Kelly D.

Kelly is a senior at Crossroads School in Los Angeles, California. She is passionate about public health and universal access to healthcare. She founded VaxTeen, an organization dedicated to raising awareness among teenagers about the importance of vaccinations and encouraging those who are unvaccinated to receive immunizations as soon as they are able to. She created guides that show teenagers which vaccines they need and when they can get them without parental consent, simplifying each state’s complicated patchwork of minor consent laws. She is also deeply involved in her community, serving as president of her local hospital’s teen volunteer program, interning in a research laboratory focused on stroke treatment and prevention, volunteering at a literacy program for young children, and founding her school’s science news publication. In her free time, she likes to write, bake, go to concerts, and explore Los Angeles with her friends.