A 13 year-old boy was just named America’s Top Scientist after he furthered treatment of pancreatic cancer with a new method.

Rishib Jain, a seventh grade at Stoller Middle School in Portland, Oregon, was able to come up with an algorithm that uses artificial intelligence to find and target the pancreas while someone with cancer is getting MRI radiation treatment. This is huge because pancreatic cancer is the third-leading cause of cancer-related deaths in this country, and since the pancreas is obscured by different organs, it is hard for doctors to locate it. Radiation therapy also often ends up targeting healthy cells because the pancreas can move around when a person breaths.

“Last summer, I went to visit my brother in Boston and came to know about some pancreatic cancer research and how difficult a problem it was to solve,” Rishab explained. “I learned about how deadly the disease was and how it had such a low survival rate. At the same time, I was also learning about artificial intelligence and wondered if I could apply my knowledge to solve this real-world problem – I also had a family friend pass away from this disease.”

Rishab’s algorithm can detect the pancreas with a 98.9% success rate. He was awarded the prize of being the country’s top young scientist, which came with $25,000.

“My eyes almost filled with tears after hearing my name announced—I was blown away to receive the title,” Rishab said. “For the past year, I’ve been working on this project and have been putting in a tremendous amount of hard work. It’s amazing to see my project coming along, and all the challenges and fun I had along the way.”

We can only imagine how many people Rishab will end up helping in his lifetime!