The Maurer Foundation talks to a lot of high school students throughout the Long Island and New York City areas as we present our breast health programs. We are continuously amazed by their incisive questions, their quick mastery of the importance of early detection and good nutrition, and most importantly, their passion for our mission of breast cancer prevention, usually as a result of a close family member’s diagnosis.
So, when we heard a few days ago that 17-year old Brittany Wenger won the Google Science Fair grand prize for creating a software program capable of diagnosing breast cancer, we weren’t surprised. High school students are incredibly passionate about breast cancer and more technologically capable than ever before. Wenger’s program, a type of neural network modeled on the way a human brain works, can analyze breast tissue samples and correctly diagnoses 99.1% of malignant tumors, an almost 5% increase in accuracy from currently used methods. The software was configured using data from 7.6 million “fine needle aspirates,” a minimally invasive breast cancer diagnosis procedure that unfortunately is also not very accurate. Check out her program, called Global Neural Network Cloud Service for Breast Cancer, available online.
Besides the winner’s trophy made of Legos, Wenger was also awarded a $50,000 scholarship, an internship, and a trip to the Galapagos Islands as part of the grand prize. According to ABC Action News, she plans to be a pediatric oncologist.
The Florida native reported that early detection of breast cancer and reducing the invasiveness of testing was an important goal of the project. We couldn’t agree more! We’re so proud of you, Brittany.
