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Nov. 28, 2017
Senior selected as AMIA 2017 High School Scholar
Upper St. Clair High School senior Kevin Chen was recently selected to participate in the American Medical Informatics Association 2017 High School Scholar Program. His research paper titled, "A Deep Learning Approach to Cancer Gene Expression," was admitted for a poster presentation at the AMIA 2017 Symposium, held Nov. 5 – Nov. 7, 2017, in Washington, D.C.
Kevin’s research utilized a deep learning model to create meaningful and low-dimensioned abstractions from noisy, high-dimensioned cancer gene expression data. The results of this study demonstrate the biological and clinical relevance of a deep learning approach to cancer gene expression data analysis and highlight how deep learning models can aid in the understanding of biomedical data and advance precision medicine.
Each research submission was reviewed by two members of the AMIA High School Scholar Program Review Committee on a variety of criteria including importance to the field, scholarship, methodological contribution and overall organization of the presentation.
This marked Kevin’s second year participating in the AMIA High School Scholar Program. His research paper, “A Comparison of Methods for Identifying Direct Casual Influences,” was also selected for a poster presentation during the 2016 symposium.
The American Medical Informatics Association, formed in 1988, is a professional scientific association that sponsors meetings, education, policy, and research programs. The organization aims to lead the way in transforming health care through trusted science, education, and the practice of informatics – using data, information and knowledge to improve human health and the delivery of health care services.
Earlier this fall, Kevin was recognized as one of five Upper St. Clair seniors who achieved a perfect score on the 2017 ACT; one of 11 USC seniors who earned the distinction of National Merit Semifinalist; and was named an AP Scholar with Distinction for earning an average score of at least 3.5 on all AP exams taken and scores of 3 or higher on five or more of these exams.
Kevin intends to pursue a degree in computer science.
