Neha Gupta

Expert Advisory Board

Neha Gupta is a social entrepreneur, medical student, human rights activist, and concussion advocate.

At the age of 9, she founded a nonprofit called Empower Orphans and became the first American to receive the International Children's Peace Prize from King of Netherlands and Nobel Laureate Desmond Tutu in 2014. Empower Orphans has impacted 30k+ children in India, U.S., Uganda, and Haiti. She also co-founded State of Youth in 2019, with Kids Rights, Facebook, and 8 other young leaders globally. State of Youth is an advocacy platform for young changemakers globally, which has amassed a following of 50K+ on Instagram and is growing with chapters globally. Neha has advised nonprofits and youth changemakers globally, spoken at 100+ forums and events like the UN and TEDx, launched campaigns with organizations like Microsoft, Facebook, and Coca Cola, and has been featured in 300+ newspapers, TV segments, magazines, books, radio shows, etc.

In 2014, when Neha was 18 and a freshman at Penn State Schreyer Honors College, she sustained a severe concussion, with a subsequent hit a year later. After taking medical leave and experiencing no relief from almost the full spectrum of symptoms for months, she finally found clinics/centers that put her on the right track with rehabilitation. Over the course of 4 years, she went through a trial and error of 10+ therapies and as a result, became passionate about helping other patients through their recovery and connecting them with the resources and therapies that they need.

When she returned to school, she completed a Bachelor of Science in Neurobiology and Neurosciences and an Honors Thesis on the management of and resources for Post-Concussion Syndrome. Throughout her undergraduate studies, while she was undergoing rehabilitation herself, she was a researcher at Penn State Sports Concussion Center. She co-authored a chapter about the management of concussions in an orthopedic setting in a book called "Neuropsychology of Sports-Related Concussions.” After graduating, she was a Digital Health Fellow for StartUp Health in NYC.

She is now an MD Candidate at Penn State College of Medicine. Continuing her interest, she is currently part of the interdisciplinary pediatric concussion group at Penn State Health. Given her other experiences, she is passionate about changing communities and populations through health care access, advocacy, and innovation.