Gitika Gorthi

High School Graduation Year: 2022
Year First Awarded the Carson Scholarship: 2021
Sponsored by: Mr. Wes & Mrs. Toni Guckert

“Receiving the Carson Scholarship in high school was transformational. It helped me realize at a young age that I can be a leader because leadership isn’t about age or title, it’s about action. It gave me the network and confidence to believe that my ideas and efforts could make a real, lasting impact in the world.”

Gitika Gorthi, a 2021 Carson Scholar, is a senior at Columbia University’s School of Engineering and Applied Science, where she studies biomedical engineering with a minor in economics as a C. Prescott Davis Scholar. Her ambitions stretch far beyond the classroom – and far beyond the planet.

In middle school, a TechEd teacher and rocketry mentor sparked Gitika’s passion for aerospace. By 8th grade, she channeled that passion into founding IgnitedThinkers, a nonprofit organization dedicated to spreading accessible space education around the world. Today, IgnitedThinkers continues to ignite curiosity and opportunity for students everywhere.

Gitika is an aspiring transplant surgeon and aerospace physician, aiming to use microgravity as a new laboratory to develop personalized organs and help solve the national organ shortage crisis. She has conducted cutting-edge research with NASA Ames Research Center, alongside work at Columbia University Medical School, Harvard Medical School, and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, where she has helped advance the development of gastrointestinal and kidney organoids, as well as glomerular spheroids using stem cell technology.

Currently, Gitika is a student researcher at the Timothy Wang Lab at Columbia, where she was awarded the Young Guts Scholars grant by the American Gastroenterological Association for her work in disease modeling. She also recently interned at 34 Lives, a medical transplant public benefit company rescuing discarded kidneys for transplant.

Beyond her scientific work, Gitika serves on the Coca-Cola Scholars Alumni Board and leads campus outreach efforts at Columbia. She also remains a proud member of the Carson Scholars Fund’s Associate Leadership Council (ALC), helping support and grow connections among CSF alumni.

Named one of the Top 100 Women in Aerospace and Aviation Professionals to Follow on LinkedIn, Gitika exemplifies the Carson Scholars mission: academic excellence, service, and visionary leadership. She’s not just dreaming about the future of medicine and space—she’s building it.