TeachAids Honors Current and Past Interns
At a time of pin-drop silence in the world around us, it has been hustling and bustling at TeachAids. We’ve launched Brain Fly-Through product, built and launched the CoviDB platform, and compiled more than 600 video narratives for the Story Wall database. Behind the research, development and release of all our exciting products are hundreds of experts, celebrities and our leadership staff. But arguably the most important contributors in our production process are our invaluable interns from across the globe. Over the past 10 years, we have had hundreds of interns from high school age through post graduate level who have worked tirelessly to build upon the foundation of TeachAids.
Each year, we have had the immense pleasure of working with a diverse set of talented interns and fellows, brought together by an unwavering desire to make a positive impact. The barrier to entry and bar to join our team is high. But with an impact-focussed desire, we have been excited to attract the very best young people to our organization.
This summer we are working with dozens of outstanding part-time high school and college interns. Amongst these five have received prestigious scholarships from Stanford University to work with us full-time. From the class of 2023, we are joined by Cameron Linhares-Huang, a prospective Symbolic Systems Major participating in a Spirituality, Service, and Social Change Fellowship; and Sepehr Asgari, a prospective Human Biology Major in a Community Service Work-Study Fellowship. Bella Khuu, class of 2022, is a Public Policy Major in a Community Service Work-Study Fellowship. Ryan Crowley, class of 2021, is a Biocomputation Major in a CS + Social Good Fellowship. Les Levy Jr., also in the class of 2021, is a Political Science Major in a Community Service Work-Study Fellowship. We would like to thank the Haas Center and Community Service Work-Study Program for providing these special scholarships.
Welcoming these interns and witnessing their hard work thus far has made us reflect back to the countless past interns who have made our work possible across the world. Today, these individuals have taken their experiences to a variety of industries, including professional sports, medicine, business, nonprofits and research.
Many of our past interns are continuing their education in their respective fields. Some include, 2009-2012 intern Kesaobaka Modukanele and 2014 intern Mary Ellen Luck who are now studying at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. 2008-2013 intern Ingrid Inema is a Neuroscience PHD candidate at McGill University, 2015-2016 intern Raena Sumiyoshi is an MBA Candidate & Forté Fellow at UCLA Anderson, and 2019 intern Anja Zehfuss studies at the Stanford School of Engineering, among others. A large cohort of past interns are currently in medical school and residencies, including Dr. Lakshmi Karra, Dr. Mignote Yilma, Dr. Daniel Herrador, Isabelle Wijangco, Dr. Ngoc-Bao Le, Christine Chen, Dr. Adam Widman, Dr. Mary Raddawi, Dr. Dithapelo Medupe and Dr. Ankita Patro.
A handful of past TeachAids interns have gone on to found their own companies, taking a leadership role in pursuing their unique visions. Former intern and current TeachAids marketing manager Brandon Simmons co-founded FEED LOVE with the mission of inspiring others to lead lives filled with understanding, compassion, and philanthropy through fashion. Sophia Edelstein, who began work at TeachAids in 2015, is a co-founder and CEO of Pair Eyewear, a brand designing an empowering and playful version of prescription eyeglasses for children. Maya Balakrishnan is the co-founder of the production line management service Polymer, which allows manufacturers visibility into complex operations.
Others have carried their experience at TeachAids into various fields of management, consulting and technology. Some include Chelsea Barabas, who interned from 2012-2013, is a research scientist at MIT. 2013-2014 intern Sapna Patel is a visual designer at IBM, 2016-2017 intern Riley Wilson is a software engineer at Microsoft, and Ra Bacchus is a policy specialist at Google. Former intern Tito Balsamo works as a Sr. Human Interface Designer at Apple, while 2013 intern Tara Balakrishnan is a business analyst at McKinsey & Company.
Several past TeachAids interns have continued to pursue nonprofit work. Treyvion Foster, who began at TeachAids in 2017, works as the early childhood educational program designer at The Primary School in East Palo Alto. The Primary School is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving health and educational outcomes for children most impacted by systemic poverty and racism. Maya Lorey, who also interned at TeachAids in 2017, works at the International Women’s Health Coalition, an organization which has been at the forefront of key milestones in sexual and reproductive health and rights. Clemence Couteau worked as an outreach and research fellow at TeachAids from 2015 through 2016 before serving in the Peace Corps and becoming a Senior Program Assistant in Global Health Security at PATH. Looking back on her experience, Clemence notes a key insight she has applied to various roles since working with TeachAids: “My biggest takeaway from the internship was the importance of developing culturally-relevant health education tools in collaboration with communities, not just for them. I’ve carried this approach with me throughout my career since then.”
Interning at TeachAids has also given many the tools and inspiration to pursue careers at research organizations. Renaud Vann and Mallika Bhandarkar, who both interned at TeachAids in 2010, work at Gilead Sciences and Rand Corporation, respectively. 2016-2018 research intern Raga Ayyagari is a Health Research Analyst at Mathematica Policy Research. Devika Patel connects healthcare research and human-centered design as the Design Director at The UCSF Better Lab. Nika Soon-Shiong, who works in social protection at the World Bank, cites her time at TeachAids as foundational to her work. She reflects, “[The] experience transformed how I understood the relationship between innovative interventions and systemic change. My time at TeachAids taught me to honor the complexity of the world’s most pressing issues in the fields of education and health in order to convey them meaningfully to donors, students, and people around the world.”
Although their work spans many industries, these individuals are united by their intense ambition to improve social justice and human welfare in their own disciplines. We are honored and privileged to serve with such driven individuals throughout the past decade and celebrate all their successes. Thank you for all you do to better each other and serve the world around us!