NEW YORK, NY / September 22, 2025 – Samvid Philanthropies, a philanthropic foundation dedicated to improving lives and advancing society, has announced the names of the twenty individuals selected into the fifth cohort of Samvid Scholars. The Samvid Scholars program empowers mission-driven graduate students with exceptional track records of impact to lead transformative change for society through leadership development, community, and financial support. The program was founded in 2021.
The twenty mission-driven Scholars in the 2025 cohort were selected from a pool of over 1,000 applicants. This fifth cohort of Scholars includes outstanding young leaders already making significant contributions across a range of pressing issues including economic policy, environmental stewardship, community health, and democratic resilience.
This summer, the 2025 cohort came together, alongside our 2024 class of Scholars, at our annual Samvid Scholars Conference. They engaged in team-building activities, attended seminars co-designed and facilitated by the Aspen Institute to explore key questions of leadership, service, and purpose, and participated in Scholar-led discussions on how they can drive change for society individually and together. The conference serves as an introduction to smaller discussion groups that they will participate in during the year to explore who they are and what matters most.
During their two years as active scholars, students receive up to $100,000 in funding for their graduate programs, engage in leadership development programming, and participate in community events with other Scholars and alumni.
The application for the next cohort of Samvid Scholars will open in early 2026.
Full List of 2025 Scholars:
Akhil Rajan, JD/PhD at Yale University
Alexander Posner, JD at Yale University
Alexandra Potter, MD at Harvard University
Benjamin Lalani, MD at Harvard University
Brenda Cachay Gutierrez, JD at Yale University
Brian Wee, MD at Harvard University
Carissa Chen, JD/PhD at Yale University
Carter Harms, MEM at Yale University
Elizabeth Carson Eckhard, JD/PhD at Stanford University
Gil Damon, JD at Yale University
Isaac Longobardi, MD at Stanford University
Isaac Sebenius, MD at Harvard University
Joanna Papadakis, MD at Harvard University
Jonah Keller, MD at University of Pennsylvania
Kashyap Sreeram, MD/PhD at University of Pennsylvania
Katherine Hu, MBA/MD at Stanford University
Marco Balestri, JD at Harvard University
Nikki Apana, MPP/MD at Harvard University and University of California San Francisco
Shreyas Hallur, MD at Harvard University
Sydney Johnson, MPP at University of California Berkeley
