Three groundbreaking ventures integrating AI to save lives in natural disasters, prevent infant mortality, and identify early incidence of stroke.
MENLO PARK, Calif., January 27, 2025 – The Westly Foundation is proud to announce the winners of the 2025 Westly Prize for Young California Social Innovators – all of whom have Bay Area connections. Following a competitive selection process, three outstanding ventures have been awarded $40,000 each in unrestricted funding to further their innovative solutions to pressing social challenges.
Steve Westly, co-founder of the Westly Foundation, commented, “These young innovators exemplify the talent, creativity, and daring humanitarian spirit that the Westly Prize seeks to honor. Their groundbreaking solutions have the potential to save lives and make a significant impact on society.”
The winners of the 2025 Westly Prize are:
1. RescueSight: (Founded by two U.C. Berkeley students) Alper Gel and Charlie McDonald
founded RescueSight in response to the tragic 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquake. The platform leverages advanced drone technology, AI, and multimodal datastreams to provide first responders with a comprehensive view of disaster areas. Their all-in-one dashboard transforms chaotic scenes into organized data, significantly improving situational awareness and response efficiency.
2. Code Blue AI: (Also co-founded by a Berkeley student) Co-founded by Ashmita Kumar and Ericka Corral-Yañez, Code Blue AI’s solution integrates into any device equipped with a microphone and camera, passively monitoring for signs of stroke and responding rapidly before the damage becomes long-term or fatal.
3. Elythea: (Founded from San Jose) Reetam Ganguli’s venture focuses on early detection and intervention in high-risk pregnancies. Utilizing machine learning language models and AI engagement, Elythea interacts with patients 24/7, aiming to reduce maternal mortality and complications.
Anita Yu, co-founder of the Westly Foundation and Westly Prize, celebrated their resiliency: “This year’s winners have transformed tragic events into the development of life-saving technology in the fields of health and disaster response. We have clearly entered the age of artificial intelligence (AI), and this year’s winners have wasted no time in incorporating AI tools to enhance social good. It’s an honor for Steve and I to play a role in advancing their impact.”
The winners were selected from eight finalists who presented their innovations at Stanford University’s Haas Center for Public Service on January 25, 2025. The young social innovators’ projects addressed a wide range of issues, including eating disorder prevention, youth civic engagement, medical education, and rural electrification.
Westly Prize finalists and their corresponding innovations follow:
- Christina Miranda & Amanda Moreno: Body Empowerment Project, a nonprofit addressing eating disorder prevention among underserved adolescents through a culturally competent, near-peer mentorship model.
- Paul Kramer: Institute for Youth in Policy (YIP) is building America’s largest network of young innovators for cross-sector civic change. This national nonprofit supports youth in formulating informed, unbiased, balanced policy perspectives, regardless of party affiliation.
- Denalene Tiu, Charis Turner, Shaista Afzhal, & Amritpal Singh: Prime Time, a near-peer program started by UCSF medical students, empowers and equips pre-medical students from Central California to become excellent physicians, and to help fill a staggering physician shortage in the Central Valley.
- Danielle Boyer: In 2019, Ojibwe (Sault Tribe) teen Danielle Boyer created The STEAM Connection, a youth-led charity that has reached 800,000+ children – including tribal youth – with technical education that emphasizes language revitalization, robotics, ethical artificial intelligence systems, and augmented reality.
- Rea Savla & Vishesh Mehta: Zor addresses rural India’s electricity challenges with a battery sharing network, allowing farmers to rent multi-functional batteries whenever and wherever they need it — at a fraction of the cost of diesel, without the investment and reliability issues of solar.
Since 2012, the Westly Prize has been recognizing and supporting early-stage innovators who are tackling persistent community and global challenges. The award provides unrestricted funding to help these young visionaries scale their impactful solutions. Many winners have gone on to gain notable recognition from TIME Magazine, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and as Forbes” 30 Under 30” leaders. For more information about the Westly Foundation and the Westly Prize, please visit www.westly.org.
About the Westly Foundation
Founded in 2000 by Steve Westly and Anita Yu, the Westly Foundation is committed to improving the lives of at-risk children and youth in California and beyond. The foundation operates on the principle that investing in our children and youth paves the way for future success. Through traditional grantmaking and the annual Westly Prize awards, the foundation supports innovative solutions to social challenges.
