Sloanies Making a Difference

Born at MIT, Ministry of Supply is offering courtesy interview clothing rentals for those that are not in the financial position to purchase new interview attire during these difficult financial times.  

Founder and CEO of GLYNT.AI, Martha Amram, PhD ’87, is making her technology platform available to affected MBA students who are responding to the economic and management needs of the COVID-19 crisis. GLYNT is a data extraction service powered by a unique machine learning system that delivers highly accurate data and has the potential to streamline unemployment claims and contact tracking among other processes.

Ellie Azolaty, LGO ’20, Audrey Bazerghi, LGO ’20, and Shouvik Das, LGO ’20, are seeking alumni interested in sharing stories, best practices, and lessons learned from their COVID-19 experience and impact on organizations. Topics include Leading Remotely, Employee Safety, and Supply Chain Resilience. Join your fellow alumni to hear and learn from Sloanies across industries! For more information or to get involved, fill out this 3-min survey. 

JS Bolton, LGO ’14, is a senior manager at Nissan, where the company is utilizing manufacturing and engineering expertise at their Tennessee plants to 3D print headbands and protective face shields for those working on the front lines of the COVID-19 crisis.

Benjamin Boutboul, MBA ’20, is leading the charge for Africa Takes on COVID-19,  helping to make sure that implementation, not just ideas, result from this massive effort. Part of the larger MIT COVID-19 Challenge hackathon series, Africa Takes on COVID-19 brought together over 1,250 volunteers from around the globe. In addition to posing measures for flattening the curve across the continent, hackers developed solutions to strengthen Africa's health sytem. 

Aditi Chadha, SF ’20, is working to combat the effects of COVID-19 on multiple levels. Aditi helped to pivot her family’s clothing and accessory business, 3A Clothing Company, which now uses upcycled fabrics to create designer masks. In addition to being sustainable, these masks are also inclusive, accommodating individuals who wear turbans and hearing aids. Beyond their everyday use of these masks, the manufacturing process has proven to have equally positive impact—the company is working to keep local woman tailors and artisans employed. Additionally, a portion of the revenue goes to social causes, such as providing food to those in need.

Rahul Dhanda, SF ’05, serves as co-founder, CEO, and President of Sherlock Biosciences, a biology engineering start up using CRISPR technology to deliver fast, accurate, and affordable diagnostic testing. Sherlock was granted emergency authorization by the FDA to scale and simplify their Sherlock™ CRISPR SARS-CoV-2 kit for point-of-care and in-home COVID-19 use. The test is capable of providing results within an hour of being administered.

Sheila Dodge, EMBA ’12, and general manager of genomics at The Broad Institute is helping to lead the charge in expedited testing. The Broad currently has the capacity to process approximately 2,000 coronavirus tests per day and return results within 12 hours of receiving the samples.

ResMed CEO Michael “Mick” Farrell, LGO ’98, is leading the company’s COVID-19 task force with the goal of addressing ventilator shortages by tripling production of invasive, non-invasive, and bi-level ventilators. Under Mick’s leadership, the company is also increasing production for ventilation masks, tubing, and other accessories to meet the needs of COVID-19 patients across the globe.  He details the company's plans in this interview.

During an appearance on The Today Show on March 24, Executive Chairman of Ford Motor Company Bill Ford, SF ’84, announced that Ford is producing face shields and 3D-printed masks. The company is also partnering with GE and 3M to make ventilators and air-purifying respirators.

Ford also appeared on 60 Minutes, where he shared more about the carmakers' work to produce ventilators and PPE while also sharing how he is exploring ways to get workers back on the line and keep them there.

Shuman Ghosemajumder, MBA ’02, is leading a team of faculty, students, and alumni from Stanford, MIT, and Harvard to create a global website, CoviDB, that can bring together all coronavirus-related resources from around the world.

Cornell University Lecturer in Engineering Management, Andrea Ippolito, SDM ’12, is volunteering with End Coronavirus, a group devoted to coordinating efforts between different DIY and open-source ventilators projects.

When the pandemic threatened the employees of The Beautiful People Co., LTD in South Korea, Jae-Sung Kim, SFMBA ’20, and his sister, Jee Kim, transformed the company’s suit factory into a mask production line. Their efforts resulted in Mamask, a line of scientifically-tested, 100-percent cotton masks with antibacterial copper ion fabric filters. These masks proved so popular—especially among families with young children—that local governments and brands began submitting orders. Along the way, Kim sought feedback from his colleagues at MIT Sloan, so to express his gratitude for all their help, he donated 100 masks to MIT Medical and 150 more to MIT Police.

Rahul Kulkarni, MBA ’16, is the Co-Founder and CEO of The Sukhi Project, a social enterprise that provides mental wellness services to diverse communities. The Sukhi Project recently launched a free mobile app aimed at front-line workers to provide quick, bite-sized meditations specifically adapted for healthcare shift workers. 

Led by CEO Othman Laraki, MBA ’04, genomic testing firm Color has been working with the Broad Institute to develop its tests for the coronavirus pandemic. Color is using the LAMP process to develop its testing which is a method that can be more easily automated and lends itself to broader population testing by providing results in a more efficient manner.

