DRAVEN RANE

Board Member

Draven Rane (he/him), a formerly fostered youth from rural Michigan, holds a B.S. and a B.A.H from Stanford University. His broad range of passions lies at the nexus of health, the foster care system, and youth justice, reflecting his lived experiences.

Draven is appreciative of where his path has led, viewing his trajectory as a product of good fortune and resilience in the face of adversity, including navigating the opioid crisis, enduring police violence, and living through hunger and housing insecurity—all while being that gay foster kid in a town where everyone knows everyone. He recounts vivid memories of nursing his mother through addiction, being initially taken by CPS at the hospital following his youngest sister's birth, and evading foster care to care for his terminal grandma. These experiences fuel his drive to advocate for our systems to be restructured to center the experiences of and redistribute power to the oppressed, particularly youth.

Consequently, since 2017, Draven has served in various capacities, including as a youth ambassador to Germany, a volunteer at a refugee kindergarten, a medical interviewer at Pacific Free Clinic, a youth advisor for the HYPE Center, and a member of several Stanford committees including for the campus-wide IDEAL DEI survey. Draven also published research in undergrad on synthetic immunology and penned his anthropological thesis, "The Family Prison," dissecting the synergistic operation of the foster care and prison systems under the War on Drugs. He explores how these systems entrap poor and disproportionately BIPOC families into cycles of poverty, violence, and addiction.

Although these activities have been an instrumental outlet for Draven's passions, he also enjoys restful breaks and time to de-stimulate. His favorite ways to relax are to curl up inside and binge-watch anime, cook for friends, or revisit nature.

Looking forward, Draven aspires to become a physician-scientist. His goal is to support the needs of families affected by poverty, addiction, and chronic pain and to collaborate with communities in developing medical and policy solutions that disrupt the foster care-to-prison pipeline.