Madeline Hilliard

Madeline’s path from Pre-Med to Philanthropist to Entrepreneur hit its first pivot on a May morning in 2020 when she got word that a friend of hers had not woken up that day due to polysubstance overdose. He was the 12th student to die of an OD that year at her university. Madeline was frustrated by how a fully preventable cause of death was taking the lives of so many of her peers. The details of her friend’s passing showed 3 distinct moments where, had her friend or bystanders known a few key pieces of information, his death could have been prevented. While she was too late to help her friend, the problem seemed solvable for others and the solution was simple: education.

The essential education on substances’ biochemical action in the body, laws around calling for help, and practices to reduce mortality risks fell within the scope of her neuroscience and emergency medical education. That day she gathered her fellow students who began developing that life-saving education and making it accessible to students who need it. That team became T.A.C.O., the non-profit now operated by nearly 300 student volunteers nationwide and responsible for saving over 1500 lives per user reports. In 2022, Hilliard led the winning team in the Brittingham Social Enterprise Lab’s Venture Competition to secure the initial funding that started the development of DopaGE. DopaGE expands on T.A.C.O.’s breakout success with students to provide colleges and affiliated organizations with a scalable solution for overdose prevention education.