Max Little

A data scientist with a background in math and stats, Max helps accelerate the search for cures for diseases such as Parkinson's by inventing radically simple, non-invasive technologies to measure symptoms outside the clinic. He developed algorithms that quantify Parkinson's symptoms using 30-second voice recordings, displacing expensive in-clinic physical exams. These algorithms detect Parkinson's signs in newly diagnosed patients to 98% accuracy, and work over the mobile phone network. Max is working to apply these algorithms to the environmental causes of disease: genetics is making extraordinary progress, but explains only a small part of the medical picture. By making these algorithms accessible to the global population where mobile phones currently have 75% reach, they could help fill in the massive hole in medical understanding about why one person gets ill but others do not.