Dipti Venkatesh – Founder/President
Dipti Venkatesh is a junior at Evergreen Valley High School. She is the secretary of her school’s Health Occupations Students of America(HOSA) chapter. Dipti is an active member of the community. She is an avid advocate against tobacco and vape usage speaking at city council about how big tobacco targets youth in our communities and minorities and as a National Youth Ambassador representing State of California, she works to eliminate the usage of tobacco and e-cigarettes among youth on a larger scale. Dipti is also volunteering at the San Jose VA where she is able to help out a vulnerable community. Along with these, she has volunteered at Hearts&Minds Activity Center, an adult day care designed for persons with all types of dementia where she led activities, such as art therapy, aimed at increasing cognitive function. Dipti hopes that HealthEquity+ will help spread awareness to the community about major disparities existing in healthcare and be a starting point to help bridge that gap.
Varun Puvvala – Director of Education
Varun Puvvala is a junior at Valley Christian High School in San Jose, California. He helps out in his community constantly, whether that means tutoring kids with autism in math and science, teaching underprivileged kids how to use drones, or co-founding a community fridge to give food to those in need, he helps his community prosper as a whole. In his spare time, he is an avid table tennis player and plays a mean beat on his drum set. Now, he is bringing his knowledge about health equity to you and spreading the word about the inequalities in health around the world. He hopes HealthEquity+ guides your journey in improving your own health equity, using little changes in your lifestyle to gradually optimize the way you live life.
Meghana Pavuluri – Director of Social Media
Meghana Pavuluri is a sophomore at Evergreen Valley High School in San Jose. She is passionate about working with the community through organizations such as Community Seva or spending time with children on the spectrum. She is also a part of her high school’s speech and debate team and Bollywood dance team. Some of her hobbies include hiking, dance, and learning how to play new instruments. Through HealthEquity+, she hopes to spread awareness about disparities in health today and share the importance of health equity in our communities.
Reya Sankar – Director/Chapter Coordinator, San Ramon, California
Reya Sankar is a sophomore at Dougherty Valley High School in San Ramon, California. She has volunteered at her local Senior Center, and the American Red Cross, where she has helped with blood drives, provided hot meals and water for disaster relief, and installed smoke alarms in at-risk communities. She is also part of the Tobacco Use Prevention Education Program (TUPE) at her school to spread awareness about tobacco use to students in her community and to promote success in school and life. In her spare time, she is an avid tennis player and plays the piano. Through HealthEquity+, Reya hopes to spread awareness about healthcare inequalities today and the importance of improving health equity in our communities.
Aadhi Sivakumar – Director/Chapter Coordinator, Portland Oregon
Aadhi Sivakumar is a junior at Sunset High School in Portland Oregon. He is an avid member of the community and loves to help in any way he can. Aadhi is passionate about cleaning the environment as he believes global warming is a big issue in our world and the effect it could cause on marginalized groups. Before the pandemic, Aadhi picked up trash in his area neighborhood parks and helped tutor students in his grade. After the covid pandemic struck, Aadhi became a member of PDX Concierge, a free grocery delivering service focused on serving the elderly, immunocompromised, and disabled. Furthermore, Aadhi takes his academics and athletics very seriously. He is an IB Diploma candidate and is part of the varsity cross country and track team. Aadhi also has a deep passion for computer programming and knows how to code in five languages. Aadhi hopes that HealthEquity+ will help escalate awareness to the community about major disparities existing in healthcare and help educate the society on different ways to contribute to decreasing the gaps. He hopes to use his programming skills to develop an app for Health Equity so people can learn more about our mission.
Mithil Penta, Director/Chapter Coordinator, Michigan
Hello my name is Mithil Penta, I am a freshman at Michigan State University, majoring in Human Biology and minoring in Bioethics, and am a member of MSU’s Osteopathic Medical Scholars Program. I earned a 2021 Congressional Award Gold Certificate and am part of member of MSU’s Pre-SOMA Club, Healthcare Research Association, and FIMRC. I am very interested in biomedical research. I have undertaken lab research at UT Health Science’s Department of Cellular and Integrative Physiology and am currently pursuing Spinal Muscular Atrophy research at MSU. Currently I serve as a STEM tutor, and BSA Texas Troop 515 Eagle Scout Advisor. I look forward to being part of Health Equity Plus.