A first-generation Texan raised by Indian immigrant parents, Alok was coming up on two years of academic probation with a GPA in the 2.0 range. As he slept through exams and threw out his grades without looking at them, Alok was rejected from medical school 120 times over three years. Gaming became a way to cope, but it wasn’t changing the outcome.

Today Dr. Kanojia—or Dr. K, as he’s more commonly known—is still an active gamer with over 516,000 followers on Twitch, and he’s a highly regarded psychiatrist with a private practice and an instructor position at Harvard Medical School. Through a shared love of video games and confronting the issues that made him feel stuck in school, Dr. K has been able to connect with thousands of kids, parents and community members through the mental health platform he co-founded with his wife, Kruti Kanojia. The platform, Healthy Gamer, aims to coach struggling kids and teenagers while encouraging a positive relationship with video games.

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