These entrepreneurs and researchers are taking on some of healthcare’s biggest challenges, from developing new drugs to building new devices to expanding access to care.
By Katie Jennings, Genevieve Bookwalter and Alex Knapp
Try freezing a wart off the toe of a screaming, kicking child. “Many of the things that we do are painful or they scare children,” says Reid Waldman, 29, a Connecticut-based dermatologist. To make matters worse, he says those liquid nitrogen guns aren’t particularly effective. Waldman knew there had to be a better way. That’s why he cofounded Veradermics, a biotech startup that aims to have five new treatments in medical trials by the end of 2024.
For warts, Veradermics is testing a microneedle patch – basically a high-tech Band-Aid – in phase 2 clinical trials. It’s combining an existing immunotherapy that kills the underlying virus with a new delivery mechanism. Armed with $38 million in funding, Waldman is now targeting hair loss, eczema and other skin problems. After focusing on research during medical school, he’s newer to the entrepreneurship journey, but he wouldn’t have it any other way: “We’re actually building something that I can see,” says Waldman. “That has the potential for very real impact.”
He is just one rising star from this year’s 30 Under 30 Healthcare list using technology and ingenuity to develop solutions to some of healthcare’s biggest challenges, from developing new drugs to building new devices to expanding access to care. For more than a decade, Forbes has highlighted young entrepreneurs and researchers with the help of nominations from the public. To be considered for this year’s list, all candidates had to be under the age of 30 as of December 31, 2023, and never before named to a 30 Under 30 North America, Asia or Europe list.
Candidates were evaluated by a panel of judges featuring Dina Radenkovic, cofounder of Gameto and alumna of the 2023 Forbes Under 30 Healthcare list; Carl Hansen, CEO of AbCellera; and Aike Ho, partner at ACME.
Other listmakers are also focused on getting patients access to new therapies. Emma West, 29, is harnessing the power of the tissue biopsy to bolster precision medicine. West is the cofounder of Digital Biology, which is commercializing her Ph.D. research that involved tagging and reconstructing the locations of 10,000 unique biomolecules within a single tissue sample. With Azalea Therapeutics, Connor Tsuchida, 28, is also working to translate his Ph.D. research in Nobel-Prize winning chemist Jennifer Doudna’s lab at UC Berkeley to solve the challenge of how to get the next generation of Crispr-based gene therapies into the human body. At Vitra Labs, founder Ivana Vasic, 29, is developing therapies to support the next generation of in-vitro fertilization based on her Ph.D. research around stem cells at the University of California San Francisco.
Another key theme is entrepreneurs putting a new spin on old problems. Take automated external defibrillators, or AEDs, the devices used to shock the heart back into beating a normal rhythm if someone is experiencing a heart attack. Rory Beyer, 28, Sameer Jafri, 27, and Moseley Andrews, 28, the cofounders of Avive Solutions, have raised $59 million to create a smaller, lighter, internet-connected version. Earlier this year, disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes started serving an 11-year prison term for defrauding investors with her blood-testing startup Theranos. Vasu Nadella, 28, cofounder of Vital Biosciences, has raised $65 million to take another stab at disrupting blood testing. The company is developing a small machine for doctor’s offices to process 50 different blood tests with a short turnaround time once the technology has been okayed by the FDA.
While Nadella wants to expand access to care through diagnostics, other founders are using software to bridge healthcare gaps. With Nourish, cofounders Sam Perkins, 27, Stephanie Liu, 27, and Aidan Dewar, 27, have raised $9.2 million to help people connect with registered dieticians. Nick Hui, 28, and Rui Su, 29, cofounders of MedMe Health, have built software that’s helped more than 4,000 Canadian pharmacies serve more than 25 million patients. Need to talk to a doctor fast? Jon Lensing, 29, and Christian Williams, 29, cofounders of OpenLoop Health, offer a network of more than 6,000 clinicians across all 50 states to power virtual care offerings.
These are only a few of the incredible finalists on this year’s Forbes 30 Under 30 Healthcare list. Be sure to read up on all of them, plus all of the other 30 Under 30 2024 categories.
This year’s list was edited by Katie Jennings, Genevieve Bookwalter and Alex Knapp. For a link to our complete Healthcare list, click here, and for full 30 Under 30 coverage, click here.