The Times magazine has recognized three Indian-origin students in its list of 25 most influential teens of 2018 who are inspiring the youth globally.
The names include two Indian-Americans Kavya Kopparapu and Rishab Jain, and a British-Indian Amika George.
Fourteen-year old Rishabh Jain is a resident of Oregon and studies in the 8th standard. At this young age, he has developed an algorithm that could possibly help in curing pancreatic cancer. The software has been shown to assist doctors in examining the pancreas more accurately.
Kavya Kopparapu is 18 years old and in her first year at Harvard University. She has developed a deep-learning computer system, which has the ability to scan slides of tissue from brain cancer patients and identify peculiarities in density, colour, texture and cellular alignment unique to every case. Medical science has been unable to improve the survival rate in glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, since the past 30 years. This has inspired Kavya to develop the system.
Nineteen year old Amika George, has started a campaign to convince policymakers to end what she calls “period poverty” – referring to her observation that many girls in UK were missing classes as they could not afford menstrual products. She has launched the #FreePeriods campaign, that has already secured almost 200,000 signatures and the support of at least 12 policymakers. The campaign is aimed at asking the government to fund the distribution of menstrual products to those girls and women who cannot afford them.
