NITYA AYYAGARI
UNITED STATES, 17
Project: Cepha
Basic Human Needs: Health
During Summer 2019 Nitya volunteered at a local memory care center for patients with neurological diseases. She witnessed the debilitating effects of these disorders and learned many patients were suffering from Parkinson’s disease (PD), a neurodegenerative condition. While researching PD she learned it was the leading cause of disability worldwide. There is no definitive test or brain scan to diagnose it, and cases are estimated to double over the next decade. Nitya also discovered early diagnosis and intervention could significantly reduce disabling symptoms. In October 2019, Nitya created Cepha – a mobile app offering fast, accurate and accessible earlystage detection for PD. Cepha is the first assessment tool to couple testing for quantifying dysphonia and tremors, which allows it to detect any stage of PD and provide holistic reports to neurologists. Cepha is 98% accurate and takes less than 5 minutes, compared to the existing gold standard test that is invasive, 75% accurate and takes several hours. Nitya also created a platform that manages symptoms quantitatively so neurologists can monitor their progression over time. A pioneer in PD research, Nitya was named an International Science and Engineering Fair Finalist in 2020 and 2021, an Imagine Cup World Finalist in 2021 and a Congressional App Challenge Winner in 2019. She hopes to create a robust detection system for all disabling disorders to improve the quality of life for Parkinson’s patients worldwide.