Seems like a rather sad state of Hacker News when there is so much doubt heaped on a woman's technical ability just because of her age, and the fact she was unlikely to have completed the relevant formal education.
There is rarely an invention 101. Many people can teach themselves.
I think I should make it clear -- this is not a gender issue. Let's stop trying to make it one.
It, perhaps, is a age issue, sure. I have my doubts that an 19 year old chemical engineering student would have enough technical background to implement: radios, embedded systems, various sensors, medical analysis algorithms, database usage, notifications systems, knowledge of cellular technology, agreements with hospitals and insurance companies, etc.
However, here in the US, a patent is more-or-less just an idea -- meaning, one can think-up something, and patent it. That is valid.
My thoughts are, the article was obviously a puffy PR piece, designed to make the company look good. I believe she was an "idea guy" and was awarded a patent for that idea, then likely brought in outside help to implement it... which is very very common.
Well, you'd be mistaken. There are people who learn 3, heck, even 10 times faster than your standard bright university student, in large part because they needn't wait for formal instruction. You have probably learned at this pace on certain topics.
Such people can defy the standardized logic of what's possible by a certain age.
For example, Howard Hughes:
Showing great aptitude in engineering at an early age, Hughes, Jr. built Houston's first "wireless" or radio transmitter when he was 11 years old.[5] He went on to be one of the first licensed ham radio operators in Houston, having the assigned callsign, W5CY (originally 5CY). [6] At 12, Hughes was photographed in the local newspaper, identified as being the first boy in Houston to have a "motorized" bicycle, which he had built himself from parts taken from his father's steam engine.[7] He was an indifferent student with a liking for mathematics, flying, and things mechanical, taking his first flying lesson at 14 and later auditing math and aeronautical engineering courses at Caltech.[5][7]
Philo T. Farnsworth:
Farnsworth excelled in chemistry and physics at Rigby High School. He asked his high school science teacher, Justin Tolman, for advice about an electronic television system he was contemplating. He provided the teacher with sketches and diagrams covering several blackboards to show how it might be accomplished electronically. He asked his teacher if he should go ahead with his ideas, and he was encouraged to do so.[13] One of the drawings he did on a blackboard for his chemistry teacher was recalled and reproduced for a patent interference case between Farnsworth and Radio Corporation of America (RCA).[14]
Yes, these people exist in the population. I'm inclined in most instances, this included, to "bet the field" when such an intelligence is claimed to be presented. I find it more likely that she is an "idea person" than a modern Farnsworth simply because the former is only about 10,000x more likely (perhaps 1,000x more likely if you get all Bayesian on me).
But fortunately for all of us my opinion, and that of the person you responded to, are irrelevant and only good for intellectual quibbling. We'll see what becomes of this company and CEO.
There is rarely an invention 101. Many people can teach themselves.