Three years ago, Leanne Fan watched as her sister, Kara, rang the bell at the New York Stock Exchange, and she aspired to do the same.
On Oct. 26, Fan got her chance. She rang the bell in front of her proud parents.
A freshman at Westview High School, Fan was in New York doing press after winning $25,000 and the title of “America’s Top Young Scientist” in the 2022 3M Young Scientist Challenge.
Her invention of headphones that detect and treat mid-ear infections won the top prize during the finals in St. Paul, Minnesota the week before.
“I was in shock. I started crying,” the 14-year-old said. “I was really excited. I was not expecting it.”
Kara Fan won the coveted prize in 2019 with a spray-on bandage that uses microscopic silver particles rather than antibiotics.
David Fan said he was impressed to see his daughter Leanne ringing the bell at the Stock Exchange — an honor usually bestowed on CEOs.
“It’s very exciting,” he said. “I’m surprised. I didn’t expect it. It’s very awesome.”
Her mother, Vivian Wang, said the whole scenario is a lesson to dream big.
Leanne Fan said she was inspired to compete after witnessing her sister’s experience.
As to what she’s going to use the money for, the first thing she thought of was sushi.
“I’d love to get sushi more often,” she said.
And then she thought of clinical trials for her headphones, which have yet to be tested on people.
Her invention, Finsen Headphones, provides a low-cost option to detect and treat a mid-ear infection using machine learning and blue-light therapy — potentially preventing up to 60% of hearing loss in children, she said.
Fan said she was inspired by the ear infections she and her mother would often get. She researched online and talked with college professors about different ideas on how to detect and treat the infections.
Her father, who works as a technical software program manager, said he helped set up a home lab for his daughters for their experiments. The duo has since used hundreds of petri dishes, he said.
The project took about three years, Fan said. The blue light therapy is used to kill the bacteria that would otherwise cause the ear infection.
Every year, there are 700 million cases of mid-ear infections and nearly 21,000 deaths worldwide, according to the contest website. Many of those impacted are children and underprivileged populations. Without medical access and or healthcare, diagnosis and treatment of mid-ear infections are often difficult.
Fan was mentored by Ross Behling, a research specialist in the corporate research material laboratory division at 3M. The two met weekly on Zoom. They met in real life for the first time at the finals in St Paul.
“It was nice to be in the same time zone,” Behling said.
Behling said he found the pairing to be invigorating.
“It was fantastic. It’s just so energizing,” he said.
Although their partnership is over, Behling said he intends to keep in touch with Fan.
“I want a signed one,” he said referring to the headphones.
Fan said she hopes to have a STEM-related major in college. For a career, she wants to create something that will help people, she said.
