Max Kopp's Vision for Transforming Type 1 Diabetes Care Through Youth Innovation

Max Kopp, the 17-year-old Founder and Executive Director of the Kopp Foundation for Diabetes (KFD), is leading a revolutionary movement to reimagine Type 1 Diabetes care by placing young voices at the center of innovation and community action. Following the foundation’s successful inaugural Impact Night Conference, which brought together distinguished board members, executive leadership, and students from universities and high schools nationwide, Kopp’s vision of youth-led healthcare transformation is gaining momentum. In this exclusive interview, we explore how this remarkable young leader is building bridges between passionate student advocates and experienced industry experts to create lasting systemic change in diabetes care.

1. What inspired you to found the Kopp Foundation for Diabetes at such a young age, and how do you balance the responsibility of leading a nonprofit while still being a high school student?

Max Kopp: 

My inspiration came from something very close to home. I grew up watching family members struggle with diabetes and I saw how exhausting and isolating the daily routine of monitoring, testing, and treatment could be. At first, I wanted to understand the science behind it, which led me into independent research. That curiosity turned into real discoveries. I filed patents on new materials for non-invasive glucose monitoring, founded VitaSensor to develop wearable health technologies, and earned recognition through national awards including becoming a finalist in global competitions such as the MIT Solve Global Health Challenge, the 2024 S.-T. Yau Science Award, the 62th National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (2024 NJSH), and 2025 Philly Inno’s “25 under 25.”

These experiences taught me two lessons. The first is that young people are capable of contributing to real innovation in healthcare. The second is that there was no platform where students could come together to lead change on a national scale. That is why I created the Kopp Foundation for Diabetes: to give my generation a voice in shaping the future of Type 1 diabetes care.

Balancing the work of running a nonprofit with being a high school student is challenging, but I am not doing it alone. KFD has an incredible board of directors and a strong operations team who guide and support our efforts. What drives me is knowing that every hour I put into this work is not just about building an organization. It is about building a movement that can transform lives.

2. During Impact Night, you emphasized that “KFD was created to give young people a voice in shaping the future of diabetes care.” What specific gaps did you identify in current Type 1 diabetes care that young people are uniquely positioned to address?

Max Kopp:

When I looked at the current landscape of Type 1 diabetes care, three major gaps stood out to me. The first is representation. Young people who live with or care about T1D are rarely invited into the room where decisions about research priorities, technology, or policy are made. The second is communication. Patients and families often feel the system talks at them, using technical language and rigid systems that do not reflect lived experience. The third is innovation equity. Breakthrough technologies exist, but they are not reaching communities quickly or affordably enough.

At Impact Night we witnessed what makes this movement so powerful. Student leaders from across the country, many of them studying medicine, nursing, and biomedical science, came forward with concrete initiatives they are already preparing to launch. Some spoke about organizing awareness campaigns on their campuses, others outlined plans for policy advocacy and fundraising to support T1D research, and several proposed partnerships with local clinics and hospitals.

What struck me most was that these students were not just curious observers. They are future doctors, nurses, scientists, and public health leaders who want to start making an impact now. Their commitment to Type 1 diabetes advocacy shows that the next generation is not waiting to be invited into the conversation. They are ready to shape it.

This is why I believe young people are uniquely positioned to fill the gaps in T1D care. We have the energy to mobilize peers, the perspective to understand what families are going through, and the drive to connect science, technology, and community in ways that traditional healthcare structures often miss. Seeing students from coast to coast stand up with that level of passion confirmed for me that KFD is not just an organization. It is the beginning of a nationwide movement for change.

3. Your foundation has assembled an impressive board of directors with decades of expertise across governance, science, education, and global partnerships. How do you ensure that youth leadership remains at the forefront while leveraging this experienced guidance?

Max Kopp:

From the very beginning I wanted KFD to prove that young leaders could sit at the center of real healthcare change. At the same time, I recognized the importance of having experienced mentors and advisors to help guide us. That is why we built a board that combines both. Our directors bring backgrounds in medicine, global health, education, and nonprofit governance, but their role is not to take the lead away from students. Their role is to amplify and strengthen the initiatives that young people are already driving.

Every KFD program begins with a student idea. Whether it is a Youth Ambassador proposing an awareness campaign, a university chapter planning its first fundraising event, or a group of high school leaders designing outreach to local schools, the direction comes from young people. Our board then provides the knowledge, connections, and support to make those ideas sustainable and scalable. This structure ensures that youth leadership is always at the forefront, while the wisdom of our directors ensures we deliver real and lasting results.

4. The Youth Ambassador program is set to give middle school, high school, and college students the chance to become community leaders. What does successful youth leadership look like in the context of diabetes advocacy, and how do you plan to measure the impact of these young ambassadors?

