Meet Seher Taneja, innovator, researcher and entrepreneur from New Delhi, India
- PMNCH for Women, Children & Adolescents
- Apr 14, 2023
- 1 min read
Updated: Aug 21, 2023
“Indians face a myriad of challenges, ranging from health to sanitation and from transportation to the environment. Growing up in a family of doctors, I have always wanted to carry this legacy of healing and service forward through my research and innovation-driven projects. Pioneering community-driven, tech-integrated healthcare forms the bedrock of my academic leanings.
I founded “Abhigyata-Be The Rainbow In Someone’s Life,” a student-to-student awareness program on organ donation that equips them with knowledge to initiate family discussions on this forbidden topic. I contributed to health awareness through an informative website, social media platforms and webinars reaching out to almost 10,000 people across India.
Frequent school closures in Delhi due to poor air quality also led me to explore the respiratory consequences of air pollution. My study was published in Harvard’s Journal of Emerging Investigators and its abstract in British Medical Journal Paeds Open and it prompted me to contemplate our collective climate action apathy and co-author a petition on reinforcing climate literacy within the school curriculum.
The last 4 years have seen me work on a wearable device, SWAR, that converts sign language to text and speech using an app that will help in decreasing the communication barrier between signers and speakers. With only 250 certified interpreters for a population of 18 million, India is severely in need of greater social inclusion and public accessibility to resources and assistive aids.”
Do you have a story of a young person like Seher who is advocating for health and well-being? Share it online #1point8 and tag @1point8billion.
Seher Taneja’s work shows how innovation and empathy can go hand in hand. From organ donation awareness to assistive tech like SWAR, she’s turning ideas into real impact. Stories like hers fit perfectly into the kind of inspiring content we see growing on streaming and digital platforms, where young changemakers use science and creativity to solve social challenges. It’s the kind of story that reminds people what progress actually looks like.