Nina Vasan

Vasan was born in Washington, DC, spent her childhood in Vienna, West Virginia, and attended Parkersburg High School. At age 16, she started a local group in Wood County to engage teenagers in the American Cancer Society that grew into a nationwide network of teen volunteers leading efforts in education, advocacy, and service.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QT4KuW2bOzkC&q=%22american+cancer+society+teens%22&pg=PA85|title=The Path to Purpose: How Young People Find Their Calling in Life|last=Damon|first=William|date=2009-04-07|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=9781416537243|language=en}} For this work, Vasan was honored as Prudential Spirit of Community Awards National Honoree,{{Cite web|url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/West+Virginia's+Nina+Vasan+of+Vienna+Named+One+of+America's+Top+Ten...-a085932143|title=West Virginia's Nina Vasan of Vienna Named One of America's Top Ten Youth Volunteers; State's James Taylor of Worthington Also Honored During 4-Day Celebration With Tribute from Martin Sheen of TV's 'West Wing'. - Free Online Library|website=www.thefreelibrary.com|access-date=2017-02-27}} an Olympic torchbearer, and a USA Today All-USA Academic First Team member.{{Cite web|url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/education/2002/2002-05-16-hs-first-team.htm|title=USATODAY.com - 2002 All-USA High School Academic First Team|website=usatoday30.usatoday.com|access-date=2017-02-27}}

Vasan was active in the Girl Scouts since age 7 and received the highest honor in Girl Scouting, the Gold Award Young Woman of Distinction,{{Cite web|url=http://www.girlscouts.org/en/our-program/highest-awards/national-young-women-of-distinction.html|title=National Young Women of Distinction - Girl Scouts|website=Girl Scouts of the USA|access-date=2017-02-27}} from Justice Sandra Day O'Connor in 2002.{{Cite news|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0403/p16s01-lihc.html|title=Scout gives back to her orphanage|last=McCarroll|first=Christina|date=2002-04-03|work=Christian Science Monitor|access-date=2017-02-27|issn=0882-7729}} She also participated in the America's Junior Miss pageant as West Virginia's Junior Miss.{{Cite web|url=http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2002/10/3/mountain-home-grown-beauty-queen-among-the/|title=Mountain Home-Grown Beauty Queen {{!}} Magazine {{!}} The Harvard Crimson|website=www.thecrimson.com|language=en|access-date=2017-02-27}}

In 2002, Vasan won the $50,000 Intel Foundation Young Scientist award, the top Grand Prize award at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, for her work with Harvard Medical School professor Jeremy Wolfe on visual learning, which she conducted at the Research Science Institute.{{Cite web|url=http://www.intel.com/pressroom/archive/releases/2002/20020517corp.htm|title=Young Scientists From Around The World Receive Total Of $3 Million In Scholarships And Prizes|website=www.intel.com|access-date=2017-02-27}} She also received the Seaborg (now Dudley Herschbach) SIYSS Award, which led to her presenting her research during the 2002 Nobel Prize ceremonies in Stockholm.{{Cite news|url=https://student.societyforscience.org/dudley-r-herschbach-siyss-award-winners|title=Dudley R. Herschbach SIYSS Award Winners|date=2016-06-17|work=Student Science|access-date=2017-02-27|language=en|archive-date=2017-02-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170227231807/https://student.societyforscience.org/dudley-r-herschbach-siyss-award-winners|url-status=dead}}

