WebMD Announces 2017 Health Hero Awards Recipients

NEW YORK, Nov. 7, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- WebMD, the leading source of health information, today announced the winners of its 2017 Health Hero Awards. In its eleventh year, the awards honor individuals who are working to improve health and wellness by changing the healthcare landscape, meeting a health challenge and giving back to others. This year's winners are Chloe Fernandez, Kavya Kopparapu, Lauren Singer and Donna Magid, MD, MEd.

To learn more about the winners of the 2017 WebMD Health Hero Awards, visit www.webmd.com/healthheroes.

WebMD's editorial team, composed of board-certified healthcare professionals and award-winning journalists, selects the recipients of the annual award. This year, WebMD will bestow this honor on a new generation of Health Heroes -- one young person under the age of 21 in each of the following categories: Investigator, Advocate and Inventor. WebMD will also present a new healthcare professional-focused award to the Medscape Mentor of the Year, chosen by Medscape's team of editors. The 2017 WebMD Health Heroes are:

    --  Chloe Fernandez, Advocate At just 10 years old, Chloe Fernandez is a
        published author, reaching and teaching people of all ages about primary
        ciliary dyskinesia (PCD). At age 6, Chloe was diagnosed with PCD, a rare
        genetic disease that damages cilia, hair-like structures that sweep
        mucus out of the lungs. PCD builds up mucus, causing breathing problems
        and repeated lung infections. Living with PCD has meant major life
        changes for the 6th grader. Fernandez is home-schooled to avoid exposing
        her to the kinds of infections that used to land her in the hospital.
        During one of those hospital visits, she and her mother went to the
        library to check out a book on PCD, but there were none to be found.
        That is when Chloe decided to write her own book. With help from the
        Make-A-Wish Foundation, Fernandez published PCD Has Nothing on Me! She's
        donated the proceeds to Make-A-Wish and the PCD Foundation.
    --  Kavya Kopparapu, Inventor Seventeen year-old Kavya Kopparapu has shown
        her dedication to improving health and wellness within her community and
        beyond by creating medical devices, which help patients and healthcare
        providers overcome unique challenges. Last year, Kopparapu invented
        Eyeagnosis, a 3-D printed lens system and mobile app. The device snaps a
        photo of the retina and analyzes it with artificial intelligence to
        diagnose diabetic retinopathy, a diabetes complication that can lead to
        blindness, without the need for an extensive eye exam. Eyeagnosis isn't
        Kopparapu's first invention. During her freshman year of high school,
        she developed the MediKey mobile app, which lets EMTs quickly and
        securely pull medical information from unconscious patients'
        smartphones.
    --  Lauren Singer, Investigator Growing up, Lauren Singer thought her older
        sister, Jodie, was just a little quirky, but she later learned Jodie has
        autism, a developmental disability that affects her communication and
        social skills. When Singer was in sixth grade, she volunteered with
        Sunday/Funday, an enrichment program at the Jewish Community Center in
        Scarsdale, NY, for kids like Jodie with developmental disabilities.
        Through her volunteer work, Singer became more aware of what it means to
        live with autism and was inspired to pursue treatments for the
        condition. After her sophomore year of high school, Singer spent the
        summer in the lab of autism researcher Joseph Buxbaum, PhD, at Mount
        Sinai School of Medicine. She joined a team of scientists who were
        testing insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) as an autism treatment. The
        following summer, she took part in another study using EEG (a test that
        measures the brain's electrical activity) to diagnose an autism subtype,
        Phelan-McDermid syndrome. Singer continues to pursue treatments as a
        freshman at Yale University studying perceptive cognitive science and is
        an exemplary example of a health hero determined to identify a gap in
        knowledge and gather information on a given topic of health in new ways
        that may lead to a discovery to improve patient's lives.
    --  Donna Magid, MD, MEd, Mentor of the Year In addition to her joint
        appointments as professor of radiology, orthopedic surgery, and
        functional anatomy at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and
        Director, JHU SOM Horizontal Strand in Diagnostic Imaging, Dr. Magid is
        affectionately known as a mentor to countless medical students in search
        of advice. Dr. Magid knows firsthand the value of mentors, having had
        several people who mentored her in medical school and helped change the
        direction of her career. She in turn is now a constant presence in her
        students' lives from day one of medical school until they leave for
        their residency. In addition, Dr. Magid has launched two computer-based
        tools to help her students succeed. TeamRads is a website compendium of
        radiology resources, and Apps of Steel steers students through the
        residency application process.

"This year's Health Hero awards recipients are an amazing group of individuals who are impacting the lives of so many through their insights, courage, and perseverance," said Kristy Hammam, Editor in Chief and SVP for WebMD. "We are proud to honor the new generation of Health Heroes who are meeting health and medical challenges head-on and to those who help guide and grow others within the medical community."

WebMD's Health Heroes will each receive a $25,000 donation from WebMD to his or her cause and will be featured in the January issue of WebMD Magazine. Special invited guests will join WebMD to honor and celebrate this year's winners on January 22, 2018, in New York City.

You can read more about past WebMD Health Heroes at www.webmd.com/healthheroes.

About WebMD

WebMD Health Corp. is the leading provider of health information services, serving patients, physicians, health care professionals, employers, and health plans through our public and private online portals, mobile platforms, and health-focused publications. The WebMD Health Network includes WebMD Health, Medscape, MedicineNet, eMedicineHealth, RxList, OnHealth, Medscape Education, and other owned WebMD sites.

WebMD®, Medscape®, CME Circle®, Medpulse®, eMedicine®, MedicineNet®, theheart.org®, and RxList® are among the trademarks of WebMD Health Corp. or its subsidiaries.

WebMD Health Corp. was acquired by Internet Brands in September 2017 and is a key company in the Internet Brands Health vertical.

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