Who we are

Diana is a 3rd year MD-PhD student at Harvard Medical School in the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences & Technology program. She grew up in Boston and attended Tufts University as an undergraduate. After university, she worked at the Broad Institute of Harvard & MIT to advance methods for single-cell genomics. She is currently completing her Ph.D. in the lab of Kim Stegmaier at Dana Farber Cancer Institute studying Ewing Sarcoma. Broadly, she is interested in precision medicine and efforts to integrate genomics into the care of cancer patients.

David is a Ph.D. candidate in the Harvard-MIT Health Science and Technology Program. A native of Puerto Rico, David received his BA in Material Science and Engineering at MIT. His research combines microfabrication, stem cell research and microfludics to develop tissue-engineered arterial substitutes for use in bypass surgeries. In his spare time, David enjoys traveling, swimming, and playing team sports. David is also course director and founder of the Harvard Surgical Program in Innovation, and is enthusiastically involved in several MIT campus activities.

Juan Ruiz Ruiz is native from Murcia, Spain. Juan is currently a 5th year PhD student at MIT where he works on thermonuclear fusion energy, studying the turbulent processes of plasmas under thermonuclear conditions. Juan holds a Masters from the Aeronautics and Astronautics department at MIT from 2015. Before MIT, Juan completed his undergraduate and graduate studies in Ecole Polytechnique (Paris). In his spare time, Juan loves to travel and discover new cultures around the world, spending time with his family, and he enjoys anything that is related to the sea: from fishing to windsurfing.

Shikhar is pursuing his Ph.D. at MIT in the Nuclear Science and Engineering department. He was born in Pune, India, grew up in Tokyo, Japan, and completed his B.S. from Columbia University in New York. He majored in Financial Engineering with minors in Computer Science, Economics, and East Asian Studies. While his interests vary from year to year, he is currently consumed by triathlon training and learning how supercomputers can aid in solving complex engineering problems!

Paolo is pursuing his Ph.D. at MIT in the Nuclear Science and Engineering (NSE) department. He grew up in Bergamo (Italy) and studied Energy Engineering at Politecnico di Milano. He got the InnoEnergy European Master’s double degree in Nuclear Engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden) and Ensta ParisTech (France). His current research areas are decision analysis in uncertain environments and the MIT Offshore Floating Nuclear Plant. Paolo loves to spend his spare time travelling with his friends, playing basketball and snowboarding.

Gabi is a software developer from Brazil. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Information Systems from Universidade de São Paulo, and was a visiting student at University of Pennsylvania in 2013-14. She has developed web applications at education startups in Brazil, Android apps at the digital consulting company Intrepid Pursuits, and now develops Windows apps at Microsoft. Gabi is excited about entrepreneurship and loves to see ideas take shape. She enjoys traveling and reading, improving her Spanish, and walking around Boston.

Maria is a first year Ph.D. student in Biology at MIT. She graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in Biochemistry from University of Rochester. Previously, Maria completed research projects addressing questions in cancer, aging and gene editing, and she hopes to pursue a career in biomedical research in order to advance our understanding of human disease. As a Russian citizen who grew up in China, and is now a student in the US, Maria enjoys traveling and immersing herself in new cultures. In her free time, she also likes to swim, cook, dance and go on spontaneous adventures in the city.

Shaurya is a first year MBA candidate at the MIT Sloan School of Management with a concentration on Entrepreneurship & Innovation. Prior to MIT, he was a management consultant with Bain & Company, working with clients in a variety of sectors including Aerospace, Healthcare, Oil & Gas, and Consumer Technology. Shaurya has worked in startups in Kenya and the US, is currently working with a drone surveying startup out of MIT, and trying to launch his own company in the travel industry. In his spare time, Shaurya loves to travel, expand his cooking abilities, and play a variety of sports.

Megan is a 3rd year medical student at Harvard Medical School in the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences Technology program. She was born in South Korea and moved to the US at the age of 10. She completed her B.A. in Biology at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, where she was also part of a nationally-ranked lightweight rowing team as coxswain. Her current interests include genetics of cardiovascular disease, cardiac development, and congenital heart disease.

Vamsi is a 3rd year PhD student in the joint Harvard-MIT program in Health Sciences and Technology. He grew up in the United States, spending time in both the cities Lexington, Kentucky and Kansas City, Kansas. Before coming to MIT, he completed an undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from the University of Kansas. At MIT, Vamsi works with Professor Kwanghun Chung, where he is developing and applying novel optical tools to study, among other diseases, brain cancer. Outside of research, he enjoys rock climbing, skiing, and staying active in general. He has aspirations of one day leveraging the engineering skills and tools he's developed during his PhD in some kind of entrepreneurial venture.

Paula is a first-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT, where she works on alternative fuels for civil aviation. She was born and raised in Florianópolis, Brazil. She graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. and an M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina and a B.S. in Business from Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina. During her undergrads, she did internships in London, Germany and Brazil and was active in student leadership. Motivated to give opportunities to minority students, Paula has worked with many different NGOs and is now Outreach Director at the Women’s Graduate Association of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Irene is a graphic journalist and data visualization specialist from Spain. She has worked for different media and advertising agencies in her home country. After graduating from her masters in Information design and Visualization at Northeastern University, she is currently working at the MIT Senseable City Lab. She enjoys finding hidden stories in data, and transforming and explaining them in visual stories.

Kam spent 11 years of her childhood in the United States--first in New Haven, Connecticut, and then in East Lansing, Michigan. She returned to Thailand to learn the Thai alphabet, finish high school, and complete an undergraduate degree in Biomedical Engineering at Mahidol University. At MIT, she is working on mapping the legal and technical landscape of connectivity devices in cars, and understanding how emerging economies can build an innovation ecosystem that is tailored to its strengths and assets. In her spare time, she enjoys eating good food, having long conversations, watching musicals, and urban sketching.

Kiran is from Edison, NJ and is currently based in Cambridge. She's a candidate of the Masters in Design Engineering, an interdisciplinary program offered by Harvard's Graduate School of Design and School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. She's also a recent MIT'17 graduate, having studied Computer Science and Architecture. She is a strong proponent of interdisciplinary approaches to complex programs. Her belief is that good product design requires attention to three core values – empathy, innovation and elegance. In developing startups and large corporations, attention to these details and their broader systemic impacts is key. She's excited to see how tech continues to grow.