Instead of retirement, Doug Lowry, PhD 69, opted to write patents—some of which may have relevance to individuals working remotely during the COVID-19 epidemic. His MarpxPrivacy program for Windows is available for free through Marpx.com and BuyExtremeEncryption.com. In a time when we are online more than ever, and privacy and security are of the utmost concern, all are invited to check it out, use it, try to hack files or messages encrypted with it. Any Sloanies with feedback or questions can reach Doug at dlowry@alum.mit.edu.

A group of MIT Sloan Executive MBA students led by Dr. Ahmed Mady, EMBA ’21, have pooled their expertise and resources in the medical and textile industries to help flatten the pandemic curve by getting much needed Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to frontline healthcare workers and the general public. Dr. Mady's Egypt based textile company has partnered with three N95 mask suppliers to create face masks. Production of these masks is sustained through the online campaign Masks2Heroes.

During the initial two-week campaign, Dr. Mady raised $50,000 and delivered 10,000 KN95 and disposable masks to more than 18 hospitals while also distributing more than 3,000 fabric washable masks to initiative supporters. His second campaign launched on May 19 with the goal to raise $1 million to distribute more than 200,000 masks to frontline workers. 

Itaú Unibanco, where Ricardo Marino, MBA ’00, serves as partner and chairman of the bank’s Latin America Strategic Council, kickstarted the Todos pela Saude (All for Health) initiative with a R$1.2 billion ($250 million) donation in early 2020. In consultation with health officials at the University of Sao Paulo and Hospital Sírio-Libanês, the initiative provides public health guidance, health equipment, training, and communications to combat the spread of COVID-19 in Brazil.

Alfonso Martinez and his business partner developed Opendemic, a new app that alerts users if they have come in close proximity to a possible coronavirus case. The app aims to create a database of anonymous information on possible coronavirus cases and requests access to user location data. It also prompts users to update their health status in addition to their GPS location while respecting their privacy. 

At the beginning of the pandemic, Rhiannon Menn, MBA ’14 and founder of Good to Mama, was searching for ways to help moms and families that were impacted and food insecure, so she created Lasagna Love. What started out as her making lasagnas to deliver to families in her community has grown into a national movement, with hundreds of people all cooking and delivering meals to families in their communities.

Dr. Ronjon Nag, SM ’91 and Stanford Distinguished Careers Institute Disciplinary Fellow, spoke with NBC Bay Area about how artificial intelligence could help fight coronavirus. Dr. Nag explained how human ingenuity and technology can help us overcome the current pandemic and future illnesses. 

Michelle Park is a founding member of COVID Translate Project, a group of volunteers dedicated to translating documents published by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention into English and other languages. Their mission is to share knowledge about the worldwide fight of COVID-19. Translation was done through the synergy of crowdsourcing, technology, and like-minded bilingual volunteers.

Steve Rusckowski, SM ’84, is chairman, president, and CEO of Quest Diagnostics, the world’s largest provider of diagnostic information services is at the forefront of helping to solve the global crisis. Quest has increased its capacity to 25,000 tests per day in several labs across the country and is continuing to work to expand its efforts. Rusckowski has worked collaboratively with the federal government to respond to the national need for testing and has made his knowledge and experience available through numerous press hearings.

Salil Sethi, MBA '11, is the founder of ProsperCircle.org, a mission-driven startup that is helping people affected by COVID-19 by offering free tools, such AI-powered resume analysis, and resources for job seekers. Additionally, to help keep people informed, ProsperCircle.org has launched the “Coronavirus Near Me” tool that sends custom alerts and COVID19 updates based on thresholds people set.

Kinsa, founded by Inder Singh, MBA ’06, SM ’07, is a public health company dedicated to providing the knowledge, guidance, and tools needed to keep communities healthy. Kinsa previously announced a pair of new initiatives to help improve the United States’ ability to detect outbreaks and stop the spread of illness, including the launch of a “Health Weather Map.” This tool is powered by data from the company’s hundreds of thousands of smart thermometers across the country. 

Sonal Singh, MBA ’19, and Jim Peraino, SM ’20, are working to "bridge the gap between design and outcomes" in hospitals. The two founded Spatio Metrics in 2019, a software startup that analyzes hospital floor plans to provide actionable insights on improving patient experience and health outcomes. As employees return to work in the wake of COVID-19, Spatio has published an open-source spatial analytics tool to assist organizations with social distancing plans.

Steph Speirs, MBA ’17 and CEO/Co-Founder of Solstice, is leading her small business during a time of uncertainty and promoting the company's ongoing Ambassador programs which gives people and community organizations thousands of dollars when they tell their neighbors about solar. By leveraging the power of community solar farms, Solstice is able to bring solar power to the 80% of American households who are without access to rooftop systems while lowering their energy costs.

Hartford HealthCare, led by Chief Clinical Innovation Officer Dr. Barry Stein, EMBA ’17, is partnering with Professor Dimitris Bertsimas and other researchers in Operations and Research Analytics at MIT Sloan to develop tools for US hospitals and policymakers to combat the spread of COVID-19.

Mike Stitt, EMBA ’15 and CEO of Easy Tiger, a bakeshop and beer garden in Austin, Texas, has announced the expansion of the Community Bread Challenge to 100,000 loaves. As the pandemic unfolded in March, Easy Tiger launched an effort to bake and deliver 10,000 fresh loaves of bread to Austin-area food banks. After successfully reaching their goal in 40 days, Easy Tiger is now pledging 20,000 loaves in an effort to meet their goal of 100,000 loaves of bread baked and delivered by Labor Day 2021.