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Rehman Hassan

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Finalist

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Winner

General information

Hobbies & Interests

  • Anatomy
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Biology
  • Blogging
  • Board Games And Puzzles
  • Community Service And Volunteering
  • Ecology
  • Education
  • Finance
  • Marketing

Reading

  • Academic
  • Health
  • Fantasy
  • True Story
  • Biology
  • Genetics

I read books daily.

Bio

Rehman is the founder of iCure Health, founded when they were in middle school, which aims, across its 30+ international chapters that have helped 45,000 people, to ensure that everyone has access to quality public health knowledge and preventative care services e.g. mammograms, depression screenings, and colonoscopies. As a testament to their service, Rehman was appointed to be an Adolescent Champion of the WHO's Partnership for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health. In this capacity, they will be co-leading the Global Forum for Adolescents and the 1 Point 8 Billion Campaign, the main elements of the Adolecents2030 Call to Action sponsored by the WHO, UNAIDS, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNICEF, UN Women, World Bank, and World Food Programme. Moreover, Rehman is a focal point at the WHO's PMNCH, the UN Inter-Agency Network on Youth Development, and the UN Major Group for Children and Youth. Rehman also is a UN NGO Representative/Ambassador where they regularly speak at UN events and co-author reports to the OHCHR. Rehman was also honored by becoming a UN Refugee Agency Young Champion for Refugees following his work which helped Afghan nationals seek asylum in the US and Switzerland following Taliban rule, which denied many women their education. Rehman is not only an advocate but also a political trailblazer. Rehman works on legislation as the highest-ranking official at the UNICEF CFCI Youth Council where they represent 2.5 million young people and as the Social Media Chair of a youth political organization whose posts have reached 6.8 million impressions.

Education

Stanford University

Bachelor's degree program

2023 – 2027

Majors:
  • Anthropology
Minors:
  • Public Policy Analysis

Dulles High School

High School

2019 – 2023

GPA4.0 GPA

Miscellaneous

Desired degree level:
Doctoral degree program (PhD, MD, JD, etc.)
Majors of interest:
Anthropology, Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Other, Biochemical Engineering, Behavioral Sciences, Biological and Physical Sciences, Biotechnology, Biopsychology, Sociology and Anthropology, International/Globalization Studies, International and Comparative Education, Human Biology, Biomathematics, Bioinformatics, and Computational Biology
Medical school interest:
No
Test scores:
  • SAT1570

Career

  • Youth Internet Consultant

    International Affairs · UNICEF: On the occasion of International Safer Internet Day, participated in a youth consultation focused on youth priorities on technology and best practices to ensure that the internet and other technologies are safe and equitable for young people

    Jan 2023 – Present

  • Youth and Gender Equity Consultant

    International Affairs · UN Women: First-author of a report on the harms of biomass cooking and best practices to encourage innovation to solve these issues; used to create the guiding document of the Commission's 67th session

    Jan 2023 – Present

  • Family Planning & Sexual Health Consultant

    International Affairs · UN Population Fund & WHO: Reviewed technical documentation set forth by the UN Population Fund and the WHO to design contraceptive devices and identified areas of potential improvement to best promote the inclusivity and efficacy of these guidelines

    Jan 2023 – Present

  • Equity and Equality Consultant

    International Affairs · Government of the European Union: first-author report on protecting victims and ensuring due process in EU equality bodies; will inform legislative debate and will be presented to the European Parliament and Council

    Jan 2023 – Present

  • COVID-19 Recovery Human Rights Consultant

    International Affairs · Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: First-author of a report focused reducing inequity following the pandemic; will inform a report at the Human Rights Council at its fifty-fourth session

    Jan 2023 – Present

  • Educational Human Rights Consultant

    International Affairs · Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: First-author of a report on education across the world; will inform a report of the UN Special Rapporteur to the Human Rights Council

    Jan 2023 – Present

  • Migrant Human Rights Consultant

    International Affairs · Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: First-author of a report to reintegrate the female Rohingya refugee population into Bangladesh; will inform a report of the UN Special Rapporteur to the Human Rights Council

    Jan 2023 – Present

  • Consultant for the United Nations Committee for Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights

