We figured Ruchi Shah would have a bright future. Throughout the last few years, she was regularly honored for her academic success and research.
Last year’s valedictorian at Sachem High School North, Shah is a freshman at Stony Brook University, studying in the prestigious Scholars for Medicine program.
Recently, she was nominated for the Yahoo Women Who Shine contest which recognizes women who are making a difference in their community or the world.
Shah said the basis of her nomination was her work in creating an all-natural mosquito repellent. She is in the category of entrepreneurs. The competition is open to the public vote and the woman with the most overall votes wins $10,000.
“This contest means a lot to me personally,” she said via email, “but it also is an opportunity to take my repellent to the next step in the patenting process so that ultimately I will be able to distribute the repellents to reduce the prevalence of mosquito transmitted diseases.”
According to the text for the competition on Yahoo, Shah was deeply moved by a trip to India where she saw a long line of people waiting for treatment for mosquito transmitted diseases.
Yahoo wrote that while working independently as a high school student, she built a mosquito test chamber and after years of experimenting with extracts, created a novel all-natural mosquito repellent at the age of 17.
“Her repellent is the first to both neutralize attractive components in perspiration and mask the scent of human sweat,” the competition page reads. “Besides its effectiveness, her repellent is cost effective so that it can be accessible to a global population.”
Shah said she is in the process of patenting her repellent and hopes to globally market it, and plans on using a part of the profit to donate repellents to developing countries.
To vote, click on the link below, log in using a Yahoo, Facebook, or Gmail account, click on her picture again and hit the vote button! You can vote once a day per account.
VOTE NOW! Click here to vote for Ruchi Shah
-Words by Chris R. Vaccaro / Photo courtesy Shah family