About Us
Our Story
Elsie started the way a lot of good ideas do—out of frustration.
Jo Becerra, a genetic counselor, sat down one evening to tackle her recertification. Forty-plus CEU certificates to track down, sort through, and match up—after being audited. A spreadsheet that had somehow become her entire personality for the week. David, her husband and a software engineer, watched this unfold and finally said: why don't we just build something?
So they did.
They founded Relevant Genetics, and Elsie was the first thing they built.
Elsie exists to increase public access to clinical genetic services. Our app and services have helped genetic counselors track, obtain, and maintain thousands of licenses across the country, so they can spend their time on the work that actually matters: their patients.
Why Elsie?
Our name is borrowed from one of our heroes—Rosalind Franklin, the scientist whose X-ray crystallography work was essential to discovering the structure of DNA. She didn't receive the recognition she deserved during her lifetime, and we think about that a lot. Our logo is inspired by her famous "Photo 51," the image that helped reveal the double helix.
Her middle name was Elsie.
Meet Our Team
Jo Becerra
MS, LCGC — Founder
Jo Becerra has been a genetic counselor since 2009, working across both clinical and laboratory settings. In 2021, she stepped away from her role as a genetic counselor to focus on Elsie full-time. She founded it after her own ABGC recertification turned into a small nightmare: 40-plus CEU certificates to track down and sort through—and then had to figure out which ones applied to her state license just a few months later. There had to be a better way.
As a working mother of two kids and two very energetic dogs, Jo knows life doesn't slow down for paperwork. Elsie exists so that genetic counselors can focus on what they actually do best, and leave the license management to a system built by someone who's lived the frustration firsthand.
David Becerra
Founder
David is a software engineer who's spent his career making complicated things simple. He had a front-row seat to the credential-tracking chaos genetic counselors deal with every year—and eventually decided to stop watching and start building.
When he's not writing code, you'll find him losing at chess, hunting for the perfect cup of coffee, or with his nose in a book.
Amber Sumsion
Licensing Specialist
Amber brings a background in project management and compliance, which makes her exactly the kind of person you want making sure nothing falls through the cracks. She's detail-oriented, organized, and genuinely invested in the work—a natural fit for a company built around taking the chaos out of credentialing.
Outside of work, she's into family history and sports, which somewhere along the way turned into a real fascination with how genetics shapes both. She's still figuring out where that rabbit hole leads, but being surrounded by genetic counselors every day gives her plenty of chances to find out.
Katherine Wahlen
Licensing Specialist
Katherine comes from a compliance background, so she knows the headache of navigating different state laws and requirements firsthand. She brings that experience—along with a knack for streamlining processes—to every genetic counselor who turns to Elsie for their licensing needs.