Khaliya Aga Khan

Khaliya is a public health specialist and neuro-technologist focused on developing radical solutions to the global mental health crisis. The youngest member of The World Economic Forum's Expert Advisory on the Future of Health and Healthcare, Khaliya is also an active advocate and humanitarian.

Khaliya was the recipient of both the 2016 Middelthon-Candler Peace Prize and the 2017 Clare Booth Luce Award for International Service. It is her belief that lasting peace and prosperity can only be achieved if the fundamental requirements for health, both physical and mental, are made available to those in need.

In 2013, Khaliya co-founded Falkora, a non-for-profit mental health and neurotech initiative, as well as the soon to be released app, Tell Your Story. She is currently working on a book on the future of mental health with a particular emphasis on new modalities, such as psychedelics and neurotech.

An expert in global pandemics with a background in computer science, Khaliya sees mental health as among the most crucial social issues of the coming century.

In addition to campaigning to expand the definition of mental illness so future funding can catch up with the scope of the problem, the organization is exploring how new technologies can leapfrog outdated approaches to mental well-being. Tech innovations, she believes, could not only reach a wider group of people in need within the U.S., but also reduce costs of mental health tools worldwide, sparking a necessary paradigm shift in mental health care.

Falkora’s initiative helps put cross disciplinary approaches to mental health at the top of the political agenda in the United States and internationally. Actively involved with numerous social ventures, Khaliya is an investor in, and head of strategic partnerships for, Guardian Circle, an app that uses the power of crowdsourcing and social networks to keep individuals safe.

Khaliya is also on the advisory committee for NeuroLaunch, the leading accelerator for neuroscience apps and Co-executive Producer for Breadhead, an explosive documentary about the looming worldwide epidemic of diet-related neurodegenerative disease.

A graduate with honors of Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Khaliya was on the board of the world’s largest private development network from 2006 through 2010 – work that took her to over 30 countries as a health specialist, and as part of diplomatic delegations throughout Africa and Asia.

Prior, Khaliya was part of a research team focused on infectious disease and national security at the Council on Foreign Relations, and worked to negotiate lower-cost opportunistic infections drugs for YRG Care AIDS hospital in India.

After receiving her B.A. with honors in European Studies and International Affairs at New York University, Khaliya worked two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Bulgaria during the country’s rocky post-Communism transition period.

One of the first members of the Board of Directors for Venture for America, Khaliya continues to sit on their entrepreneur board, and is also on the advisory boards of post-natal care nonprofit Embrace, Nexus Global Youth Summit and Charity Miles, an app that allows amateur runners and bikers to turn their workouts into fundraisers.

Khaliya is involved with the Clinton Global Initiative LEAD program for young change makers and has spoken on health issues at The White House’s United States of Women Summit, The World Economic Forum Family Business Summit, The PSI Maverick Collective Meeting at the Palace of Their Royal Highnesses the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess of Norway, The Near Future Summit, The American Public Health Association Annual Meeting, Clinton Global Initiative University, Nexus Global Youth Summit, Women’s Entrepreneurship Day, The NOVUS Summit at the United Nations General Assembly, TEDxBeaconStreet, Katapult, Wired Health and various others.