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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. N ot all cancers are created equally, which means that how to treat them can depend on a variety of factors. But those specifics aren’t always easy for doctors to find.
Enter Anirudh Joshi and his company, Valar Labs. It uses AI to analyze an image of a tumor for patients with bladder cancer, which provides data doctors can use to determine the best way to move forward. “AI is going to completely change and create an abundance of healthcare,” he says.
“And this is across all domains, not just for what we do.” So far, 20 hospitals around the country are using Valar Labs’ software, and next up for the company is training its models to analyze other types of cancer, such as pancreatic cancer and lymphoma. To that end, it’s raised $26 million from venture capitalists so far, and Joshi, 29, says Valar Labs could be “the next billion dollar company in cancer.
” Joshi, along with his cofounders Damir Vrabac , 28, and Viswesh Krishna , 23, are just some of the rising stars on the this year’s 30 Under 30 Healthcare list working to solve 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, 2024, and never before named to a 30 Under 30 North America, Asia or Europe list.
Candidates were evaluated by a panel of judges featuring Jim Breyer , founder of Breyer Capital; Kate Haviland , CEO of Blueprint Medicines; Megan Mahoney , a physicians and professor at the University of California, San Francisco; and Stephanie Strong , cofounder and CEO of Boulder Care. Valar Labs isn’t the only company applying AI to identifying disease. With his company Dannce.
ai, Rob Baldoni , 25, is using deep learning to analyze patients’ movements to help evaluate patients with neurological conditions such as Parikinson’s. Kanishka Rao , 29, is using AI to identify high-risk chronic disease patients with his company Carenostics. And Akshaya Annapragada , 27, invented ARTEMIS, an AI system that has identified hundreds of new genomic characteristics of different cancers.
Other listmakers are using software innovations to make the day-to-day operations easier for caregivers. There’s Ricky Pati , 26 and Niko Fotopoulos , 25, whose company Sparx makes it easier for doctors to participate in value-based care programs. Also, Autumn-Kyoko Cushman , 28, and Leanna Haddad , 28, cofounded ShiftRx, a startup that helps shift workers in pharmacies apply for and get onboarded for short-term contract work.
But software isn’t the only area of health innovation–several entrepreneurs on the list are developing new hardware to help patients and caregivers. For example, Nadia Ansari , 21, and Kamran Ansari , 19, cofounded FluxWear, which has developed a wearable cap that serves as a neuromodulation device Meanwhile, Tamara Chayo , 25, founded MEDU Protection, which has developed level 4 hospital gowns that can be reused multiple times instead of being discarded after one wear. Then there’s Vishnu Sunil , 29 and Apoorva Katragadda , 29, whose company EmerStat developed a device that helps reduce hemorrhaging in trauma patients.
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 2025 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 . 30 UNDER 30 RELATED ARTICLES.
