing dentist” childhood dreams, and how a journal entry helped shape a mission to save lives.
Q: What did you want to be when you were a kid?
The earliest memory I have, I was probably five, is that I wanted to be a dancing dentist.
Q: When did that dream shift?
Starting around ten, I didn’t want to be a dancing dentist anymore, but I still didn’t know what I wanted to do. What I did know, what I felt in my gut and even in my jaw was that I was meant for something big. I just didn’t know what it was yet, and that was actually really hard. Through school and college, I kept thinking, ‘This doesn’t feel right.’ But I held onto that feeling that I was here to make a big impact.”
Q: What about your childhood shaped you into the person you are now?
A lot. Both of my parents were high achievers, my dad was a pro tennis player turned entrepreneur, and my mom was a college cheerleader and runner-up to Miss USA who became a national sales director at Mary Kay Cosmetics. Our family was very focused on sports and success. We weren’t just encouraged to participate. We were expected to win. That definitely drove me, for better or worse.
Q: What does Gabbi do?
Gabbi is a virtual breast health clinic. We assess a woman’s risk for breast cancer and get her to the right care fast. Whether that’s a mammogram, breast MRI, or genetic counseling. Our nurse practitioners specialize in breast health and can create personalized care plans within 14 days. The goal is to catch cancer early because if there’s going to be a diagnosis, we want it to be at stage one.
Q: This journey is deeply personal for you. What was the catalyst that set it into motion?
It all changed when my mom was diagnosed. She had just had a clear mammogram, but it turned out she had an undiagnosed genetic mutation. By the time her cancer was caught, it was too late. It had spread to every organ. That loss shattered me, but it also lit a fire. I needed to understand why this happened.
I found out she was high-risk and should have had different screening. No one told her. Then I found a lump in my own breast. I was 24. I had to fight for it to be taken seriously. And in surgery, I was diagnosed with breast cancer, a year and a half after my mom had died. That was it. I knew I had finally found my purpose.
Q: How did you find the strength to build a company out of all that grief?
It didn’t happen overnight, and I’m still very much a work in progress. But every time things got harder, they still do, I come back to my ‘why.’ Why am I doing this? Building a company, especially in a regulated industry like healthcare, is unbelievably hard. I’m not a doctor, and I didn’t start as an expert. But the grief fueled me. The mission grounded me. And hearing from women, mothers, sisters, daughters, whose lives we’ve impacted? That’s what makes it worth it.
Q: What kind of stories do you hear from patients?
Every week I hear from someone who says, ‘Thank you.’ We’ve helped women find out they have a high-risk mutation they never knew about. We’ve gotten them to early screening. Those stories are everything. They bring me right back to my ‘why’ and keep me going.
Q: What does the support of Catalyst mean to you?
Catalyst has been incredible. I honestly didn’t realize how impactful they’d be. Not just as an investor, but as a true partner. They introduced us to Wellstar, which became our first health system customer. Together, we built and trained a model that we’re now expanding across the country. Catalyst believed in us when it mattered, and they showed up in ways I didn’t even know to ask for.
Q: What’s next for Gabbi?
In five to ten years, I see Gabbi working with every major health system in the U.S. and together, we will have eradicated late-stage breast cancer in women under 50.
Q: What’s your ultimate dream?
I actually wrote this in my journal when I was first dreaming up Gabbi: I want to create life-changing impact where, at 80 years old, people still come up to me and say, ‘You saved my life. You saved my mom. You saved my sister.’ That’s what really matters.
Q: Why the name Gabbi?
It’s named after my mom Lise Gabrielle.
Q: What do you think she would say about everything you’re doing now?
Oh, I know she would be proud. I know she’d be proud for sure.
