BETA
This is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by clicking here
Edit Story

On The Frontlines: Here’s How This Year’s 30 Under 30 Is Combating The Coronavirus

Following

Prakriti Gaba was an internal medicine resident working at New York Presbyterian Hospital in March when the first cases of Covid-19 started coming in. Gaba, age 28, who was in the hospital’s intensive care unit, saw firsthand the devastation of the early months of the pandemic. “It was kind of just such a surreal experience, but also a nightmare at the same time,” she says. Gaba recalls propping up her cell phone on a windowsill so that two young boys could see their mother who was ventilated in the ICU. “It was definitely a tough experience,” she says. 

But Gaba, now doing a cardiology fellowship at Harvard, wasn’t just working on the frontlines of the pandemic; she was also researching. Her research focuses on the speed and efficiency of clinical trials, which are essential for developing new treatments and vaccines against Covid-19.  She wants to understand “how we can use this pandemic to more quickly generate research,” for this current crisis and for future ones. One of her big takeaways from the pandemic: “In order to tackle something this big,” she says, “we all need to work together.” 

Gaba is just one of the Covid-19 champions on our Under 30 lists this year. From volunteering their personal time, to tackling additional research projects, to having to nimbly adapt their businesses to the ongoing pandemic, these inspiring entrepreneurs, researchers and academics are showing that they can still get incredible things done during a global crisis. 

Like Gaba, there are several other Under 30 listmakers this year who have been researching various aspects of Covid-19. Anhong Guo, age 28, an Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan and a member of this year’s science list, coauthored a presentation at Carnegie Mellon University that used twitter to understand disability accessibility during the pandemic. He and his coauthors found that many emergency measures don’t take accessibility into consideration, and while online learning and working-from-home has been beneficial to the disability community, it is essential that these remain possible after the pandemic ends. Max Jordan Nguemeni Tiako, age 27, a medical student at the Yale School of Medicine and a member of our healthcare list, coauthored a paper published in Lancet Psychiatry that described how racial and ethnic disparities can lead people in communities of color to  experience higher rates of post-intensive care syndrome after hospitalization with Covid-19. 

Other listmakers, including Yiran Yang, age 25, and Andre Watson, age 29, are working to develop new tests and treatments for Covid-19. Yang, a member of the science list and a PhD candidate at the California Institute of Technology, coauthored a study that was published in October about a potential new at-home test for Covid-19 that is low cost, highly scalable and made from laser-engraved graphene. Watson, a member of the healthcare list and the founder and CEO of Ligandal, is using his company’s work on regenerative peptides to create synthetic peptides that can “block” the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. 

Some of our 30 Under 30 entrepreneurs had to work quickly in a changing environment to adapt their companies to the challenges of Covid-19. Among these were several mental health telemedicine companies, which faced a huge increase in demand during lockdowns and stay-at-home orders. Kyle Robertson, age 29, a member of our healthcare list and the cofounder and CEO of mental health telemedicine company Cerebral, found that the pandemic led to a huge shift in the desire for remote healthcare. He said that one “silver lining” to the Covid-19 pandemic is that insurers are reconsidering the ways they reimburse for telemedicine after seeing its effectiveness.

Still other members of our Under 30 lists have been volunteering their time and using their incredible skill sets and knowledge to benefit communities around the world. Take Hannah Kerner, age 27, for instance, a member of the science list and an Assistant Research Professor at the University of Maryland. Kerner, an expert in remote agricultural monitoring, is working with NASA Harvest to create satellite cropland maps of Togo to see where humanitarian aid is most needed during the pandemic. Another Under 30 listmaker with a global impact is Pooja Chandrashekar, age 23, a medical student at Harvard and a member of our healthcare list. Chandrashekar launched the Covid-19 Health Literacy Project, a coalition of medical students that have translated information about Covid-19 into more than 30 languages. The inspiration for this project stemmed from her experience as the child from two immigrants, she told Forbes earlier this year. “I’ve always been cognizant of the fact that a lot of health information isn’t available in South Asian languages,” she said.

Chandrashekar, and the other members of our list, are excellent examples of the Forbesian spirit of creativity, entrepreneurship and philanthropy. To learn more about their peers are doing, be sure to also check out the other members of our 30 Under 30 Healthcare and Science lists. 

For a link to our complete Healthcare list, click here, Science list, click here and for full 30 Under 30 coverage, click here.

Follow me on TwitterSend me a secure tip