Sneha Dave: an avid advocate

I had the privilege of meeting with Sneha Dave this week to learn more about her journey as a distinguished chronic illness advocate. Sneha is a junior at IU and has already founded 3 non-profits that have gained international interest. When she isn’t managing her organizations, Sneha also serves as a journalist for U.S. News & World Report and climbs mountains. Keep reading to learn from a woman who does it all.

Give us your “Twitter bio” or elevator pitch.

I am a chronic illness advocacy and journalism major. Chronic illness advocacy is a major I created through the individualized major program at IU. I plan on going into health economics.

I created my first non-profit in high school, formerly called the Crohn’s and Colitis Teen Times. At our height, we reached over 10,000 people around the world. After going through a rebranding phase, the Crohn’s and Colitis Teen Times is now the Crohn’s and Colitis Young Adults Network. We are in the process of selecting applications for an international fellowship program.

Last year I created Health Advocacy Summit, a different nonprofit, which is a day-long, no-cost advocacy event for students in high school and college with chronic diseases, specifically invisible conditions. We are now in three states.

I write for multiple outlets including U.S. News and World Report, work with pharmaceutical companies including Pfizer and Lilly, and travel around the nation for speaking engagements.

I climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro last winter and eventually I plan to climb the tallest peak in each continent (the 7 summits).

What projects are you currently working on?

I am currently working on three: Health Advocacy Summit, Crohn’s and Colitis Young Adults Network, and the Indiana Disability Caucus, which is a political action committee (PAC).

How did you get here? What were some of your innovative highlights?

I don’t plan too much and just do the initial steps to start my project. I start being more strategic after having something established. With Health Advocacy Summit, my highlight was being able to expand to three states including North Carolina and Texas in under a year.

My highlight with the Crohn’s and Colitis Young Adults Network was reaching over 10,000 international users, now rebranding, and launching an international fellowship program.

With the Indiana Disability Caucus, it was establishing the first disability caucus in Indiana (which is a lengthy process), as well as creating a voting option guide for people with disabilities to be distributed throughout Indiana for the midterm elections on November 6, 2018.

Could you elaborate on the Health Advocacy Summit and the work you have done for invisible illness advocacy? How did you get involved?

With the Health Advocacy Summit, we are trying to create a network to connect and empower young adults with chronic diseases. I have had ulcerative colitis since I was 6 and I recognized the need to empower people with invisible conditions. It’s difficult to empathize with someone when you can’t see their challenges.

In our first pilot summit we had a vocational rehab counselor talk about rights within the school system for young adults with invisible illnesses. Psychologists talked about emotional barriers — many people with invisible illnesses live with some form of anxiety and depression. A speaker flew in from Texas to talk about her advocacy journey. A high-level health lobbyist came to talk about his work to eliminate step therapy, or fail first, so patients have access to the medications they need. He also talked about how the attendees can get involved with policy issues that most affect them. We are currently in Indiana, North Carolina, and Texas and we want to expand to at least 5 states by the end of 2019. We are looking at New York, Arizona, or California for our next pilot locations. We also just submitted our first grant for $15,000. Recently, we confirmed that the Chief Medical Officer of Aetna Student Health will join us for our Indiana summit.

What has been the most useful entrepreneurial resource or experience at the University?

Dr. Lori Reesor, the previous dean at IU, was an amazing mentor! Also, Paul Aarstad from the Individualized Major Program has been a constant source of support and has provided really awesome guidance.

What has been the most useful entrepreneurial resource or experience outside of the University?

I work with a lot of pharmaceuticals like Pfizer and Lilly and travel quite a bit during the school year. I go to a variety of conferences, from the United Nations to digital health technology to health journalism conferences which have all given me an incredible network.

What was your favorite failure or learning experience?

With my first nonprofit, the Crohn’s and Colitis Young Adults, when we had reached over 10,000 individuals internationally I took time to step back and think through our strategy. That break was too long because we weren’t having output and we lost a lot of our audience. Consistency and doing — rather than thinking or waiting — is really important.

What’s the best advice you’ve received as an entrepreneur?

Probably to take care of my health!

What advice would you give to other entrepreneurial students?

I don’t really like giving advice because I feel like everything is a learning process and you learn from doing things yourself.

Is there anything else you would like to say to entrepreneurial students on campus?

For those of you involved with technology, when you are creating technology, accessibility for people with disabilities should be integrated in the technology from the beginning. I am a part of an organization with Jenny Lay-Flurrie, the Chief Accessibility Officer at Microsoft, who has championed this idea. She explains that rather than making accessibility for people with disabilities a second step, you must integrate it within your technology from the beginning.

Where can people find you?

People can reach out to me by emailing me at sneha@healthadvocacysummit.org and you can find me on social media @snehadave98.

Check out Sneha’s contributions to the U.S. News and & World Report here: https://www.usnews.com/topics/author/sneha-dave

Please visit www.healthadvocacysummit.org if you are interested in attending the Indiana Health Advocacy Summit!