11-Year-Old Myra Saxena Wins National Awards for AI Diabetes Research

Saxena, 11, was nominated for the 2026 Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge after a year that included the Isabelle Stone Grand Prize at the Synopsys Silicon Valley Science and Technology Championship, where she was the only middle school student from the Palo Alto Unified School District to win. She also took third place in the Medicine and Physiology category at the California Science and Engineering Fair.

Her research paper, 'A Novel Approach for Early Detection of Pediatric Type 2 Diabetes using Low-cost Blood Biomarkers,' was accepted for presentation at the 2026 IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Conference, an international gathering of researchers and medical professionals.

Saxena's interest in diabetes stems from the loss of her grandfather to the disease. She began coding at age 8 and as a fifth-grader developed 'Healthy Littles powered by SmartGenes,' an app and wearable device project that won second place at the Invention Convention U.S. Nationals and first place in the World Series of Innovation Challenge.

Beyond science, Saxena is a youth entrepreneur and founder of Sparklez, a nonprofit she started in 2021 to support children in underserved communities. The idea came after her mother visited a school for blind girls in India. Saxena sells handmade charm jewelry to fund projects in the U.S. and India.

Saxena, who moved to California from Virginia at age 8, also serves as a TEDxYouth speaker and competitive ballet dancer. Her advice to other young people: 'Never give up, even if people tell you that you can't do it or you're too young. It's never too late or too early to start.'