    International Affairs · Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: First-author of a report on the dire child labor crisis in Yemen; Invited to present my work before the Committee and six country leaders/representatives

    Jan 2023 – Present

  • Gender and Sexual Minority Human Rights Consultant

    International Affairs · Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: First-author report on the freedom of religion and the rights of sexual/gender minorities; will inform the a report a UN Independent Expert at the 53rd session of the UN Human Rights Council

    Jan 2023 – Present

  • Child Human Rights Consultant

    International Affairs · Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: First-author of a report on methods of protecting children's human rights, following COVID-19; will inform the High Commissioner's report at the 54th session of the Human Rights Council

    Jan 2023 – Present

  • Homelessness Consultant for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

    Government Relations · Government of the United Kingdom: Completed legislative review of information surrounding the implications of the abolition of Section 21 evictions; will inform provisions in the Renters Reform Bill and help develop the Homelessness Code of Guidance

    Jan 2023 – Present

  • Health and Communication Consultant for the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency

    Government Relations · Government of the United Kingdom: Consulted the government of the United Kingdom on best practices to promote health equity through improved communication between government regulatory agencies and healthcare professionals

    Jan 2023 – Present

  • Ambassador

    Political Organization · Beto for Texas (Personally reached 86,000+ Texans by calling, going door-to-door, texting, and hosting events)

    Jan 2022 – Present

  • 2022 United Nations Youth Delegate (received scholarship worth $5,000 to attend event)

    International Affairs · YOUNGA (Assisted in the writing of the Youth Communiqué, which will be presented to UN officials such as the Secretary-General, and the United Nations General Assembly)

    Jan 2022 – Jan 2022

  • UN DESA Future of Population Growth Conference Youth Delegate

    International Affairs · UN DESA (Authored a paper on how population growth and aging impact the ability of people to afford equitable healthcare which was sent to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights)

    Jan 2022 – Jan 2022

  • United Nations Right to Development Youth Delegate

    International Affairs · UN Human Rights (Wrote and compiled report to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the importance of guarding the right to development in the face of COVID-19)

    Jan 2022 – Jan 2022

  • United Nations ECOSOC Youth Forum Youth Delegate and NGO (sponsored by the UN) Summit Co-Chair

    International Affairs · United Nations Economic and Social Council (Wrote and compiled a report to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the importance of protecting youth rights and health disparities)

    Jan 2022 – Jan 2022

  • WHO Health of Migrants Youth Delegate

    Public Health · World Health Organization

    Jan 2022 – Jan 2022

  • United Nations "Above Water" Film Presentation Youth Delegate

    International Affairs · United Nations

    Jan 2022 – Jan 2022

  • United Nations Report on Child Violence Youth Delegate

    International Affairs · United Nations

    Jan 2022 – Jan 2022

  • UN Human Rights in Ukraine Youth Delegate

    International Affairs · UN Human Rights (Contributed to a report to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the human rights crisis in Ukraine focusing on its impact on youth)

    Jan 2022 – Jan 2022

  • UN Women Side Event Summit Organizer on Women Leadership

    Women's Rights · UN Women (Hosted a UN side-event associated with UN Women and the UN Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights to empower women connecting with female leaders in the United States, Spain, Switzerland, Nigeria, and China)

    Jan 2022 – Jan 2022

  • Editor in Chief

    Broadcast Media · Kid Changemakers Magazine, TV, Podcast, and Blog (working on project focusing on highlighting young leaders across the world)

    Jan 2022 – Present

  • Editor in Chief

    Journalism · Beyond the Science in Healthcare Magazine (published and authored part of magazine which currently has 60,000+ views in 15+ countries)

    Jan 2022 – Present

  • Youth Delegate to the first US-based UN Youth Climate Conference

    Environmental Services · UNFCCC (Co-authored an evidence-based document presented to the White House and at the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference- COP27 on the climate crisis)

    Jan 2022 – Jan 2022

  • UNESCO Education Summit Youth Delegate and Presenter

    Education · UNESCO (presented on the mental health crisis in the world and how it can be solved using educational policy; wrote a report to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights on addressing mental health through education)

