ARCS Scholar Roche Alum Dr. Kunal Parikh will be an honored guest and keynote speaker at MWC's 2024 Scholar Awards Reception. 

Kunal Parikh, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHU) in the divisions of Glaucoma and Nanomedicine at the Wilmer Eye Institute and in the Center for Bioengineering Innovation & Design in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. Kunal leads a translational, R01-funded, interdisciplinary lab of engineers, scientists, and clinicians working together to create and translate novel biomedical solutions to alleviate human suffering at scale. His research program utilizes the Biodesign and insight-informed innovation methodologies to develop digital health technologies, surgical instruments, medical devices, multi-functional biomaterials, and therapeutics that can be readily scaled and adopted into clinical practice to enable access to care, improve treatment outcomes, and prevent post-operative complications. Kunal’s lab has a specific focus on the elimination of avoidable blindness globally and has partnered with the world’s largest eye care systems to systematically identify major, unmet eye care needs, develop solutions tailored to the needs of patients and providers, and distribute impactful innovations in an affordable and accessible manner.

Kunal is also an active healthcare investor and has founded, led, and raised funding for several companies, including Core Quantum Technologies, Social Innovation Lab, Access HEARS, GIVE, Eyedea Medical, and Samata Therapeutics. Kunal earned his PhD in Biomedical Engineering at JHU and BS in Chemical Engineering at The Ohio State University. He was an inaugural Roche/ARCS Scholar and has been recognized as a Leader of Tomorrow for the Mid-Atlantic bioeconomy and by Forbes 30 under 30 in Healthcare.

The 2024 Scholar Awards Reception will take place on Thursday, October 17, at 6:30 PM at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C. The event will feature poster sessions from current MWC ARCS Scholars, presentation of Scholar Awards, and a chance for members, friends of ARCS, current ARCS Scholars, and ARCS Scholar Alumni to network.