San Ramon Teen Wins Big For Invention Helping COVID-19 Patients

SAN RAMON, CA — A particularly gifted 14-year-old was hard at work on a science project during the height of the coronavirus pandemic when a relative fell ill and died of the virus. Soon after, a light bulb flickered on in the teen scientist's head, and he began to dream up what would become his COVID-19 symptom monitoring system.

Gatik Trivedi, a San Ramon resident and Dougherty Valley High School freshman, has won awards for his innovative inventions before, but this time he was able to snag 3rd place May 22 in the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair for his project.

The fair, which was sponsored by Johnson & Johnson, awarded Trivedi $1,000.

"When [I found out] early in the morning, I wasn't actually awake so I was at first completely in shock," Trivedi told Patch. "I had no expectations because I knew that I had so many good competitors [from] all around the world."

His project also won first place in Contra Costa Science & Engineering Fair in March.

His project is titled, "Accessible Correlative Diagnostic Solution for Multi-Organ Dysfunction Caused by SARS-CoV-2: The Future of Home-Based, AI-Enabled Telemedicine."

In short, Trivedi told Patch that his invention detects organ dysfunction and monitors symptoms in coronavirus patients.

"I noticed that people's symptoms got really bad in self-quarantine — the 14 days in which they have no insight toward their well-being," Trivedi said. "So I decided to build a solution that helps people monitor their symptoms in these 14 days to receive care if needed."

Trivedi's project is comprised of three different biotechnologies or biosensors to measure symptoms — an oxygen meter, a thermal camera to measure temperature and a spire meter to measure lung capacity, he said.

These three elements are used to screen a patient's health and notify them of their overall wellbeing.

For example, a good reading would produce a "green value" which indicates a normal health reading.

"So what it does is give you a fast reading for how you're doing and how your symptoms are being managed during your quarantine," he said.

His product has already received international acclaim, but Trivedi's journey to the worldwide science fair didn't come without a challenge. Between the 14-year-old and a mentor — whom his family did not wish to name — the two struggled to collaborate during California's devastating winter surge.

"It was pretty hard for me and my mentor to engage and use proper safety precautions by maintaining social distance and wearing masks," Trivedi said.

Trivedi also has yet to test his project on a coronavirus patient. Instead, he said he volunteered his family to test the device.

"But that of course has its limitations, because you're not testing the target users," he said. "In the near future, I'll be reaching out to different universities, hospitals and healthcare providers."

Trivedi had to put his work to the test somehow, so he simulated coronavirus symptoms.

"I would exercise a little bit and then test my oxygen levels and then see what the device would output," he said. "For lung capacity, I would blow a little bit farther from the mouthpiece to decrease the pressure that the sensor" would pick up.

To put his thermal camera to the test, he would heat up his finger with a hairdryer to simulate higher temperatures, he said.

Trivedi put hours of hard work into his project, which he hopes to patent in the near future. And there's no doubt that the teen has accomplished great heights as a ninth-grader as he's already made a name for himself.

But he'll be the first to admit that it took much more than smarts and elbow grease to win an international award.

"You have to believe, not only in the idea but in yourself," Trivedi said. "Without the confidence to pursue your dreams, they might not become a reality."

When Trivedi isn't tinkering with his project or reading about the latest biological innovations, he said he enjoys playing basketball and getting outside as much as possible to hike and bike around the Bay Area. He also plays the drums and piano.

After graduating high school, he plans to study biotechnology — hopefully somewhere local such as Stanford University or the University of California, Berkeley, he said.