Leon Zheng founded the Aware Together Foundation after spending a summer interning at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, taking part in lab research firsthand.
“I saw how much time, patience, and persistence research takes — especially if experiments fail or do not meet expectations.”
That experience showed him two things: how important it is to support scientists, and how powerful it is to give young people a chance to take part in the work themselves. The foundation grew out of that lesson — students helping future students get into the lab, while raising real support for the research happening there.
Today Leon leads a growing network of student teams across schools and neighborhoods, coordinating fundraising, outreach, and media work toward the Foundation’s three shared goals.
Progress takes many people working together, and every effort helps.