Vasan entered Harvard College and graduated with an A.B. in Government in 2006. She was named one of the "Top 10 College Women" in the US by Glamour Magazine.{{Cite web|url=http://www.readabstracts.com/Health/The-scary-truth-about-college-health-clinics-Top-10-college-women-2005.html|title=The scary truth about college health clinics. Top 10 college women: 2005. The top 10 college winners 1995|website=www.readabstracts.com|language=en|access-date=2017-02-27}} She earned an M.D. from Harvard Medical School and was voted by classmates as a student commencement speaker.{{Cite web|url=https://hms.harvard.edu/news/change-medicine-theme-new-hms-grads-5-30-13|title=Change in Medicine Theme for New HMS Grads {{!}} HMS|website=hms.harvard.edu|language=en|access-date=2017-02-27|archive-date=2017-08-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170803141941/https://hms.harvard.edu/news/change-medicine-theme-new-hms-grads-5-30-13|url-status=dead}} She completed her residency training at Stanford University School of Medicine, where she was a Chief Resident in Psychiatry.{{Cite news|url=https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2018/06/01/inspirational-brain-health-expert-hopes-to-shatter.html|title=Inspirational brain health expert hopes to shatter the stigma associated with mental health|last=Lewis Strain|first=Aimee|date=2018-06-01|work=Silicon Valley Business Journal|access-date=2020-01-06}} While in residency, she completed an MBA at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

During the 2008 Presidential Election, Vasan served as a Co-Leader of Battleground State Outreach{{Cite magazine|url=https://newrepublic.com/article/61827/the-petition-and-selected-signatories|title=The Petition and Selected Signatories|date=2009-02-08|magazine=New Republic|access-date=2017-02-27}} for the Obama presidential campaign's Health Policy Advisory Committee.{{Cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/harold-pollack/feeling-bad-about-politic_b_165494.html|title=Feeling Bad about Politics this Week? Check out Doctors for Obama|last=Pollack|first=Harold|date=2009-03-12|website=The Huffington Post|access-date=2017-02-27}} She also interned for a summer in the Office of Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan at the World Health Organization in Geneva. {{Citation needed|date=December 2020}}

After graduating from Harvard Medical School in 2013, she entered residency training in Psychiatry at Stanford University Hospital in Stanford, California. In 2015, Vasan launched The Psychiatry Innovation Lab{{Cite journal|last=Levin|first=Aaron|date=2016-02-12|title=Resident Wants to Jump-Start Thinking on Quality Improvement|journal= Psychiatric News|volume=51|issue=4|pages=1|language=en|doi=10.1176/appi.pn.2016.2b15}} at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, the world's largest psychiatric organization. The PIL is an incubator that catalyzes the formation of innovative ventures to transform mental healthcare.{{Cite web|url=https://www.mdedge.com/psychiatry/article/156812/business-medicine/psychiatry-innovation-lab-nurtures-young-businesses|title=Psychiatry Innovation Lab nurtures young businesses|website=www.mdedge.com|language=en|access-date=2020-01-07}} MedTech Boston named her a "40 Under 40 Healthcare Innovator" in 2016.{{Cite news|url=https://medtechboston.medstro.com/blog/2016/05/02/the-2016-medtech-boston-40-under-40-healthcare-innovators/39/|title=The 2016 MedTech Boston 40 Under 40 Healthcare Innovators|date=2016-05-02|work=MedTech Boston|access-date=2017-02-27|language=en-US}}

In 2016, she launched [https://www.stanfordbrainstorm.com Brainstorm: The Stanford Lab for Mental Health Innovation], the world's first academic laboratory dedicated to transforming mental health through technology and entrepreneurship. She started the first college course on mental health entrepreneurship{{Cite web|url=https://www.stanforddaily.com/2017/03/27/classy-classes-new-psyc-240-teaches-students-mental-health-care/|title=Classy Classes: PSYC 240 gets students working on mental health care|date=2017-03-27|website=The Stanford Daily|access-date=2020-01-07}} and the first virtual reality and augmented reality innovation lab for brain and behavioral health.{{Cite web|url=https://www.roadtovr.com/stanford-event-seeks-innovative-uses-vr-behavioural-health/|title=Stanford Event Seeks Innovative Uses of VR for Behavioural Health|last=Brennan|first=Dominic|date=2017-10-04|website=Road to VR|language=en-US|access-date=2020-01-07}} In 2017, Vasan was named to the shortlist for the Financial Times and McKinsey Bracken Bower Prize, awarded to the best business book proposal by an author aged under 35.{{Cite news|url=https://www.ft.com/content/a5f490fa-b29d-11e7-aa26-bb002965bce8|title=Bracken Bower Prize 2017: the shortlist|last=Hill|first=Andrew|date=2017-10-17|work=The Financial Times|access-date=2020-01-06}}

