Two Venture lab alumni are among this year’s 84 Scholars from 25 countries!
- Aravind Krishnan C21, W'21
- Meera Menon, W'20
Knight-Hennessy Scholars were selected based on their “demonstration of independence of thought, purposeful leadership, and a civic mindset.” The scholarship program, now in its eighth year, is designed to prepare them “to be visionary, courageous, and collaborative leaders who address complex challenges facing the world.”
Krishnan plans to pursue an M.D. and a Ph.D. from Stanford’s School of Medicine. At Penn he is in the Roy and Diana Vagelos Program in Life Sciences and Management, a dual degree in the College of Arts and Sciences and Wharton School. He is studying molecular and cell biology, health care management and policy, and statistics. Krishnan co-founded ToxiSense and which develops more sustainable and cost-effective assays for bacterial contamination in medical products and for bacterial infections, a project that won the Perelman Grand Prize at the Penn Venture Lab Startup Challenge. He has conducted research in the Perelman School of Medicine’s Greenberg Lab, where he worked on understanding DNA damage repair mechanisms and telomere biology. Krishnan was co-president of the student-led Shelter Health Outreach Program, a mobile free medical clinic in Philadelphia. He also co-founded the West Philadelphia Sanctuary, a community gathering space to address loneliness and social isolation among at-risk populations, which won a Penn 2024 Projects for Progress Award. He was a 2024 Truman Scholar, Perry World House Student Fellow, and U.N. Millennium Fellow and was awarded several grants. Krishnan aims to be a physician-scientist focused on combining science and care delivery for underserved disease areas, like infectious disease.
Menon plans to pursue an M.B.A. from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business and a master’s degree from the Graduate School of Education. At Penn, Menon earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Wharton. While at Penn, so participated in Venture Lagb's Snider Consulting Program and also co-founded The Unscripted Project a winner of the 2020 President’s Engagement Prize. The Unscripted Project is a nonprofit that uses improvisational theater to equip students with life skills, like speaking confidently. Menon aspires to lead an education philanthropy that strengthens nonprofits through long-term funding and building capacity, ensuring they can scale sustainably and serve students effectively.
Originally published on Penn Today | Read More