A Del Norte High School senior is a finalist for one of the oldest and most prestigious science awards in the United States. Ellen Xu, 17, is a finalist in the Regeneron Science Talent Search. She’ll find out in March if she beat out 39 other high schoolers for the $250,000 grand prize.
How she got to this point is a good story. Why she got here is even better.
“There were a lot of nights where I was just like, ‘Is this even going to work?’” laughed Xu as she set up her new medical device inside a Del Norte classroom. It could eventually save thousands of lives around the world.
“I developed an early detection tool which can use ordinary smartphone photographs and show the probability of having Kawasaki Disease and differentiating it from its lookalike diseases,” she explained.
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Kawasaki Disease is the number one cause of acquired heart disease in about 20,000 children in the United States every year. It’s often misdiagnosed and can be deadly.
Xu’s younger sister Kate was misdiagnosed when she was only 3 years old.
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“It was very stressful especially because none of us had heard of Kawasaki Disease before,” sighed Ellen.
Not wanting that to happen to any family again, Ellen created an algorithm and spent roughly $50 on computer parts to create her early detection tool. She entered the device into the Regeneron Science Talent Search and was named one of 40 finalists. That honor already landed her $25,000 in prize money.
“It was a complete surprise and I think my first reaction was like, ‘Wow. It means a lot that they care,’” smiled Ellen.
It made her sister Kate smile, too.
“It made me feel really amazing to know that my story and our experience led to something that could contribute to the community,” said the 15-year-old Del Norte sophomore.
Kate had an exam in November clearing her of the disease 12 years after her first diagnosis.
“We were really happy. Now, I’m officially recovered,” said Kate. “I just remember [we] were on the floor and held hands and cried because we were so grateful that I’m still alive.”
Ellen Xu is hoping to prevent more families from going through the same process by giving them a simple tool to protect children around the world.
“Even if I could change one life, that would be super, super meaningful,” she said.
Xu said she is headed to Stanford next year for college. Kate also hosts online fundraisers and bake sales to support the Kawasaki Disease Foundation, a global non-profit looking to cure the disease.
