Members of Imperial are counted among the most promising young innovators in Europe, according to Forbes.

Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Europe 2018 lists feature 300 young innovators, entrepreneurs and leaders across Europe under the age of 30 who are transforming industry, technology, finance, media & marketing, law & policy, retail & ecommerce, science & healthcare, social entrepreneurship, art & culture and entertainment.

Among them is Mala Mawkin, an undergraduate student in Imperial’s School of Medicine, who features in the Science & Healthcare list. Mala was recognised for her research at the European Space Agency (ESA), and for her work with healthcare start-ups to improve NHS services.

Mala spent three months as an intern with the ESA, based in Cologne, where she undertook a research project into the effects of spaceflight on glucose tolerance. The research is helping to provide a better understanding of the effect of this extreme environment on the human body, and the implications for future space missions.

Mala said: “It was incredible to spend time in the company of such phenomenal scientists at the ESA, and I was very proud to represent Imperial and the UK on the project.”

Mala at the ESA

Mala says that she has always had an interest in space exploration. When she was 17, she spent 10 days with NASA after winning a national competition run by the UK Space Agency for her work in discussing the future of space flight.

She said: “When I was considering my future I was always torn between my fascination by space, and my interest in medicine. At NASA I met an astronaut who had originally trained as a doctor. He really inspired me to pursue medicine first, knowing I could contribute to space exploration with the skills I gained. He was right!”

Mala has also pioneered developments in medical technology while working with London-based start-ups. She was part of the launch team for DemDX – an app for medical students and junior doctors which helps guide them when diagnosing patients. Separately, for Touch Surgery – an award-winning surgical simulation platform co-founded by Imperial graduates Dr Andre Chow and Dr Jean Nehme, she conducted and published two research papers on the use of simulation for surgical training.

Mala is the UK student representative for the Medical Women’s Federation. She has written for the Microsoft Health Blog, the Student British Medical Journal, and is one of Imperial’s longest-standing student bloggers.

Currently Mala is in her fifth year of Undergraduate Medicine at Imperial. She said: “The past five years at Imperial have really shown me that practicing medicine is what I want to do. But I’d love to continue to be involved in innovation as well, and to help the NHS embrace new solutions to the challenges it’s facing.”

Community of innovators

Other Imperial innovators in this year’s list include:

• Devika Wood (Science & Healthcare), co-founder of Vida. Vida is a platform which recently raised £2.7 million to help people who are elderly, disabled or otherwise disadvantaged find a suitable carer efficiently. Devika graduated from Imperial in 2014 with a Master's in Public Health.
• Pae Natwilai (Industry), founder of Trik. Trik uses automated drones to check for damage or defects to large structures - such as oil rigs, bridges, or multi-storey buildings. Pae won the 2017 Design in Innovation Award for her invention, which she began developing as a student in Imperial’s Dyson School of Design Engineering.
• Simon Bushell (Social Entrepreneurs), founder of Sympower. Sympower aims to provide a sustainable solution to fluctuations in energy supply and demand, synchronising energy consumption with renewable resources to facilitate the transition to a cleaner energy system. Simon graduated in 2014 with a Masters in Mechanical Engineering.
• Guy Riese (Social Entrepreneurs), co-founder of Up Learn. Up Learn deploys neuroscience-informed artificial intelligence to determine students' strengths and weaknesses to construct personalized learning experiences. Up Learn works with educational charities to provide free courses to children from low-income backgrounds for every course sold. Guy graduated from Imperial in 2015 with an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering.
• Renato Circi and Rafael Michali (Science and Healthcare), founders of CortiCare and Imperial alumni. CortiCare are using novel biomimetic materials to develop a portable, point-of-care test to determine the hormone levels in a saliva sample. They want to make hormone testing faster, cheaper, and easier than current methods. Both Renato and Rafael graduated with a Masters in Bioengineering in 2017.
• Maroof Ahmed, Yusuf Sherwani, and Sarim Siddiqui (Social Entrepreneurs), founders of Digital Theraputics. Digital Therapeutics developed Quit Genius, the world's first app to deliver personalized and gamified cognitive behavioral therapy to smokers trying to quit. They graduated from Imperial's School of Medicine in 2017
• James Field (Science and Healthcare), founder of LabGenius. LabGenius' mission is to harness evolution with AI to develop radically new biological products.The company uses its platform technology to develop new products in partnership with world-leading multinationals, and recently raised $3.6million in seed funding.

Randall Lane, Editor of Forbes and CCO at Forbes Media, said: “The Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe list comprises the most impressive young entrepreneurs that are reshaping Europe, and the world, for the better.”