Nikhil Autar, the 452nd person I’ve met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers and the 2024 New South Wales Young Australian of the Year, is a doctor, an entrepreneur and a man with a remarkable mindset.
Nikhil’s life changed forever when he was 17 and was diagnosed with leukaemia. That forced him to confront the serious possibility of dying and to submit to painful, invasive medical treatments. Initially, Nikhil responded as anyone would – with anger, fear and self-pity. Soon, though, he realised the best way to manage the situation was to change the story in his head.
Instead of obsessing about the things he couldn’t control, Nikhil chose to focus on the things he could. For example, he couldn’t do anything about having leukaemia, but he could research his condition and investigate whether there were any clinical trials he could join. He couldn’t control the pain, but he could look for distractions, such as blogging and gaming.
Nikhil’s mindset didn’t magically change overnight. But by consciously trying to reprogram his brain, he created new neural pathways that made thinking the ‘right’ thoughts an easier and more instinctive process.
Strange though it sounds, beating cancer was the easy part of Nikhil’s journey, because it was a relatively short-term and predictable process. However, since then, Nikhil has endured an ongoing series of health complications caused by the side effects of the bone marrow transplants he experienced; he has no way of knowing how much longer these challenges will last and how severe they’ll be. Last year, he almost died.
While Nikhil has limited control over his health, he can control how he spends his time – and he does so very productively. Nikhil works part-time as a doctor. He’s also CEO of Bheem, a medtech company he founded in 2017, which created the world’s first smart sensor hospital bed for patients. And he’s the CEO of Knia Maps, a tech company he founded in 2023, which aims to be the ‘Google Maps of accessibility’ – the app shows people with a disability where they can find things like accessible parking or wheelchair-friendly restaurants.
Nikhil is a friendly, down-to-earth person who works hard to make a positive impact on the world. It’s hard to imagine a worthier New South Wales Young Australian of the Year.
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