Forbes this week released its annual "30 Under 30 in Healthcare" list, which includes biological researchers, entrepreneurs, physician s, and PhD students under 30 years of age who are "tackling health care issues at every scale."

New infographic: State of the health care workforce

How Forbes decided who made the list

Each year, Forbes accepts open nominations online for its 30 under 30 list. Forbes' editorial team—assisted by recommendations from respected investors, executives, and entrepreneurs—then narrows the candidate pool to about 60 finalists.

The final 30 are selected by expert judges in the field. This year's 30 under 30 health care list was finalized by four health care industry leaders:

• Trevor Martin, cofounder and CEO of Mammoth Biosciences;
• Helen Torley, president and CEO of Halozyme Therapeutics;
• Denise Hinton, chief scientist at FDA; and
• Robert Nelsen, cofounder and managing director of ARCH Venture Partners.

Forbes' 30 under 30 in health care

This year's list honors the following 30 trailblazers in the health care industry:

• Chloe Alpert, 28, cofounder of Medinas, a company that provides an online marketplace for hospitals to buy or sell pre-owned medical equipment;
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• Joey Azofeifa, 29, founder of Arpeggio Bio, which uses an automated system to help researchers and pharmaceutical companies determine how drugs will affect patients' biological networks;
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• Erica Barnell, 29, cofounder and chief science officer of Geneoscopy, a clinical-stage diagnostic company that analyzes RNA for early detection of colorectal cancer;
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• Catharine Bowman, 21, who at age 14 discovered a pharmacological agent that could treat lymphedema and, in 2016, became the youngest board director for the Alberta Lymphedema Association;
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• Mark Fayngersh, 26, and Ilya Vakhutinsky, 27, who cofounded CareSwitch. The company's health care employment platform helps caregivers get hired and paid in one platform;
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• Ashley Moy, 25, and Jason Troutner, 25, who cofounded the medical device company Cast21, which developed a lightweight, waterproof web sleeve that can be used in place of a traditional cast for broken bones;
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• Rumen Hristov, 26, and Zachary Kabelac, 29, cofounders of Emerald Innovations, which created a home sensor that uses radio waves to measure a user's sleep behavior, heart rate, respiration, and movement through walls without touching the patient;
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• Jean Fan, 28, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University who uses computational methods to identify the importance of cellular spatial context in cancer;
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• Evan Feinberg, 28, and Ben Sklaroff, 27, cofounders of Genesis Therapeutics, who developed a platform that can identify new drug targets using a neural network;
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• Samantha Gerson, 26, who founded UnBroken, which offers free legal and therapeutic services to more than 800 survivors of conversion therapy and institutional abuse;
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• Annette Grotheer, 29, founder of The Shop Docs, which provides preventive health care screenings in four states for black men while they're in line for a haircut;
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• Bobby Brooke Herrera, 29, cofounder and chief scientific officer for E25Bio, who developed diagnostic tools for Zika, Dengue, and Ebola. Now, Herrera is developing more rapid diagnostic tests for patients in low-income countries;
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• Zaamin Hussain, 26, a clinical researcher at Harvard University, who uses advanced technology to provide prosthetic limbs and other services for people with physical disabilities. Hussain has also worked to provide low-cost prosthetics to amputees in developing countries;
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• Joe Kahn, 24, and Yasyf Mohamedali, 24, for cofounding Karuna Health—a communication platform that connects high-risk patients with their care team, allows caseworkers to coordinate care for users, and updates patients' EHRs—which their caseworkers can access at any time;
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• Arthur Kuan, 29, CEO of Cold Genesys, which uses genetically modified viruses to treat cancer. Since becoming CEO, Kuan has lead clinical trials of the company's treatment for bladder cancer;
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• Dean Travers, 23, and Scott Xiao, 21, cofounded Luminopia, which uses "cinematic medicine" to treat child patients. The company's first product was a virtual reality treatment for lazy eye that is currently being studied at 20 hospitals;
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• Rainier Mallol, 28, cofounder of AIME, who used AI to predict outbreaks of Dengue and other infectious diseases before they occur;
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• Janel Nour-Omid, 27, cofounder of Vitalacy, a technology platform that enables wearable devices to track hospital workflow and remind doctors to wash their hands as a means of preventing infections;
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• Kunal Parikh, 29, a research associate at Johns Hopkins University, who leads a team of researchers who identify biomedical treatments and solutions for patients' medical needs. Parikh also founded Eyedea Medical, which improves access to corneal transplants;
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• Bryan Patenaude, 29, an economist and assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University, who researches economic interventions for diseases like HIV/AIDS;
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• Doug Bernstein, 29, and Jamie Quinterno, 29, cofounders of PECA Labs, a company that develops heart devices that can be adjusted in children without invasive surgery;
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• Vijay Ramani, 29, a principal investigator at the University of California-San Francisco who developed a technique that uses RNA sequencing to examine the effects of combination drug treatment and nutrient limitations in some cancers;
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• Sana Raoof, 29, who performs research at Harvard University to reduce the impact of tobacco-related diseases in the United States. Raoof's research has led to changes in smoking laws in multiple jurisdictions;
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• Zachariah Reitano, 28, founded RO, a telehealth company that offers three digital clinics for men's health, women's health, and substance use disorder;
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• Eva Sadej, 28, who founded Floss Bar to provide employees with dental care at their workplaces across the United States;
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• Rob Mannino, 28, and Erika Tyburski, 29, founded Sanguina to help diagnose patients with anemia. Using a drop of blood, their product changes color to reflect a person's hemoglobin level;
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• Jessica Schleider, 29, assistant professor at Stony Brook University, who conducts research that focuses on treating mental health disorders in teens and children;
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• Lea Hachigian, 29, and Tomasz Kula, 29, are cofounders of TScan Therapeutics, which has a platform that detects cancer targets and T cell receptors that can be uses for immunology treatments;
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• Cameron Turtle, 29, chief business officer of Eidos Therapeutics, who is helping the company develop biotech treatments for rare diseases; and
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• Carolyn Yarina, 29, who cofounded Sisu Global and developed a device called Hemafuse which addresses chronic blood shortages for blood transfusions by replacing or augmenting donor blood.

