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Inspiring spirits: These eight healthcare innovators’ minds are ‘changing the world’

When we say the healthcare industry is changing the world, we mean it. The Muse, […]

When we say the healthcare industry is changing the world, we mean it. The Muse, in its quest to find “50 fearless minds changing the world,” named nearly 20 percent who are healthcare industry thought leaders.

The Muse and its company founder, Samir Arora, are in the running to be the Wall Street Journal‘s startup of the year. As of this posting, the company is ranked second out of 24 remaining startups. Since the company is aimed at helping people ignite their career passion and answer that big question — “What do I want to do with my life?” — it’s fitting they come up with such a list.

Here are the eight healthcare leaders and entrepreneurial spirits we might take some inspiration from (ranked as they were on The Muse):

1. Jake Andraka

This kid (yes, kid–he’s only 15 years old) came up with a way to detect cancer after a classmate died of pancreatic cancer. He’s won the Intel International Science Fair and now is among the beloved Colbert Report guests. (To watch his clip, click here.)

10. Yael Cohen

When someone you love dies of cancer, or really even gets it, there’s the one thing most of us think: “F*** cancer.” So right. We try to be eloquent and wise and move forward without crumbling, but there it is. When Cohen’s mom died of the disease, she founded a nonprofit by that name and now, her title is Chief Cancer F*cker.

From the company website:

We’re on a mission to save lives by spreading one simple message: 90 percent OF CANCER IS CURABLE IN STAGE ONE!

We are a generation with incredible technology at our disposal. Let’s use it to educate through storytelling to change the way people think, talk and act about cancer.

F*** yeah!

28. Aimee Mullins

Mullins had to have both of her legs amputated at an early age. Now she’s a Paralympic athlete, an actress, an advocate and she gives moving speeches on prosthetic innovation. Listen to her TED Talk on “The Opportunity of Adversity.”

30. Josh Nesbitt

A Stanford fellow, Nesbitt’s taking mHealth to the masses. His startup Mobile Medic is aiming to bring quality healthcare to underserved areas. “Building on early successes in Malawi, we’ve since helped more than fifty organizations use technology to improve health services in more than twenty countries,” according to the company website.

36. Hosain Rahman

Leader of wearables and mHealth, the Jawbone founder and CEO was no surprise on this list. Check out more about Jawbone here.

38. Jessica Richman

Founder and CEO of uBiome, also no surprise. The company that helps people understand their personal microbiome to be well also launched the largest successful “citizen science” crowdfunding campaign ever–raising more than $350,000 on Indiegogo. Click here to watch her speak at TEDMed.

45. Laura Stachel

This thought leader does what some of us nerds dream of: She merged green tech and medtech to help save the planet. We Care Solar co-founder Stachel (along with her husband) has developed “solar suitcases” to allow midwives and docs to charge necessary items (such as headlamps and walkie-talkies) for caregivers who don’t have access to reliable electricity. More on this amazing healthcare innovation here.

46. Halle Tecco

The mind behind RockHealth — the full-service seed fund that meshes healthcare and technology. But Muse isn’t the only one to list her as one to watch. CNN named her one of the 12 entrepreneurs reinventing healthcare.

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