For as long as he can remember, Vihaan Choudhary has loved watching sports, recalling fondly the weekends spent with his dad in front of the TV to catch the latest football game. By the time he was seven years old, he implored his parents to play, though despite their shared enthusiasm for watching, the conversation did not go as young Choudhary initially planned. 

“We kind of had this discussion then about all the risks and injuries and detrimental things that can happen, especially in a contact sport like football. That’s really what sparked my interest, my inability to play right then,” Choudhary said. “This discussion with my parents kind of opened my eyes to something that I really hadn’t been paying attention to before. I started observing player injuries and sports medicine on the field.”

Choudhary’s interest in injury prevention and sports medicine grew throughout middle school. With guidance from a teacher, he wrote a review paper about the history of sports medicine and some of the current issues that need to be fixed, though it wasn’t until personal tragedy struck that this passion would be taken to the next level. 

“My grandfather suffered a fall and a pretty severe brain bleed. That was a really, really scary moment,” Choudhary said. “But thanks to a phenomenal neurosurgery team, he was able to be saved. They were able to perform the operation just in time. It was a miracle. Having that personal experience allowed me to not only empathize with some of these athletes that I see on the field, empathize with their family, but it also got me interested in specifically traumatic brain injury prevention and neuroscience within sports.”

Over the past few years, Choudhary has pursued an independent research project working to develop a more protective and affordable fluid-based helmet layer using a shear thickening fluid like oobleck that thickens, becoming more solid, when force is increased.

“It started out with egg drop experiments in my basement,” Choudhary said. “(Then) I poured the oobleck, the sheer thickening fluid, into a Ziploc bag and duct taped it, then put that in a bike helmet and dropped it down my stairwell. That pilot project led me into collaborating with Rawlings, actually, and being able to test this layer and finding new strategies like vacuum sealing. I was able to get a standardized layer earlier this year, in early 2025.”

Choudhary has since presented his findings at two different national medical conferences and at the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium, where he placed first in Missouri and in the top 10 nationally.

Wanting to “really be able to make a meaningful change in (his) community,” Choudhary went on to found the Sports Medicine Channel on YouTube with the purpose of educating and advocating for sports injury prevention. 

“I absolutely love connecting with people who are just as dedicated, passionate about this kind of thing. I think that’s really the most rewarding part,” Choudhary said.

Choudhary’s desire to act locally persisted, leading to the founding of BrainShield, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to raise money and donate helmets to in-need school teams and sports organizations in the St. Louis community. 

“I wanted to help young athletes who may not have access to quality equipment. I thought that was just so important, to really make sure that we have equity in sports medicine and sports injury prevention, especially for something like brain injuries, which can be detrimental for young athletes down the line, because young people’s adolescent brains are still developing,” Choudhary said. 

Since its founding a little over a year ago, BrainShield has raised its initial goal of $5,000. The funds, combined with equipment donations from partners like Rawlings, have allowed Choudhary to donate multiple items to those in need, with at least three more deliveries scheduled for this month.

Involved with so much, Choudhary credits his success to his ability to stay organized, his natural curiosity and, “most importantly,” the people around him.

“I mean, my parents are just amazing people. They’ve supported me all the way,” Choudhary said.  “Having a group of people around you that supports you, that knows that you have so many things going on and that really connects with you on a deep level to help you accomplish those things, and you do the same for them, that’s, I think, the most important thing.