Jack Andraka
Country
United States
Birth - Death
1997 -
Occupation
Scientist
Description
Inventor, scientist, cancer researcher, and recipient of the 2012 Gordon E. Moore Award, the grand prize of the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (and dubbed 'the Olympics of Youth Science') for his work in creating a process to detect various types of cancer by identifying an increase in a specific type of protein in the body. This breakthrough process has a 90% accuracy rate and has astounded the scientific and pharmaceutical community. Winner of a gold medal at international science competitions in each of his 7th, 8th, and 9th grades. Youngest speaker ever to address The Royal Society of Medicine. A role model for LGBTQ youth, he stated 'I’m openly gay and one of my biggest hopes is that I can help inspire other LGBT youth to get involved in STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.] I didn’t have many [gay] role models [in science] besides Alan Turing.' Member of the National Junior Wildwater Kayak team.
Further Reading/Research
- http://jackandraka.net/
- http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/Jack-Andraka-the-Teen-Prodigy-of-Pancreatic-Cancer-179996151.html
- http://www.ted.com/talks/jack_andraka_a_promising_test_for_pancreatic_cancer_from_a_teenager.html
- http://www.forbes.com/sites/bruceupbin/2012/06/18/wait-did-this-15-year-old-from-maryland-just-change-cancer-treatment/
- http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/standing-on-the-right-side-of-history-16-year-old-jack-andraka-is-the-edison-of-our-times/news/2013/03/23/61683#.Uop0-HeEiM8
