It’s one thing to be young with a wild imagination, but another to harness that creative power through an invention that can impact the world in a significant way.
By the age of 17, Brittany Wenger had done just that, taking inspiration from her life experiences and developing Cloud4Cancer, a minimally invasive breast cancer detection tool that helps doctors diagnose the disease earlier and more accurately. She joined HuffPost Live host Caroline Modarressy-Tehrani today to discuss her motivation, her meeting with President Obama about her research, and how refreshing it is to see young people channeling their passions into such innovative projects.
“When I was in 10th grade, my cousin was diagnosed with breast cancer, and I saw firsthand the experience it was for her and the rest of our family,” said Wenger. “And I found out she wasn’t alone. In fact one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer. And the quickest, cheapest and least invasive test is wildly inconclusive, so a lot of doctors refuse to use it. So that’s when I really wanted to create something that help doctors in diagnosing those tests.”
Wenger had the opportunity to explain her research to President Obama, who has encouraged young people's efforts in the fields of science and technology.
“That was so surreal,” she said. “He was really engaged…President Obama is great in that he does a lot of initiatives to get more women into traditionally male-dominated fields, especially STEM fields... I think it’s exciting to see young people making a difference, and to think that we have our whole lives to find whatever that passion is and make a difference in this world.”
To hear more about how this young inventor’s passion is helping others, watch the full clip above.