Erin Smith – FacePrint

Erin Smith has had an interest in science for most of her life, an interest that led her to discover a way to spot Parkinson’s disease early.

Smith was watching a Michael J. Fox video when she noticed his facial expression seemed emotionally distant, a condition known as facial masking, which can affect those with Parkinson’s. She then began pondering whether changes in the brain could be monitored by looking at facial expressions. Smith then learned to code and created an AI-powered application that records facial expressions and uses computer vision to detect indicators of Parkinson’s. The app uses an algorithm that is trained to interpret the facial expressions of Parkinson’s patients and healthy people.

The application has become a great tool, with a 95% accuracy rate in detecting Parkinson’s and can objectively capture and digitize changes that occur five to ten years before a traditional diagnosis. The app has the potential to improve care for Parkinson’s patients while helping with early detection and intervention. It also shows promise for detecting other diseases as well.

For her work, Smith won the European Patent Office’s Young Inventors prize. Smith and her company is continuing to improve the app by building a large dataset to enable even more accurate results.