Rutgers helped turn a doctor's vision into a national nonprofit

Treating children with disabilities, pediatric physiatrist Hannah Aura Shoval witnessed the life-changing benefits of adaptive sports and recreation — but also the difficulties parents, social workers and medical professionals had finding them.

Dr. Shoval envisioned a repository of community-based services so people could find programs that matched their needs. Connected to a nationwide network of professionals advocating for better access to adaptive sports, she believed someone would create it.

Shoval became that someone while completing Rutgers Business School’s Part-Time MBA Program. She shared her idea last fall with one of her professors, Doug Brownstone, who organizes the annual Shark Tank-style Rutgers Business Plan Competition. “He pushed me forward to say, just do it. The time is now,” she recalled. Brownstone gave her a three-week deadline for the initial proposal. “I said to myself, I guess I’m doing it.”

As Let’s Move US advanced in the competition, Shoval secured nonprofit status, assembled a board and began networking with potential sponsors. “What more proof of a viable business than if you are a business, right?” 

A Winning Business Plan

In April, Shoval was one of two entrepreneurs to win this year’s top prize of $15,000, which allowed Let’s Move US to secure a scalable website with enhanced cybersecurity. “This organization really exists because of Rutgers,” said Shoval, CEO of Let’s Move US. “This really is the culmination of my learning in my MBA.”

Read about the other winners of the 2026 Rutgers Business Plan Competition.

The website has already made adaptive sports and recreation programs easily searchable in a half-dozen states. Let’s Move US is developing AI algorithms to find adaptive programs and using AI-assisted crowdsourcing, with human verification, to keep listings current in all 50 states by early 2028.

As the technology evolves, it will identify additional resources, including education and employment training opportunities. Above all, Shoval said Let’s Move US will be “a space to connect and build community.” 

Research worldwide shows that the benefits of adaptive sports extend beyond physical health to include mental health, social connection and employability. One of her patients with cerebral palsy gained enough core strength through a specialized horseback riding program to be able to sit in the bleachers with friends during school events.

“She's not off on the side in her wheelchair. Now she's on the bleachers, giggling with her girlfriends,” Shoval said.

Passionate about health equity since medical school, Shoval enrolled in the Rutgers Part-Time MBA Program four years ago to have more influence at the table.

“In America, we have top-notch care. I think the issue is the access and the distribution. Who gets it and who doesn’t,” she said. “All these health care decisions are money decisions, they're power decisions, they're really business decisions. And doctors aren't the ones making them. I wanted to bridge that gap.”

Drawing on All She Learned 

Shoval applied lessons from across her MBA education to build her nonprofit.

Shoval said Professor Jerry Kim's weekly Innovation Management and Technology Strategy lectures were “full of brilliant pearls that were directly relevant for Let's Move US.”

Associate Professor of Professional Practice Jeana Wirtenberg's course in organizational behavior and change management helped her think about leading a growing organization for social good toward financial sustainability. Shoval serves as health equity medical advisor for the Rutgers Institute for Corporate Social Innovation (RICSI), which Wirtenberg directs. 

Joseph Agresta, another of her instructors, connected her with Doug McCullough, a highly regarded disability activist and retired business executive. McCullough serves on the nonprofit’s advisory board. 

Brownstone, who taught Shoval in three MBA courses, was impressed with her passion for helping people. When he asked what motivated her to start the nonprofit, she told him, "I treat 10 patients a day, but I want to help thousands a day."

He also praised her “very strong business sense,” noting that she assembled experts in website security, marketing and adaptive sports to accomplish a complex undertaking.

Graduate students of Shoval's marketing instructor, Erich Toncre, completed their capstone project by creating a social media campaign featuring video interviews with the nonprofit's board members. The campaign will launch next month.

Shoval serves on the board of the Atlantic Accountable Care Organization, which coordinates medical care among providers to improve quality of care while reducing costs. With her MBA, she hopes she can transition into a larger leadership role within the organization, which counts more than 1,700 physicians as members. 

“A lot of my skill sets lend themselves naturally to the ACO. My background in quality improvements, clinical informatics, and my MBA helps bring everything together,” she said.

Shoval also serves as medical director of a busy practice, publishes research and mentors doctors in quality improvement. “I love my job and I love what I'm doing with Let's Move US,” she said.

-Margaret McHugh