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Cape Town teen gains international recognition for ground-breaking algorithm
30 July 2020
The Deputy Head Prefect from Camps Bay High School has gained international recognition for designing a machine that can assist in diagnosing pneumonia. Storm Rhoda (18) has won multiple accolades for his project, a machine-learning algorithm that identifies pneumonia in adult and paediatric patients.
Rhoda was also recently selected to represent South Africa at Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF); the biggest science expo held in the United States of America (USA).
On 5 June 2020, the expo was held virtually as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic. His innovative design was amongst the top 52 global finalists in the Robotics and Intelligent Machines category at the Regeneron ISEF Virtual 2020 Expo. The ground-breaking project also received the Official Intel ISEF 2020 Abstract and Certification and was approved by the Scientific Review Committee.
Rhoda said that having his work approved by the world’s biggest science expo was exciting and a massive accomplishment. He added that it was a great achievement to represent both his country and his school at an international level.
“Pneumonia is among the leading causes of death in the world and it is ranked the sixth leading cause of premature death in South Africa.” He continued, “Radiological diagnosis is the most common way of diagnosing patients and radiograph qualities are easily compromised, due to the sensitivity and specificity of diagnosis.” Rhoda also emphasised that compromised X-rays make it difficult to establish a diagnosis.
According to Rhoda, to make diagnosis more quickly and accurately for health professionals, the machine learning model can efficiently identify and distinguish the difference between lungs that are infected and those that are not infected by pneumonia.
He explains that the machine learning algorithm has a 90.3% accuracy when diagnosing adults and an accuracy of 83.03% when diagnosing paediatric patients.
Storm Rhoda has received numerous other awards for his project, including the Siemens Ingenuity For Life Award for originality; a gold medal at the Cape Town Expo and won best in his category and a silver medal at Eskom International Science Fair.
“I enjoy playing basketball, socialising with friends, researching programming and business,” he concluded that by saying, “I hope to follow a career in entrepreneurship.”
Originally written bu Kaylynne Bantom, News24
