Shree Bose

At 17, she won Google’s first global science fair and had an asteroid named after her.

Shree Bose was a high school junior when her grandfather died of lung cancer.

This tragedy led her to ponder how cancer fought back against the drugs meant to kill it.

She zeroed in on cisplatin, a chemotherapy drug widely used against ovarian cancer.

The problem? Over time, cancer cells often became resistant.

In a lab at the University of North Texas Health Science Center, under the mentorship of Dr. Alakananda Basu, Shree discovered a way to counteract that resistance.

In 2011, she entered her work into the first-ever Google Science Fair.

10,000 competitors. Three winners. One grand prize.
Shree took it all.

$50,000 in scholarship money.

A trip to the Galápagos with National Geographic.

And a visit to CERN that happened to coincide with the discovery of the Higgs boson.

She presented her research to President Obama, the directors of the NIH, and audiences around the world.

TEDxWomen invited her on stage alongside the other two winners, Lauren Hodge and Naomi Shah.

NASA even honored her in the stars, naming asteroid 25178 Shreebose after her.

But Shree saw another challenge: too few kids, especially girls, were getting hands-on STEM experiences early enough to spark a lifelong passion.

In 2014, as a Harvard undergrad, she co-founded Piper Learning, Inc.

The pitch was brilliant: build physical computer engineering kits that teach kids to create technology through Minecraft’s familiar, playful interface.

The company launched on Kickstarter, raising over $280K.

It landed them in Forbes, Fast Company, and Inc.’s “Coolest College Startups” list.

Shree served as co-CEO and helped develop the curriculum, design, and marketing before leaving at the end of her undergraduate studies to pursue medicine full-time.

In 2016, she graduated from Harvard.

By that fall, she was at Duke University School of Medicine in the MD/PhD program, focusing her doctoral research on the metabolic changes ovarian cancer cells undergo when they spread to the omentum (a fat-rich abdominal layer that provides a fertile ground for tumor survival).

Working in the labs of Dr. Xiling Shen and Dr. Chris Kontos, she identified a key oxidative stress compensation mechanism that helps these cancer cells thrive in that environment.

Seven years later, in May 2023, she completed both degrees.

That same year, she was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for Science.

She matched into the University of Chicago Medical Center’s Physician Scientist Development Program, where she’s training in internal medicine while continuing her cancer research.

She’s also remained at Piper as co-CEO since 2021, expanding their impact on STEM education worldwide.

And along the way?

She’s been featured in Microsoft’s global Windows 10 campaign, met Bill Nye, been honored by Senator John Cornyn, and taken countless selfies with the kids she’s inspired.