Brittany Wenger
Brittany Wenger
Grand Prize Winner, 2012 Google Science Fair
Grand Prize Winner, 2012 Google Science Fair
Grand Prize Winner, 2011 Google Science Fair
Co-Founder, Piper
2017 Young Innovators to Watch Award, Consumer Electronics Show
2016 International BioGENEius Challenge Winner
2019 Johnson & Johnson Champions of Science Award Winner
2015 International BioGENEius Challenge Grand Prize Winner
2018 Grand Prize in Global Healthcare at the International BioGENEius Challenge
2019 Forbes 30 Under 30
2018 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair Winner
2019 Gordon E. Moore Award Winner, International Science and Engineering Fair
2020 TIME Top Young Innovator
2019 Forbes 30 Under 30
2018 EPA Presidential Award
2017 Discovery 3M Young Scientist Challenge Winnerker Award for Basic Medical Research
Gitanjali Rao, 18 years old, is an inventor, an aspiring scientist, author, speaker and an active promoter of STEM around the world. She was recognized as America’s Top Young Scientist and was a recipient of an EPA Presidential award for her patented invention of an innovative lead contamination detection tool.
Gitanjali is also the inventor of “Epione”—a device for early diagnosis of prescription opioid addiction using genetic engineering, and “Kindly”—an anticyberbullying service using AI and Natural Language processing. She was honored as Forbes “30 Under 30 in Science” in 2019 and TIME’s “Top Young Innovator” and “TIME Kid of the Year” for her innovations and STEM workshops she conducts globally, which has inspired over 85,000 students in the last three years across 46 countries. Gitanjali is the author of the book “Young Innovator’s Guide to STEM”, available in 6 languages, which guides students, educators, or teachers through a selfdeveloped prescriptive 5 step innovation process.
She was appointed as a UNICEF Youth Advocate 2021 for using science for solving social problems such as cyber-bullying and developing solutions for environmental protection and recently received the Muhammed Ali Humanitarian and Martin Luther King Beloved Community award for her selfless service for the refugee camp students.
She is currently a freshman at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Ms. Rao was a Delegate to the 2019 Congress of Future Medical Leaders.
2018 Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology
2017 Wolf Prize
2014 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences
Regental Professor and Chair, MD Anderson Cancer Center
James Allison, Ph.D., is a professor of immunology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Dr. Allison received the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology for his discovery of a breakthrough therapy in the fight against cancer. By stimulating the inherent ability of our immune system to attack tumor cells Dr. Allison established an entirely new principle for cancer therapy. In 1994–1995, Dr. Allison studied a known protein that functions as a brake on the immune system. He realized the potential of releasing the brake and thereby unleashing our immune cells to attack tumors. He then developed this concept into a new approach for treating patients. His discoveries have led to new treatments for even the deadliest of cancers.
Founder, Kaplan Center for Integrative Medicine
Chronic Pain and Illness Specialist
A pioneer and leader in integrative medicine, Dr. Kaplan is often regarded as the “physician of last resort.” He successfully treats patients from around the world who have run out of options and second opinions.
Dr. Kaplan is the founder and medical director of the Kaplan Center for Integrative Medicine and author of Total Recovery: A Revolutionary New Approach to Breaking the Cycle of Pain and Depression.
He is one of only 19 physicians in the country to be board-certified in both Family Medicine and Pain Medicine and is board-certified in Medical Acupuncture. He has been a consultant at NIH and from 2013–2018 served on the Advisory Committee to the Health and Human Services on ME/CFS.
A clinical associate professor in the Department of Community and Family Medicine at Georgetown University School of Medicine, Dr. Kaplan chaired a program on Autoimmune Encephalopathy of Infectious Etiology in conjunction with Georgetown in June 2019.
He is currently working on a book for patients and practitioners on the role of the immune system in chronic pain, depression, chronic fatigue syndrome, and post-treatment Lyme disease.