    Jan 2022 – Jan 2022

  • Co-founder

    Legal Services · Informal Project to Help Afghan Refugees and Nationals (Helping 100+ Afghan nationals being terrorized by the Taliban seek asylum in the US and Switzerland; identified and/or raised $1,000,000 for these nationals to aid their journey into the US)

    Jan 2018 – Present

  • Young Ambassador & Publication Writer & Editor to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (4 publications) & Summit Co-Chair

    Children's Rights · Ariel Foundation International & Citizen Outreach Coalition (Spoke at 4 UN events and offered written contributions at 3 other UN events; hosted or presented at 2 UN side events)

    Jan 2020 – Present

  • Student Body President & Youngest Member of Management

    Student Government · Ismaili Center (represented 1500+ students; ensured the safety of 300+ students weekly with a 0% injury rate; set up classrooms and designed activities to increase engagement)

    Jan 2017 – Present

  • Focal Point to the United Nations Major Group for Children and Youth (iCure is a partner)

    International Development & Youth Advocacy · Established an extensive partnership between iCure, the non-profit I founded, and the United Nations

    Jan 2022 – Present

  • Young Champion for Refugees

    International Development · UN Refugee Agency (Recognized for my work with Afghan Nationals and Refugees, was appointed a UN Refugee Agency Young Champion for Refugees)

    Jan 2022 – Present

  • Social Media Chair reaching 6.8 million people & Beto for Texas Ambassador

    Political Organization · Youth for Beto (Achieved 6,800,000+ views and 20k followers; engaged 904k social media accounts in 30 days; managed team of 25 social media team members and 600+ Youth for Beto members; helped organize events featured on MSNBC, ABC News, CBS, & NBC).

    Jan 2022 – Present

  • UNICEF Child-Friendly Cities Initiative Youth Council Secretary (highest ranking official)

    Politics, Youth Advocacy, & Empowerment · UNICEF (elected; representing Houston's 2.5 million young people; drafting youth mental health legislation using educational policy; hosting UN side event on youth recovery to COVID-19)

    Jan 2022 – Present

  • Focal Point to the United Nations Inter-Agency Network on Youth Development (iCure is a partner)

    International Affairs · Established an extensive partnership between iCure, the non-profit I founded, and the United Nations

    Jan 2022 – Present

  • NGO Representative and Young Ambassador at the United Nations

    International Affairs · United Nations Economic and Social Council (hosting UN side event on how global health investments are needed to recover from COVID-19)

    Jan 2020 – Present

  • Focal Point to the World Health Organization Representing iCure (iCure was recognized as a partner)

    International Representation & Advocacy · World Health Organization Partnership for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health

    Jan 2022 – Present

  • WHO Adolescent Champion for the Global Forum for Adolescents

    Public Health & Youth Advocacy · World Health Organization PMNCH (1 of 5 hand-selected individuals across the world to lead the Global Forum for Adolescents, the largest event in history focused on adolescent well-being which will engage 1 million young people)

    Jan 2022 – Present

  • iCure Internship Program Executive Director

    Public Health & Education · iCure Health International 501(c)(3) est. 2016 (taught 65 interns from Baymon, Puerto Rico to Doha, Qatar who helped 15,000+ people across 70+ communities)

    Jan 2021 – Jan 2021

  • iCure Chapters Program Executive Director

    Public Health & Global Advocacy · iCure Health International 501(c)(3) est. 2016 (expanded iCure to have 30+ global chapters at graduate research institutions, medical schools, universities like Yale and the University of Toronto, and high schools)

    Jan 2020 – Present

  • CEO & Founder

    Public Health and Human Rights · iCure Health International 501(c)(3) est. 2016 (led programs helping 45,000 people, conducted 20,000 preventative care tests worth $100,000+ in monetary value, and created educational material in 3 languages viewed in 20 countries)

    Jan 2016 – Present

Miscellaneous

Dream career field:
Research
Dream career goals:
Serving humanity in anyway that I can, especially through international service and science
Has nursing license:
No

