TNJSF JEI Award Winner: Zain Jaffar

Zain Jaffar is a rising senior at Millburn High school. Interested by the use of multimodal machine learning models, models that use more than two types of data, in clinical settings, Zain set out to use the power of these models to rapidly and accurately detect pulmonary embolisms, a life-threatening cardiovascular disease. Combining his previous hands-on experience in medical imaging with LabGenomics and passion for machine learning, Zain’s study found that his multimodal machine learning model could both rapidly and precisely detect pulmonary embolisms.

Zain was surprised by the speed of the multimodal machine learning model he designed. While designing his model, he was challenged by the multiple attempts and avenues he had to take to ensure his model could deliver accurate diagnostic results quickly. However, his perseverance paid off and may have potential to help radiologists diagnose pulmonary embolisms before they lead to severe complications. Zain is currently working on patenting his work. Reflecting on his experience at TNJSF to JEI, Zain shared that his participation in TNJSF challenged him to think about the socioeconomic applications of his work. This challenge to think about the larger implications of his work deepened his own understanding of his work and challenged him to effectively share the impact of his work with others.

Congratulations to Zain and his success at TNJSF! We can’t wait to see what he does next!

The material on this page was prepared by Hannah Thompson, JEI Managing Editor and Claire Otero, JEI co-Editor in Chief. Zain Jaffar provided the photo and answers to standard questions which were lightly edited for clarity.