Why this initiative?
Although California is considered to be a very progressive state, only 35% of Californians actually register as organ and tissue donors. However, 72% of Californians actually donate and save lives at the time of their deaths. California’s percentage for registered organ and tissue donors is well below the national average of 50% and it is imperative that we drive up this percentage so we can gift lives to those in need.
- motivated
- focused
- passionate
- committed
- goal-oriented
- helpful
Founder: Rhea Mitr
Rhea Mitr is an undergraduate student at Stanford University who is motivated to increase the registered organ and tissue donor rates throughout California. After becoming aware of the dire need for more registered organ donors in her home state, she has started this initiative to drive up California’s rates for organ donation so that more lives can be saved. She is mainly focused on increasing overall awareness, clearing up common misconceptions, suggesting process improvements for the California DMV and developing curriculum for Drivers’ Ed programs centered on organ donations.
Mentor: Dr. Harsha K. Rajasimha, Ph.D.
Dr. Harsha Karur Rajasimha is a healthcare and life sciences BigData scientist, social entrepreneur and co-founder of the Organization for Rare Diseases India in USA (ORDIUSA).
Dr. Rajasimha co-directs the rare diseases systems biology initiative at George Mason University where he directs MS and PhD research programs in rare diseases database integration, systems biology modeling of diseases, policy frameworks, best practices guidelines for diagnosis and screening of rare diseases and how they can be adapted to countries such as India. He is also founder president of Jeeva informatics solutions, a genomics bigdata analytics company that received the ‘Bioscience Company of the Year 2014’ award from Montgomery County, MD, USA and serves on the executive advisory board of numerous companies. In collaboration with Rare Genomics Institute, Dr. Rajasimha received the Sanofi Genzyme’s rare diseases Patient Advocacy Leadership award in 2016 and a Silver Award from NTT DATA for exceptional quality delivery of projects to life science clients in 2017.