Anna Young

Anna Young, CEO of MakerHealth, has established herself as a leader in fostering innovation in healthcare through the development of makerspaces within hospital environments. As the co-founder of MakerNurse, which is supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, she champions the use of rapid prototyping tools to enhance the intrinsic problem-solving capabilities of nurses and other frontline medical staff. Her belief that anyone, given the right tools, can develop devices that heal has driven her work at MIT's Little Devices Lab, where she also serves as a lecturer.

Her initiatives have led to the integration of DIY technologies in healthcare, enabling medical professionals to create customized and cost-effective solutions alongside their patients. These Medical Maker Spaces, as Young has designated them, facilitate not only the creation of health technology but also a collaborative environment between providers and patients. Moreover, MakerHealth, under Young's leadership, has been pivotal in promoting 3D printing, laser cutting, and sensor technologies in hospital settings, thereby expanding the scope of user innovation in medical device fabrication.

Anna Young's contributions to healthcare innovation have been recognized widely. She has been named one of the "Most Creative People in Business" by Fast Company and a "Top Health Innovator Under 35" by LinkedIn. Her insights into democratized medical fabrication have made her a sought-after speaker at prominent forums including TEDMED, Wired Health, and various leading medical centers. Through her talks, she continues to advocate for empowering nurses, paramedics, and other medical personnel to engage directly in the innovation and fabrication of smart medical devices, which has been especially critical in addressing challenges such as creating respiratory circuits for COVID-19 patients.