Tyler Smith, a third-year medical student, has been selected as a finalist in InnoFest, a national competition organized by the American Medical Student Association (AMSA). Smith's invention, Lipid Llama, is one of eight finalists chosen from over 30 teams. The event highlights innovations from aspiring medical professionals and offers a potential $125,000 in venture capital funding to the winning team.
Smith's journey to the finals began with a virtual pitch in February to a panel of judges from healthcare and technology sectors. The final presentation is scheduled for April 18 in Washington, D.C. Smith, who is a Chicago-area native and a student at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, expressed excitement about the opportunity, stating, “That’s more money than I’ve ever seen in my life. But this means a tremendous amount because it’s the biggest project of my career. And we want to see this through.”
Lipid Llama, Smith's creation, is a multilingual AI chatbot app that assists patients in understanding their lipid-panel results. These tests measure fats like cholesterol and triglycerides to assess cardiovascular health risks. Users can inquire about their results, with answers derived from the American Heart Association’s PREVENT calculator. “There are so many tests, especially in the primary care setting, that when patients receive their lipid-panel results, they may have only limited time to discuss it with their doctor,” Smith explained. He emphasized that while lipid tests are common, they are also low-risk, ensuring patients don’t receive alarming diagnoses through the app.
Smith has dedicated significant effort to the development of Lipid Llama, noting, “I can’t even tell you. I think maybe my girlfriend would give you a better answer about the late nights spent on Lipid Llama.” The app's name reflects its roots in machine learning, with Smith sharing humorously, “Explaining the joke is always the worst part. In the machine learning community, there’s a family of large language models called Llama models from Meta AI. It’s an inside joke that gives us a fun avatar.”
Dr. Adrienne Kline, a research assistant professor of cardiac surgery at Feinberg and a mentor to Smith, lauded his innovation. “It’s always so rewarding as a professor to see young minds taking up this field and bringing forward new ideas. Tyler’s work is a perfect example of how medical students can shape the future of patient care,” Kline expressed.
With the final pitch approaching, both Smith and Dr. Kline are available for media engagements leading up to the competition on April 18.