In 2023, Kweku Akese was a senior at the Massachusetts Academy of Math and Science, thinking about college and making his mark in the world. Inspired by his passion for biochemistry and a personal connection to sickle cell disease—a disorder that alters the shape of red blood cells and blocks blood flow, leading to intense pain, organ damage, and other serious complications—Kweku wanted to make a difference in the lives of youth affected by this condition.

Kweku learned about “vein finders,” medical devices that use near-infrared light reflection to create a map of the veins and allow...

In the United States, nearly 90,000 people are currently on the waiting list for a kidney transplant, and the wait time average is three to five years. While finding a living donor is an often long and arduous process, this ended up being the easy part of the health journey for Nancy Hursey, a former nurse who was told she needed a kidney transplant amid living with diabetes and after two years on dialysis.

Thanks to the generosity of a young woman living in her community, Nancy quickly found a donor who was not just eager to help save her life but who was also a perfect match. Nancy and Frank...