As a human rights lawyer, Jaykumar Menon started at Columbia and became an attorney for the Center for Constitutional Rights. He moved through various roles at the Center for Sustainable Development Law, McKinsey, and the X Prize Foundation. He cofounded the India Nutrition Initiative in 2015 and then the Open Source Pharma Foundation in 2016.
Why They Made the Worthy 100: In response to the woeful state of healthcare around the globe, including medical research, the Open Source Pharma Foundation (OSPF) is building a platform where scientists can much more easily access data and technology tools to help them in their research. They can also share their discoveries immediately, which will help foster and speed up research across disparate projects. OSPF is helping lead the charge for patent-free ultra-low-cost universal vaccines that would protect against pandemics and other diseases. Â In 2022, a two-year effort by of Harvard Medical School/Mass General Hospital found that a century-old tuberculosis vaccine had a 92 percent efficacy rate against COVID-19. This is even more remarkable since the vaccine is accessible to billions globally and only costs 15 cents a dose.Â
