2014 STARS Hall of Fame

Divya Nag

Divya Nag is a technology enthusiast, and the founder of StartX Med and Stem Cell Theranostics. She was selected as the 2013 Forbes 30 under 30 winner in Science & Healthcare for her accomplishments in the medical field.

As a freshman at Stanford University, Divya led research projects for novel stem cell therapies at the Stanford Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. Two years and 17 publications later, at the age of 20, she started Stem Cell Theranostics -- a drug screening company that uses disease-specific beating heart cells derived from human skin to conduct the first "clinical trial in a dish."

She quickly realized that lots of cutting-edge technologies weren't making it out of academic institutions due to a fundamental lack of entrepreneurship education for scientists, especially due to difficult commercialization landscapes.To address this problem, Divya founded the first non-profit medical entrepreneurship program for Stanford scientists, StartX Med.

StartX Med has grown to support over 30 healthcare technologies that are fundamentally disrupting the medical industry. Stanford Hospital, Johnson & Johnson, Merck and Genentech all work closely with the program to continue empowering technologists.

When asked about the importance of the concept of "paying it forward," Nag responds "the 'paying it forward' attitude is one I saw at Mira Loma through the dedication of all the faculty, and one that is predominant in Silicon Valley. People are so passionate about what they do, and so willing to help others who are trying to embark on similar journeys that it contributes to a vibrant and thriving ecosystem of success all around."