Announcement of Samvid Scholars Inaugural Cohort

NEW YORK, NY / October 8, 2021 – The Board of Samvid Ventures, a foundation dedicated to improving the lives of underserved individuals, announced today the names of the twenty young Americans selected as the inaugural class of Samvid Scholars. Samvid Scholars is a new, merit-based graduate scholarship for leaders and changemakers. Samvid Scholars was established in 2021 by Samvid Ventures to invest in the graduate education of future leaders who are committed to effecting positive change in society.  

The twenty Scholars in the 2021 class were selected from a pool of over 700 applicants for their academic and leadership achievements and our belief in their ability to drive step-changes in society. The inaugural class includes outstanding young leaders in public health, technology, research, venture philanthropy, entrepreneurship, social justice, policy and politics, faith, and the arts, as well as future doctors and lawyers.  

In addition to receiving up to $100,000 in funding for their graduate program, each Scholar will receive two years of leadership development programming to support them to continue to fulfill their extraordinary potential. All Scholars will have access to robust ongoing programming and will help us to build an alumni community of mentorship, collaboration, and lifelong relationships. 

The application for the next class of Samvid Scholars will open in early 2022.  

Full list of 2021 Scholars

Name, degree sought, university 

  • Natalie Baker, MD at Harvard Medical School 
  • Debby Cheng, MD at Harvard Medical School 
  • Justine DeSilva, JD at University of California Berkeley School of Law 
  • Jacob Gonzalez, JD at Yale Law School
  • Selena Gonzalez, MD at Harvard Medical School 
  • Thomas Koenig, JD at Harvard Law School  
  • Rasheca Logendran, MD at Harvard Medical School 
  • Sujal Manohar, MD at Baylor College of Medicine 
  • Natalie Meurer, MBA at Stanford Graduate School of Business 
  • Haley Morin, MD at Stanford University School of Medicine  
  • Anisha Mudaliar, MBA at Stanford Graduate School of Business 
  • Deborah Rabinovich, JD at Yale Law School 
  • Tarun Ramesh, MD at Harvard Medical School 
  • Sahil Sandhu, MD at Harvard Medical School 
  • Kevin Shah, MBA at Stanford Graduate School of Business 
  • Nisarg Shah, MD at Yale School of Medicine 
  • Evelyn Siu, Masters of Science in Computational Analysis and Public Policy at University of Chicago, Harris 
  • Isita Tripathi, MD at Harvard Medical School 
  • Brianna Yang, JD at Yale Law School 
  • Benjamin Zehr, Masters in International Policy at Stanford University 

For additional information on this program, please visit the Samvid Scholars page.