In 2019, Vasan and Brainstorm colleagues worked with Pinterest to launch a "Compassionate Search" feature. The new tool provides evidence-based mental health and stress relief tools to users searching for topics like "anxiety" and "stress".{{Cite web|url=https://www.mobihealthnews.com/news/north-america/pinterest-rolls-out-new-tool-aimed-helping-users-anxiety-stress|title=Pinterest rolls out new tool aimed at helping users with anxiety, stress|date=2019-07-23|website=MobiHealthNews|language=en|access-date=2020-01-07}} Compassionate Search is designed to make mental health tools more accessible to users with difficulty accessing mental health services, while changing the experience of how mental health is addressed online towards a more open and honest experience free from stigma.{{Cite news|url=https://www.wired.com/story/pinterest-compassionate-search/|date=2019-07-22|access-date=2019-07-22|language=en-US|title=Feeling Stressed Out? Pinterest Wants to Help}} They also addressed issues of suicide, safety, and self-harm that led to changes in the Pinterest platform, including creating a set of exercises for improving user's emotional outcomes,{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/story/pinterest-self-harm-help/|title=Pinterest Has a New Plan to Address Self-Harm|magazine=Wired|access-date=2020-01-07|language=en|issn=1059-1028}} as well as AI, which Pinterest said achieved an 88% reduction in reports of self-harm content by users and ability to remove such content 3 times faster.{{Cite web|url=https://venturebeat.com/2019/10/10/pinterest-says-ai-reduced-reported-self-harm-content-by-88/|title=Pinterest says AI reduced reported self-harm content by 88%|date=2019-10-10|website=VentureBeat|language=en-US|access-date=2020-01-07}} This work was named by Fast Company as one of the Best Designs for Social Good {{Cite web|url=https://www.fastcompany.com/90547969/social-good-innovation-by-design-2020|title = The best designs for social good of 2020|date = 30 September 2020}} and Most Innovative Wellness Projects {{Cite web|url=https://www.fastcompany.com/90547979/wellness-innovation-by-design-2020|title = The most innovative wellness projects of 2020|date = 30 September 2020}} of 2020.

Vasan's experience as a young civic entrepreneur led to her co-authoring the #1 Amazon best-selling book Do Good Well: Your Guide to Leadership, Action and Innovation on how to maximize impact{{Cite web|url=http://www.dogoodwell.com/|title=Do Good Well|website=Do Good Well|access-date=2017-02-27}} in solving social problems.{{Cite web|url=http://college.usatoday.com/2013/03/29/harvard-grad-guides-entrepreneurs-to-do-good-well/|title=Harvard grad guides entrepreneurs to 'Do Good Well'|date=2013-03-29|website=USA TODAY College|access-date=2017-02-27}} Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Muhammad Yunus called the book "the primer for social innovation."{{Cite web|url=http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1118382943.html|title=Do Good Well: Your Guide to Leadership, Action, and Social Innovation|last=|first=|date=|website=www.wiley.com|access-date=}}

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Category:1984 births

Category:Living people

Category:21st-century American women physicians

Category:21st-century American physicians

Category:Academics from West Virginia

Category:American physicians of Indian descent

Category:American women psychiatrists

Category:American women writers of Indian descent

Category:Harvard College alumni

Category:Harvard Medical School alumni

Category:People from Palo Alto, California

Category:People from Vienna, West Virginia

Category:People from Washington, D.C.

Category:Physicians from West Virginia

Category:Parkersburg High School alumni

Category:Stanford Graduate School of Business alumni

Category:Writers from West Virginia