In the race to detect and contain COVID-19, Mikail Jaffer '22 is "harnessing the power of artificial intelligence" to diagnose the illness. 

According to Kurt Bresswein of Lehigh Valley Live, Jaffer has been working with CovidScan.ai, a company based in Plano, TX, on a form of artificial intelligence that analyzes chest X-ray images to detect COVID-19 or other lung disorders. The company's co-founder, Moksh Nirvaan, explains that, "The program’s overall accuracy rate is running around 96%, which breaks down to near 99% for COVID-19 cases, 95% for non-coronavirus ailments and 92% for normal diagnoses." 

Jaffer's contribution to the promising technology has been helpful "from a business standpoint for scalability," says Nirvaan. The Moravian Academy rising junior wanted to "advance the technology while also bringing it to market." It was another Moravian Academy classmate who introduced Jaffer to CovidScan.ai, and with parents who work in the biopharmaceutical industry (They own Yourway, “an integrated biopharmaceutical supply chain solutions provider” based in Upper Macungie Township), the opportunity was a perfect fit. 

"Basically," said Jaffer, "I came in and helped come up with different ideas to help develop the program and make it more friendly to the user and give more data or insight to doctors or radiologists." 

While Jaffer is still undecided about his future career plans, he is already making an important difference through his contributions to CovidScan.ai. 

Read the full Lehigh Valley Live article online here.