Future Interests

  • Advocacy
  • Politics
  • Volunteering
  • Philanthropy
FLIK Hospitality Group’s Entrepreneurial Council Scholarship
Gallons of water rushed in, and fragments of my home’s foundation floated to the top of the water. My skin broke out in hives as these chunks wedged themselves into my feet when I so desperately attempted to shovel the water out. I was left in the cold with burning hot skin from the stinging response of my immunoglobulin E antibodies, fighting the intruders coming in through my cracked skin. I wheezed as I breathed in noxious carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, and sulfur dioxide from the closed-off fireplace, burning my windpipe. Living through the Texas Winter Storm in my sophomore year of high school was brutal. Combined with flooding after my home’s water pipes broke, my family was devastated as our home fell into disrepair in front of our eyes. This led to a chain of eight months without access to stable housing and constant uncertainty about our lives. My time became greatly limited: I found myself choosing between learning trigonometric identities and Lewis structures while shoveling water out of the crevices of my home. We moved around Texas wherever we could stay, with relatives, in the car, and in hotel rooms. My story of hardship in light of the winter storm was not unique. Hearing of the death of my friend’s mother due to carbon monoxide poisoning and a relative falling to his death after not being able to see in the dark made me realize the importance of advocacy and direct involvement to prevent situations like these. Although I struggled to survive the difficulties of high school, I found a newfound desire to ensure the well-being of my community members and others. I spent nights researching and learning more about what could have caused the power grid of the world’s 8th largest economy to just fail. As I delved deeper into the complex world of economics and environmental science, I realized that my role as a community member was to protect people from situations such as these through wellness and advocacy. Through extensive time management and the help of many mentors, I learned to advocate for myself and those in my community. I filled my spare time with hours on hold with insurance companies, non-governmental organizations, and my elected representatives to advocate for change. Today my advocacy extends beyond phone calls and passionate emails trying to get the attention of decision-makers. Now, I work as a decision-maker, creating policy through the UNICEF City of Houston Youth Council where I am working on passing legislation to ensure that individuals have access to mental health support outside of school environments, especially during natural disasters, a concern that I have identified through my work as a suicide hotline volunteer. I hope that my policy work combined with my interests in the sciences will enable me to push for meaningful progress across my community and beyond. My direct involvement as well as my advocacy extends beyond the scribbled country borders of the United States, Ghana, Kenya, Switzerland, and Afghanistan. My work with the United Nations has enabled me to speak at conferences to advocate for women's education, greater diversity, youth STEM involvement, and disaster preparedness as well as publish reports to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights which have been presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council. In the future, I hope to work within healthcare and technology to meaningfully support communities hurt by natural disasters. I believe that by attending college, I will be able to have the tools necessary for a future committed to protecting families like mine.
Sean Carroll's Mindscape Big Picture Scholarship
Winner
adenine cheats on thymine at every chance he gets with the ever-flirtatious, home-wrecking tramp of a nucleotide, uracil. Uracil doesn’t even have a stable career with his missing methyl group. No wonder every time the toxic pair cheats, they produce an RNA molecule that can be instantly degraded, sometimes by itself, hurting every other hardworking nucleotide because they couldn’t keep their hydrogen bonding tips to themselves. This unceasing sin of infidelity that erupted since before the dawn of life contrasts with the boundless beauty of the genome, inspiring me to study its properties and implications in human societies. High school was an entirely new environment I never experienced before; from the thumps of the ceiling raccoons to the laughs at my weight, I immediately felt out of my element. I couldn’t wait until I would be free from the shackles of high school—until I walked into my biology class. I was fascinated by Mrs. Mathew’s enthusiastic demeanor, biology’s central dogma plastered on her wall next to the poster emphasizing that everyone shares 99% of her DNA. After many expeditions to Wikipedia’s wonky website, where a wealth of wisdom only served to deepen my absorption into the world of genetics, I was hooked. Soon after came late rides to the library my father begrudgingly agreed to and massive books piled on my desk, so heavy I needed to wheel them around. I waded through thousands of dense pages, sometimes reading 10 pages before finding a word I recognized. Genetics was its own world, with hundreds of armored locks only opened by these fascinatingly dry books that I could not put down (figuratively, of course, because I couldn’t pick these books up in the first place). As I picked at the shackles of each lock, I understood more and more: the string of adulterous adenines and forsaken