ADITYA TYAGI
Overview
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At the beginning of my freshman year, in June 2022, I founded Connect2Health—a startup 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused on reducing health disparities by addressing the social determinants of health, such as income, language, and geography, that prevent uninsured, underserved, and unhoused individuals from accessing basic healthcare services. Our mission is to connect people with preventive health services, essential resources like food and wellness supplies, and trusted local support through kit distribution, educational workshops, our mobile app Connect2Health Atlas, and the podcast MindBody Nexus.
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As Founder and CEO, I was responsible for articulating the vision, building a diverse team, securing advisors, and raising initial funding, including savings from my part-time job as a swim coach. Some highlights include leading volunteer outreach, piloting our digital platform, and being invited to speak as the youngest keynote speaker at the 2025 SDoH & Health Equity Innovations Summit.
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This experience has been integral to my self-development: it taught me how to understand real-world problems, design meaningful solutions, and take action with empathy and purpose to make healthcare more equitable and accessible.
Personal Importance of Work
My work with Connect2Health has been one of the most meaningful experiences of my life. It was the first time I took an idea, from a concern about healthcare gaps, and built something real without a roadmap. Along the way, I learned how to lead a team, build partnerships, and use every resource I had to turn a mission into action. But the most impactful moments have been on the ground: meeting people at the public health screening events, resource distribution outreach events and workshops hearing their stories, and helping provide support when it was most needed. Before Connect2Health, I was interested in science and healthcare.
After this journey, I know I want to use that interest to tackle structural barriers in medicine, combining research, advocacy, and service to make care more equitable and human-centered.