Keshvee Sekhda
8th Grade, North Gwinnett Middle School
Sugar Hill, GA
Keshvee and her teammate Nyambura Sallinen developed a mobile app prototype called IdentiCan to identify breast, lung and skin cancer.
IdentiCan: The App That Detects Breast, Lung and Skin Cancer
Project Background
Keshvee has heard several stories of people within her community who received late cancer diagnoses. One that stuck with her was about a man鈥檚 father. When he first went to a hospital for discomfort, he was misdiagnosed. But the man later returned after still feeling something was off and was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumor. 鈥淭his man was only given a few months to live due to the mistake in interpreting earlier scans,鈥� Keshvee says. 鈥淢y partner and I decided that we must do something to help people scan themselves and get the attention they need.鈥�
Tactics and Results
Keshvee and her teammate Nyambura Sallinen developed a mobile app prototype called IdentiCan to identify breast, lung and skin cancer. They trained a machine learning algorithm to recognize these cancers using more than 8,000 photos and health scan images of each cancer type. For lung cancer, the teammates also included audio clips of people with cancer and other respiratory diseases so the algorithm could learn to tell the difference. The system also accounts for family history, medical history and other relevant health information. Within the app, a user would be able to upload their information, images and sound clips, and it will return the likelihood of them having cancer. When testing several sample trials simulating a user, IdentiCan accurately identified cancer 94.3 percent of the time. 鈥淭he next step would be to collaborate with professional doctors. . . to receive a different view on our app,鈥� Keshvee says.
Beyond the Project
鈥淚 believe the next step would be to collaborate with professional doctors and front-end developers to receive a different view on our app,鈥� Keshvee says. She and her teammate would also continue refining their algorithms and developing specialized surveys from symptoms.
Other interests
Out of all her hobbies, Keshvee鈥檚 favorites are soccer and robotics. 鈥淏eing involved in robotics competitions is a great source of fun and challenges,鈥� she says. 鈥淪occer has allowed me to be active and push myself to stand out and be the best team player I can be on the field.鈥� She hopes to become a neurosurgeon in the future so she can help save lives.