thymines married together by phosphodiester bonds promoting transcription, and thus adultery, of coding sequences and the half of the genome made of transposons, repetitive elements of the genome normally suppressed that can move between the 3 billion nucleotide pairs of the DNA double helix. Later came my summer of 18-hour days spent studying thousands of gigabytes of RNA sequences, massive lists of unfaithful As, hideous Us, and tranquil Gs and Cs found in a cell. I joined the Ge Laboratory at MD Anderson to study these transposable elements of the genome that were found to be expressed in cancer and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's, representing an issue in gene regulation. The research I work on focuses on identifying how proteins regulate the expression of transposons and the circumstances and extent to which transposons are expressed in RNA, which may shed light on the coevolution of humans with microbes. Time passed differently in the lab; I was surrounded by interesting personalities and captivated by research I’d never done before, spending my nights with my lab mates and joking about our obsession with pumpkin spice lattes. Genetics is an endless world that we learn more about every day. Just today (December 15th) we learned that an allele common in people of African ancestry can introduce a PAM sequence which can lead to two dangerous diseases: sickle cell disease and β-thalassemia. Yesterday scientists identified 867 genes that can promote the survival of specific pancreatic cells. Not only is genetics fascinating, but is increasingly applicable to nearly everything, whether that be creating genetically modified tomato plants that have a higher yield or even using ancient genetic remnants of prehistoric viral infections (endogenous retroviruses) to create immunotherapy treatments for cancer. Genetics could be the key to conquering cancer, understanding the development of humanity, or even creating an artificial uterus. Genetics tells us secrets of identity, humanity, evolution, and development that could otherwise never be deduced. Although my current way to understand the nature of our universe is through genetics, there are many other ways to understand our universe whether that be quantum mechanics, astronomy, physics, chemistry, environmental science, or anthropology. Understanding the universe is not only important because it may allow us to conquer many of our world’s challenges such as global warming (which can hopefully be accomplished through technologies like the newly developed solar-collecting fabric or the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s recent ability to successfully use nuclear fission to produce energy), but also because understanding the universe is simply understanding. Learning about topics such as quantum entanglement or the multiverse is simply interesting and a way to break free from the monotony of daily life. The work of countless scientists every day helps us recognize the intricacies of the universe and better understand how these intricacies may influence us. Science tells us a story that is too enthralling for us to ever put down, bringing joy during tough times and defining how we view ourselves as well as the world around us. Through a university education, I hope to continue to learn more about the world around me. To better learn about the intricacies of the world, I hope to continue my research on transposons, especially in analyzing transposon expression during the first stages of development. I hope that my research looking at how transposons are reorganized during development can shed light on the story of human and mouse evolution, similar to Nobel Laureate Dr. Svante Pääbo’s research connecting genetics to anthropology. I hope to understand how humans can change over time and the factors that have led to many of the unique characteristics of humans. I am especially interested in understanding the development of a human’s seemingly smaller-sized corpus callosum (a connective complex between the hemispheres of the brain) even though evolution has favored a larger number of connection fibers between parts of the brain. I also hope to understand how the process of transposon reprogramming has led to the development of new alleles while keeping other important alleles intact. Beyond biology and anthropology, I hope to use my university education as a time to explore new ideas and subjects, especially quantum mechanics. I hope to work on new research on quantum computing and learn more about randomness, combining philosophy with physics. I feel that learning about quantum mechanics would reveal so much about the universe, especially when considering its implications for how we interact with the world and how we view ourselves in relation to the universe. Moreover, quantum mechanics, especially when it comes to quantum computing, could be key to understanding some major points of contention within our universe whether that be something as simple as answering the traveling salesman problem or something as complex as positioning telescopes to visualize ancient stars, galaxies, black holes, and planets. Our world is so complex and constantly fills me with new questions about myself and the universe at large. I hope to constantly question our universe and learn as much as I can. I doubt that I will know everything about the many secrets of our universe, but that is just something that I will have to come to terms with just as I have come to terms with the fact that 22% of my 223,200,000,000,000,000,000,000 nucleotides are cheating bastards.
Rehman Hassan Student Profile | Bold.org