Student Wins Innovation Award for Device That Detects Neurodegenerative Diseases

In a remarkable blend of science, compassion, and ingenuity, sophomore Rhea Doshi has earned the prestigious Women of Innovation Award for her groundbreaking invention — NeuroStride, a diagnostic mat that can detect early signs of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and mild cognitive impairment through a person’s gait, or walking pattern.

For Doshi, who competed in the Youth Innovation (High School) category, the recognition is not just a personal victory but also a validation of her vision to make healthcare more proactive and accessible.“I was so honored to be a winner of it,” Doshi said. “There was a tie between this other girl and me that I’ve been looking up to for many years now. She’s attending Columbia, so it’s a big deal to tie with someone from Columbia. This award is a validation of all my hard work and motivation to continue the work that I’m doing.”

NeuroStride might sound futuristic, but its premise is elegantly simple. The six-to-eight-foot mat, embedded with pressure-sensitive sensors that work in real time with artificial intelligence and motion capture to map a person’s gait. Within 30 seconds, the system generates a prediction score indicating the likelihood of early-stage neurological decline.“Gait is such a solid biomarker, and disease shows up 10 to 15 years before a diagnosis can be made, allowing us to make lifestyle changes early,” she said.

This early detection window is revolutionary. By identifying warning signs before irreversible damage occurs, doctors and patients can begin lifestyle interventions — diet, exercise, and cognitive therapy — that may slow or even prevent the onset of disease. “I’m working in the medicine of prevention rather than reaction,” Rhea says passionately. “We shouldn’t have to wait until people are sick to help them.”

The spark for NeuroStride came during Doshi’s two-year internship at a neurology practice, where she saw firsthand how devastating late diagnoses could be.“Every day, I saw patients who came in at such advanced stages of disease,” she recalls. “By that point, the only thing doctors could really do was prescribe medications that grew more expensive each year — medications that many insurance companies stopped covering. It was heartbreaking. I wanted to find a way to help patients before they reached that stage.”

This experience, combined with a deeply personal connection — her grandmother’s early signs of dementia — motivated Doshi to take action. “My grandmother started to exhibit some signs, which is absolutely heartbreaking,” she said. “I want to be able to catch it early so that families dont have to go through the distress of having a loved one who starts forgetting who they are.”

Unlike many student projects that stay conceptual, Doshi took NeuroStride all the way to prototype, patent, and IRB (Institutional Review Board) approval — a key step that allows her to begin formal clinical studies. Using Arduino microcontrollers and force-sensitive resistors, she built a mat that translates pressure from footsteps into data that her custom-built AI model, a random forest classifier, can analyze to detect subtle abnormalities in movement patterns. “The mat’s design is meant to be seamless,” she explains. “In a clinical setting, it can be laid out in a hallway, and patients wouldn’t even know they’re being tested. That way, they don’t consciously alter how they walk, which gives us far more accurate results.”

Doshi even designed a biomarker exclusion system, an innovation that makes NeuroStride adaptable for patients with prior surgeries or injuries that might skew results — like her grandmother, who had undergone knee replacement surgery. “For her, I’d adjust the model to focus on arm movement angles instead of leg gait,” Rhea explains. “The AI filters out irrelevant biomarkers, allowing for individualized precision.”

NeuroStride has already entered clinical testing, beginning with a 100-patient trial through her mother’s private neurology practice. The data collected will feed back into the AI model, refining its accuracy. The next step will be a 500-patient study with institutions aiming to build a robust dataset for FDA 510(k) approval as a medical device.“We’re expecting the full validation process to take about two to three years,” Rhea says. “It’s a long road, but an exciting one.”

Doshi’s startup, Saranova Biotech, will lead the effort to commercialize the device, and she’s already begun her customer discovery journey, interviewing neurologists, physical therapists, and hospital staff. The feedback, she says, has been positive.

Doshi credits much of her success to the scientific environment in which she grew up. Her mother, a neurologist, has not only provided guidance but also served as a role model for what women can achieve in STEM. “She’s very accomplished and she’s been my inspiration since the beginning,” Doshi said.  Her younger sister also plays a role, serving as a constant source of inspiration, and her father, she says, is always there for her.

Despite her extraordinary accomplishments, Doshi remains grounded. Outside of her scientific pursuits, she loves golf, photography, and art, often taking nature photos on family trips. Looking ahead, she hopes to pursue studies in biotechnology and business. “That’s the dream,” she said, “the end goal. So I’ll do whatever I can to get there.”