Usually, training artificial intelligence (AI) to detect cancer takes a team of experienced researchers and graduate students. But at Penn State, a high school intern had the opportunity to step up to the challenge and join a pilot project funded by Penn State Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI). With Shaunak "Shaun" Dalal, a recent graduate of Hershey High School, as its youngest member, the research team has been using AI to improve diagnosing and treating head and neck cancers.
A personal connection to the research
Dalal's journey into AI started in ninth grade after an introductory computer science class sparked his interest. He taught himself the Python programming language through YouTube videos, took online courses in machine learning and even started a passion project using AI to identify brain tumors on MRI scans.
But, Dalal said, this project was about more than just computer code.
"I've always been interested in cancer research because I have close family members who've had cancer, so I was intrigued by how we could find better ways to diagnose and treat it," he said.
During his senior year, Hershey High School offered a program allowing students to complete an internship at a place of their choosing. Dalal took the initiative and reached out to Neerav Goyal, a head and neck surgical oncologist and chief of the Division of Head and Neck Oncology and Surgery at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, asking him to be his research mentor for an independent study elective.
To ensure Dalal understood the real people behind the numbers, he also shadowed Goyal in the clinic.