Health care-adjacent honorees

Other 30 under 30 honorees who have done trailblazing work in health care who are not on the 30 Under 30 in Healthcare list include:

• Balkees Abderrahman, 28, a PhD candidate at the University of Leeds, who is conducting research to explore how hormones can treat certain types of cancer by triggering cell death;
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• Daniel Almeida, 28, a PhD candidate at Douglas Mental Health University Institute, who is researching what happens to the brains of children who suffered abuse and how it impacts their mental health as adults;
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• Jason Chen, cofounder of Verge Genomics, whose research uses AI and machine learning to find drug targets for neurodegenerative disease treatments;
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• Stefano Daniele, 29, a PhD candidate at Yale School of Medicine, whose research revealed its possible to decrease cell death in cases of brain death;
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• Siddharth Krishnan, 28, a postdoctoral researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who is developing "wearable sensors and implantable devices for drug deliver," such as tattoo-like rubber skin sensors "that can detect a variety of health indicators" when applied to skin;
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• Ann Lin, 23, a PhD candidate at Stanford, who used gene-editing technology to discover that a cancer drug was not working due to a side effect—a finding that is leading to new processes that are better able to ascertain whether proposed cancer treatments are working as designed; 
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• Emma Pierson, 28, a PhD candidate at Stanford, who is using AI in a variety of applications, including projects aimed at curbing racial discrimination among police and improving cancer treatments;
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• Derek Platt, a PhD candidate at Washington University in St. Louis, whose microbiology research on Zika is being used for diagnosis and treatment around the world; and
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• Brian Sweis, 29, a PhD candidate at University of Minnesota, who is researching how to rewire memories in the brain through surgery to determine how psychiatric disorders impact decision-making (Forbes' 30 Under 30 in Healthcare List, accessed 12/4; Forbes' 30 under 30 in Science List, accessed 12/4; Rosenbaum/Knapp, Forbes, 12/3).