Max Kopp:

For us, youth leadership is about turning passion into measurable impact. Every ambassador and chapter has clear goals. In their first months, they are expected to host an interest meeting, recruit a small core team, launch a fundraising page, and run their first awareness event on campus or in their community. By the end of their first semester, we want to see chapters deliver at least 3 events that educate peers about Type 1 diabetes, and begin outreach to a local school, hospital, or community group.

Already, we are seeing this structure come to life. At UCLA and UCSD, ambassadors are working to build partnerships with faculty advisors and medical student organizations. At Pitt, student leaders are planning their first awareness campaign with a local children’s hospital. At UMass Amherst, the chapter president is focusing on growing a volunteer base that can run both fundraising and advocacy events. These are not just symbolic roles. They are structured opportunities for students to gain leadership experience while making a tangible difference.

We measure success in two ways. The first is quantitative: dollars raised, events hosted, partnerships formed, and peers recruited. The second is developmental: whether students leave our program with the confidence, skills, and networks to continue as advocates for health equity. When a high school student who starts by leading a small awareness event graduates ready to pursue a career in healthcare, that is a lasting impact.

The larger vision is to build a cross-national network of ambassadors who are not just leading local initiatives but also learning from one another. By creating a community that connects middle school students, college leaders, and medical students, KFD is showing that youth leadership in diabetes advocacy can be both deeply personal and nationally coordinated.

5. Looking ahead, you’ve mentioned that KFD aims to build partnerships with hospitals, schools, and universities while creating a scalable and replicable model of impact. What does success look like for the Kopp Foundation in the next five years, and how do you envision transforming the broader healthcare landscape?

Max Kopp:

Our five-year plan is organized around three pillars: T1D patient outreach, research and cutting-edge innovation in T1D, and scholarships and internships for Youth Ambassadors.

Pillar 1. T1D patient outreach.
We will build a national network of student-led outreach teams that partner with schools, clinics, and community groups to deliver education, navigation, and referral pathways. Targets by year five include 50 university chapters and 100 high school chapters, with formal collaborations at 20 hospitals or clinics. Chapters will run recurring campus events, community workshops, and peer support programs, reaching at least 50,000 people with credible T1D information and connecting thousands to screening resources and qualified care.

Pillar 2. Research and cutting-edge innovation in T1D.
KFD will help young people contribute to real science while keeping innovation accountable to patient needs across the full care continuum. Our focus areas are detection and screening, monitoring, treatment and decision support, and regeneration and stem cell science.

• Detection and screening. Support projects that improve early detection and risk stratification, including optical, biochemical, and digital phenotyping approaches, and school or community screening models that are practical and equitable.
• Monitoring. Advance non-invasive or less invasive monitoring, data interoperability, and patient-centered tools that reduce burden for families.
• Treatment and decision support. Back studies that integrate devices, decision-support algorithms, closed-loop systems, medication adherence tools, and behavioral supports that improve time-in-range and quality of life.
• Regeneration and stem cell science. Facilitate student participation in collaborations on islet cell transplantation, beta-cell regeneration, stem-cell–derived islets, and immunomodulation, with strong ethics and access frameworks.

Five-year research targets include funding at least 10 seed grants, participating in three multi-site pilots with academic or clinical partners, supporting at least two projects in detection, two in monitoring, two in treatment optimization, and one or more collaborations in regeneration or stem cell work. We will help students co-author five or more peer-reviewed papers or conference presentations. Every funded project will include patient and family advisors from the start.

Pillar 3. Scholarships and internships for Youth Ambassadors.
We will provide paid internships with partner labs, hospitals, and vetted nonprofits, along with need-based scholarships that keep students engaged in leadership and research. Targets include training 500 ambassadors nationwide, placing at least 200 students in paid internships, and awarding 100 scholarships. A national mentorship network will connect high school ambassadors with college leaders and with clinicians and scientists on our board.

Across all three pillars, we will build a sustainable funding base and report transparent outcomes each year. Our goal is to raise at least five million dollars over five years through student campaigns, philanthropy, and corporate partnerships. If hospitals, schools, and policymakers begin to look to students as partners in shaping T1D care, and if our chapters, pilots, and scholarships continue to open real pathways into healthcare, then KFD will have proven that youth leadership can transform the system.

As Max stated during Impact Night, “KFD stands at the intersection of youth leadership, scientific innovation, and community empowerment… Impact Night was just the beginning of a journey that will redefine how diabetes care is shaped—and who gets to shape it.” With students from coast to coast already stepping forward as Youth Ambassadors and a robust framework for hospital and school partnerships in development, the Kopp Foundation for Diabetes represents more than just another nonprofit—it’s a blueprint for how the next generation can drive meaningful change in healthcare. As this remarkable 17-year-old leader continues to bridge youthful passion with systemic influence, his work may well redefine not just diabetes care, but youth leadership in healthcare innovation.

For more information about the Kopp Foundation for Diabetes, visit: www.koppfoundation.org