Living with Type 1 diabetes, celiac disease, and other metabolic disorders has greatly influenced the decisions I’ve made about my future. These experiences are why I am pursuing a degree in computer science in the healthcare industry. From the beginning, my goal has been simple: Do not let a chronic disease get in the way of living life, and create tools that make managing them a little easier for myself and others. At the age of 13, I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, and I was surprised to see that there was no easy way for newly diagnosed kids to calculate their insulin doses. I assumed there must be an app that could help, but I soon learned that none existed because creating one required FDA clearance. Instead of accepting that gap, I decided to work toward solving it. Five years later, I created T1D1 (Type 1 from Day 1), the first FDA-cleared, over-the-counter insulin calculator app in the United States. I made it completely free so that anyone who needs it can access it. Today, it has more than 50,000 downloads, and doctors and diabetes educators at children’s hospitals recommend it to their patients. Building this app showed me how powerful technology can be in healthcare. It also opened my eyes to seeing how many people (especially kids) living with chronic conditions could benefit from better tools and systems. After launching the T1D1 app, another family approached me to create a tracker app for children with incontinence so they could easily share daily data with their doctors. That experience taught me that small innovations can have a huge impact on quality of life. This perspective continues to guide my career path and my current internship with Abbott, where I’m learning how healthcare technology can improve patient outcomes on a larger scale. Living with diabetes has also taught me resilience. When you have multiple chronic diseases, you get used to managing issues daily whether it’s blood glucose levels, technology failures, or just feeling burned out from having to think about your disease all of the time. On my good days, when I encounter challenges, I focus less on what went wrong and more on how I can recover and improve the situation. Taking action gives me hope and momentum. I’ve also learned the importance of my community and reaching out to friends, mentors, and others for support when I need it. It has been so amazing to receive emails from doctors, nurses, educators, and PWDs who are benefiting from the T1D1 app. These notes of appreciation keep me motivated to continue innovating and looking for ways to empower others (especially youth) to manage their own diseases. I appreciate the institutions that are conducting research for a cure but my focus is how to improve lives right now. Living with two chronic diseases has shown me that even small improvements in daily management can make a life-changing difference. My goal for T1D1 is to be that small contribution in the diabetes community that creates a huge impact in the way we all live our lives. Meeting Mike Castagna at the CWD dinner in Barcelona inspired me by opening my eyes to see other amazing innovations easing the lives of PWDs like Afrezza. Mike’s focus on improving lives and expanding to the youth struck a nerve in me to continue my work, enhancing the diabetes community as a whole. This scholarship would be put towards my education at Georgia Tech so I can continue to build solutions that help people focus less on their disease and more on living their lives.