# Jaspal Sandhu

> Jaspal Sandhu is a designer, educator, and social entrepreneur who became President and CEO of Hopelab, a social innovation lab and impact investor focused on the mental well-being of young people ages 10 to 25, on January 1, 2026. Trained as an engineer at MIT and as a designer at UC Berkeley, he built his career around human-centered design in global health, co-founding the pioneering social impact design firm Gobee Group and teaching public health innovation at Berkeley since 2010. At Hopelab he has led investments in youth-focused mental health startups, raised millions for youth-led technology work, and built research and fellowship programs centered on Black, Brown, and Queer young people.

- **Role:** President & CEO at Hopelab
- **Organizations:** Hopelab, UC Berkeley School of Public Health, Gobee Group, Fung Fellowship, Wallace Center for Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Bachelor's and Master's in Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), PhD in Engineering / Design, University of California, Berkeley
- **Known for:** Named President and CEO of Hopelab effective January 1, 2026, succeeding Margaret Laws, Co-founded Gobee Group, one of the world's first social impact design firms, with work spanning 25 countries, Launched the first human-centered design course offered by any school of public health (UC Berkeley, 2011)

## Career timeline

- **2003** — A graduate-school trip to the Aravind Eye Care System in Madurai, India reroutes his career toward human-centered design
- **2008** — Earns his PhD from UC Berkeley College of Engineering
- **2009** — Co-founds Gobee Group, one of the world's first social impact design companies
- **2010** — Begins designing and teaching public health innovation courses at UC Berkeley
- **2011** — Co-launches 'Designing Innovative Public Health Solutions,' the first human-centered design course at any school of public health
- **2015** — Gobee digitizes Ebola response data across Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone
- **2016** — Becomes faculty lead for the newly founded Fung Fellowship at UC Berkeley (through 2021)
- **2022** — Closes Gobee Group and joins Hopelab as Executive Vice President
- **2026** — Becomes President and CEO of Hopelab, effective January 1

## Achievements

- Named President and CEO of Hopelab effective January 1, 2026, succeeding Margaret Laws
- Co-founded Gobee Group, one of the world's first social impact design firms, with work spanning 25 countries
- Launched the first human-centered design course offered by any school of public health (UC Berkeley, 2011)
- Launched two cohorts of the HBCU Translational Science Fellowship to advance Black youth mental health research
- Advocated for the Responsible Technology Youth Power Fund, raising over $4.5 million from funders including The Archewell Foundation, Pivotal Ventures, and Pinterest
- Co-incubated Purpose Commons with Cornell University
- Led Hopelab investments in 20+ early-stage youth mental health companies including Equip, Backpack Healthcare, and TRACE
- Served as faculty lead for the Fung Fellowship at UC Berkeley (2016-2021)

## Latest updates

- **2026-01** — Became President and CEO of Hopelab, succeeding Margaret Laws after serving three years as Executive Vice President.

## Links

- Website: https://hopelab.org
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaspalsandhu/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/jaspal
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaspaldesign

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/jaspal-sandhu
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-01