Pratik Doshi

Pratik Doshi is driven by two aims: the pursuit of learning, and applying that learning to help people. A progressive degree student who is graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Studies and a master’s degree in Global Medicine, Doshi translated his own quest for knowledge into a powerful tool for helping others.

Throughout his life, Doshi witnessed how cultural and socioeconomic differences prevented people from accessing quality health care and how these issues negatively affected their quality of life. Doshi began exploring the intersection of business and medicine and discovered how he could bring these two fields together — social entrepreneurship, or applying entrepreneurial principles to address major social issues. He set out to use social entrepreneurship to combat the disparity in medicine, specifically mental health.

As a first-generation immigrant from a community in which mental health is heavily stigmatized, Doshi created Glia Mental Health, a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization that aims to create an anonymous text-based platform to provide long-term group support to people suffering from depression around the world. His organization has been awarded several National Science Foundation Mini-Innovation Corps Grants and recognition from leaders in the fields of medicine, public health, and psychology.

As a future physician, Doshi aims to continue exploring the world of social entrepreneurship. He will begin medical school this fall at Duke University School of Medicine, ready to tackle some of the largest issues within medicine through business to make health more equitable for all people.

— Pratik Doshi