Beyond his advocacy, Gambhir is also a music producer and DJ, a tech startup founder, and a dedicated practitioner of mindful meditation \u2014 pursuits that reflect the curiosity, discipline, and joy he brings to everything he does.<\/p>\n
For his advocacy, fundraising, mentorship, and more, Gambhir is this year\u2019s Youth Citizen of the Year. He will be honored alongside his fellow Citizens of the Year at a dinner celebration on April 22, at Fitler Club Ballroom. (You can read about all of this year\u2019s winners here,<\/a> and find out about tickets and sponsorships for the star-studded event here.<\/a>)<\/p>\n Uncharted territory <\/p>\n Most individuals with DMD become reliant on a wheelchair, and their life expectancy is barely 30 years. At 24, Gambhir would have been in the late stages of the disease, if not claimed by it already, had he been born a decade earlier. But new treatments being funded by exactly the kind of work CureDuchenne supports are dramatically increasing life expectancy.<\/p>\n \u201cEven now, we\u2019re in uncharted territories,\u201d Gambhir says. \u201cThere are people who have been injected with new drugs, so that maybe in 10 to 20 years down the line, they could be doing far better than what\u2019s expected. It\u2019s an exciting time.\u201d<\/p>\n Acknowledging that these new breakthroughs can change the course of lives for those born today, but are not available to help him, Gambhir addresses mortality without hesitation \u2014 and with more candor and maturity than most people decades older.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s something that motivates me,\u201d he says, \u201cto live my life to its fullest.\u201d<\/p>\n There are 15,000 individuals with DMD in the United States, and they are overwhelmingly male, as the gene whose mutation is responsible for Duchenne is on the X chromosome. Since the gene was identified in 1986, progress has been made with specialized newborn screening, genetic testing during pregnancy, treatments that can mitigate the progression of the disease, and new drug trials. Life expectancy for those with DMD has increased from 20 to nearly 30 years.<\/p>\n It was Gambhir\u2019s love of music that led to his diagnosis. \u201cMusic was always a big part of my life,\u201d he says. \u201cI used to love to dance to EDM music. My dad would put it on the radio, and it would be some of that early 2000s music like Moby, Prodigy, and I would just go nuts. And then one day I was dancing, and I tripped and fell.\u201d<\/p>\n That was actually an early sign of DMD, which is usually diagnosed in toddlers. As other kids his age developed better coordination, Gambhir became more unstable and lost energy. \u201cAs things progressed, life got difficult,\u201d he says. \u201cI ended up transitioning to a wheelchair. But the dance parties didn\u2019t stop.\u201d<\/p>\n A childhood diagnosis of a chronic and terminal illness can be devastating for families. But the Gambhirs embraced support networks and advocacy early on, encouraging their son to talk to others who shared his diagnosis about his experiences. \u201cThere was definitely a time when it kind of felt like a chore,\u201d he says. But challenges have always motivated him, \u201ca natural kind of fuel,\u201d he calls it. Today he is a proud keynote speaker at CureDuchenne events.<\/p>\n \u201cYou [may] have a physical condition, but you\u2019re making your life 10 times harder by not optimizing how you think through your challenges and deal with them. I had that ability, and I really wanted to pass it on to others,\u201d he says. Hundreds of people come to conferences and fundraisers to hear him tell his story. He assures patients and their families that they can live well in spite of DMD, and encourages them to take care of their mental health by talking about how he combats isolation and copes with everyday struggles.<\/p>\n Debra Miller and her husband founded the nonprofit CureDuchenne after their son Hawken was diagnosed with DMD. The organization\u2019s model is venture philanthropy, where their fundraising proceeds are invested in companies pursuing treatments for DMD and novel technologies for overcoming physical limitations. It\u2019s an efficient way to speed results. Their community-building efforts provide a support network for families that also educates and advocates for best practices.<\/p>\n \u201cI could just say inspirational, but that\u2019s so overused,\u201d Miller says of Gambhir. \u201cI think he has his eye not [only] on Duchenne, but on his purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n Families who have recently received a diagnosis and meet Gambhir at conferences are reassured by his presence, accomplishments, and positivity. \u201cThe main thing that we want for our children, and especially for our guys with Duchenne, where we all have anticipated a shortened life, is that we want them to have a life, while they\u2019re with us,\u201d says Miller. \u201cWe want them to have friends and a purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n Miller\u2019s son is a few years older than Gambhir, and they hit it off immediately when they met, long before they were center stage at conferences. The two families have become close through the work they do and the support they give to each other.<\/p>\n \u201cHe is such a good spokesperson that people come to the fundraising events because of Yuva,\u201d says Miller. \u201cHe is the star of the show, and he is the reason that people are donating money there.\u201d<\/p>\n Living a full, rich life <\/p>\n If you\u2019ve never heard the story of Yuva\u2019s Legendary Rager, you must listen to the TED Talk<\/a> Gambhir gave in October 2024. It\u2019s hard to believe, after hearing this story about the epic teen party he threw, that he considers himself a \u201cshy guy\u201d \u2014 especially since his love of EDM inspired an interest in DJing, a talent he shows off at parties and fundraisers.<\/p>\n \n Gambhir developed his own adaptive DJ setup by repurposing controllers and connecting them to his computer, complete with modulators and synthesizers you\u2019ll find on the most complex decks. \u201cEven now, I have very limited mobility,\u201d he says \u201cBut you can see me at the club, moving like this, nodding my head, especially when I\u2019m doing my set. It all kind of ties into my overall view on life, of still being able to party despite the challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n Gambhir\u2019s interest in technology goes back to when he was at Masterman High School and founded the artificial intelligence club. He\u2019s a big proponent of today\u2019s adaptive technologies that make his life easier. At Penn, he\u2019s double majoring in cognitive science and computer science; he\u2019ll graduate in May. In his early days at Penn, he worked in a gene therapy lab, getting hands-on experience in biology. But he was attracted to the funding side of medical research, and worked with two biotech companies on financing emerging therapies and financial projections.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen curing diseases and researching conditions that we\u2019ve had for millennia, and have never come close to tackling, there\u2019s two different sides,\u201d he says. \u201cThere\u2019s cutting-edge research, and then there\u2019s financing for companies who are pouring billions of dollars into cutting-edge research.\u201d<\/p>\n Gambhir is also a startup founder, channeling his computer science skills and interest in AI into an app designed for anyone who has ever wanted to bond over sports but didn\u2019t know how.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the ways I\u2019ve really found to connect with a lot of people is through sports. And especially in Philly, sports is like a unifying blanket that allows you to connect with anyone,\u201d Gambhir says. \u201cThere\u2019s so much information that you need to be able to consume and stay on top of to be part of the conversation. And feeling excluded and left out is something I\u2019ve dealt with a lot personally, and I know it\u2019s something no one wants to feel. So why don\u2019t we make that a frictionless experience?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a>The Gambhir family Turning a devastating diagnosis into advocacy <\/p>\n