Erin Smith (entrepreneur)

Erin Smith is an American entrepreneur and inventor.[1] She is the founder of FacePrint, a medical technology venture that is developing facial recognition software to assist with the diagnosis of Parkinson's disease.[2] Smith was a Thiel Fellow in 2018, and was awarded the first place Young Inventors Prize from the European Patent Office in 2022.[3]

Biography

Erin Smith was raised in Lenexa, Kansas, a suburb of Kansas City.[4] She has two older sisters and two younger brothers.[4]

During high school, while watching a video interview of Michael J. Fox, who has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, she observed a distinct emotional distance in his facial expressions.[2][5] She had also previously watched the show Lie To Me, which features a scientist character based on Paul Ekman, who studied facial expressions, which contributed to her interest in developing technology to detect Parkinson's by monitoring faces.[2][4] Smith continued to watch more video interviews of people with Parkinson's and conducted her own research.[2][6]

During a spring break from school, she conducted a study on people with Parkinson's and control subjects without Parkinson's, to document both spontaneous expressions in response to videos and intentional expressions made by subjects attempting to mirror another face.[2] She used the facial recognition software Affdex to help measure the results.[2] She later received support from The Michael J. Fox Foundation for two additional pilot studies,[2] including a study that that filmed subjects with webcams while they watched Super Bowl commercials and tried to mirror the expressions of emoji.[6]

In 2016, she participated in the BuiltByGirls Future Founder challenge at Twitter headquarters and won a $10,000 prize to continue researching and developing the app, and apply for a full patent on her work.[6] Smith also received mentoring from the University of Missouri–Kansas City Small Business & Technology Development Center for two years to develop FacePrint into a business.[1]

In 2017, Smith was selected for the Research Science Institute summer program jointly sponsored by the Center for Excellence in Education and MIT.[7] She graduated high school in 2018 and was accepted by Stanford University, but deferred admission to become a 2018 Thiel Fellow for two years.[1][8] FacePrint began clinical trials in 2019[2] with Stanford Medical School and the Michael J. Fox Foundation.[9]

As a student at Stanford University, Smith became an ambassador for the IF/THEN collective, an organization that seeks to support women in STEM careers.[9]

Awards and honors

References
  1. "Lenexa teen IDs winning solution with Parkinson's detection tech FacePrint". Startland News. August 17, 2018. Retrieved August 21, 2019.
  2. Katwala, Amit (October 6, 2019). "A YouTube binge helped invent a new way to diagnose Parkinson's". Wired UK. ISSN 1357-0978. Retrieved November 26, 2022.
  3. "Erin Smith (US)". European Patent Office. Retrieved November 27, 2022.
  4. Hoedel, Cindy (January 1, 2021). "IN Conversation with Erin Smith". IN Kansas City. Retrieved November 26, 2022.
  5. Stone, Zara (2020). The Future of Science Is Female: The Brilliant Minds Shaping the 21st Century. Mango Publishing. ISBN 9781642503203. Retrieved November 26, 2022.
  6. Lipoff, Beth (December 28, 2016). "Lenexa student catches attention of Michael J. Fox Foundation". The Kansas City Star. Retrieved November 27, 2022.
  7. "RSI Welcomes 80 Top Scholars to 2017 Summer STEM Institute". www.cee.org. Center for Excellence in Education. Retrieved August 21, 2019.
  8. Ricks, Dhomonique (June 22, 2018). "Metro teen who developed Parkinson's diagnostic technology named to prestigious fellowship". Fox4. Retrieved November 26, 2022.
  9. McDowell, Maya (December 1, 2020). "Erin Smith is Assembling the Next Generation of Female STEM Innovators". Seventeen. Retrieved November 27, 2022.
  10. Bergen, Katy (June 22, 2017). "Shawnee Mission West High student wins international biotechnology competition". The Kansas City Star. Retrieved November 27, 2022.
  11. "2018 Fellows". Davidson Institute. Retrieved November 26, 2022.
  12. Senter, Jay (November 21, 2018). "SM West grad Erin Smith is youngest member of Forbes 30 Under 30 healthcare list". Shawnee Mission Post. Retrieved August 21, 2019.
  13. Pediani, Steven (June 30, 2022). "EPO's Young Inventors Prize 2022 – Patent – UK". Mondaq. Retrieved November 27, 2022.
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