Prerana Manoj: Honoured among Canada’s Top 100 Women for STEM innovation

(May 29, 2024) Emphasising the meaning of her name, which reflects her purpose, she explains, “Prerana translates to ‘inspiration’ in Sanskrit, and it summarises my mission – to be inspired and to inspire others.” True to her name, she is an inspiration to girls in STEM and AI innovation. The Thrissur native was named one of the ‘Top 100 Women in Canada’ in 2023 by the Women’s Executive Network of Canada. “At 16, I was the youngest of the 2023 winners. I was privileged enough to meet with the honourable Princess Sarah Culberson of Sierra Leone at the award ceremony, and I shared my journey of innovation with her,” Prerana tells Global Indian.

Prerana Manoj with Top 100 Women in Canada Award

With one of her best friends, Diane Gui, Prerana is co-developing Project HeartScope, a collection of machine learning models designed for the accurate and efficient diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases and conditions. “We were also privileged and grateful to have received the opportunity to share our project and vision as finalists of Team Canada for the global competition, Technovation Girls. We presented it on the grand stage at Synopsys, San Francisco, alongside teams from India, Brazil, Uzbekistan, and others,” she shares. The project was selected for the Technovation Girls Global Competition 2023 in San Francisco from over 2,000 teams.

Project HeartScope

When Prerana moved to Toronto with her parents, the city’s vibrant atmosphere reminded her of her native Bengaluru. This move played an integral role in developing her fascination with STEM and other fields. “In Toronto, I developed a growing interest in business and technology and learned about transformational emerging technologies such as AI, which have significant potential to make waves in industries worldwide,” she shares.

In the new city, she made friends with Diane and learned about health leader Osei Kwadbo Boateng and his non-profit, The OKB Hope Foundation. The foundation works towards providing healthcare services for underserved communities. Inspired by his passionate work, the friends became interested in finding ways to build tech-based solutions for low-income communities.

Prerana Manoj with Project HeartScope cofounder Diane Gui

Soon, they founded Project HeartScope for efficient diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases. “Currently, the model is capable of diagnosing cardiomegaly using binary classification and transfer learning techniques,” shares Prerana adding, “Project HeartScope has been featured at the Johns Hopkins Global Health Conference as well”.

Realising the increasing gap in experts in the healthcare industry, especially for cardiologists, Prerana and Diane wanted to experiment to see whether they could develop a model that could detect the presence of cardiomegaly (a heart condition) based on X-ray scan images. “Although still a work in progress for accuracy and general development, as beginners in the area of Artificial Intelligence, we found our small wins to be significant milestones in the greater journey ahead,” Prerana remarks. 

Research work at Ontario Tech University

Earlier in 2023, Prerana joined the EILab at Ontario Tech University under the supervision of Dr Roland VanOostveen to work on a specialised research project to analyse the affective domain in the online learning environment.

“I worked on coding analyses of online discussions and deciphering the relations and connections between various forms of body language, facial expressions, and gestures to provide greater insight into online learning experiences. The paper is currently being submitted and will be published soon,” she says.

Prerana and Diane presenting Project HeartScope at TikTok Office for Canada Learning Code’s Demo Day Challenge

Laurels in STEM

Prerana has always been full of ideas and dedicated to turning them into reality for the good of society. In 2021 the youngster was given the opportunity to present her start-up idea, the P. A Shield, aimed at improving water conservation efforts in Canadian households at Dragons Den (a reality TV show where aspiring entrepreneurs pitch their business concepts and products to a panel of Canadian business moguls). At the end of her pitch, she received a shared investment of $25K from the investors.

“My inspiration for the P. A Shield came from learning about the water crisis in grade 7 geography. I realised that although spreading awareness is very important, taking action can lead to active results. As a 13-year-old with little experience in technology or business, I joined a start-up accelerator for high school students called Start-up Dojo to learn about how to start my own idea,” she shares.

Prerana Manoj at the Dragons Den platform

After experimenting with circuits and learning about business along the way, she got encouraged to apply her idea to Dragons Den. “Although it took quite a bit of motivation, I realised that there was no harm in sharing my idea and so I submitted it. I remembered being shocked to hear back for an interview for stage two, and ultimately receiving the offer to pitch. It was truly a surreal moment, and I will be forever grateful to the wonderful producers, staff and the Dragons for making it a transformative experience in my journey of innovation. At 14, receiving an offer on the grand stage is a moment I can never forget,” she says.Although Prerana’s passion for the water crisis persists, she decided not to pursue the deal channelling all her focus on emerging technologies such as AI and immersing herself in new opportunities of innovation that come her way.

From Bengaluru to Canada

Prerna did her schooling from Bengaluru. “The city along with my homeplace, Thrissur, Kerala, has profoundly shaped my identity and who I am today,” she mentions.

Prerna moved to Calgary, Canada as a grade three student when her parents went there for work. In Calgary, she was exposed to a new culture and later discovered a passion for chess, debate, and public speaking. “I spent most of my middle school years attending summer stampedes and ice skating during the winter in Lake Louis, Banff. As life was settling in, along came an opportunity to journey further eastward to Canada’s largest city and growing start-up hub, Toronto,” she tells.

Prerana Manoj with Princess Sarah Culberson of Sierra Leone at the WXN event

Currently a junior at Bishop Allen Academy, Etobicoke, the teenager aspires to make a positive impact on those around her. “I’ll go where my journey takes me, and I hope to make a difference for each milestone I achieve,” she signs off.

Wearing multiple hats

In her free time, Prerana usually plays chess. “It’s been my favourite hobby since I was eight. I also enjoy writing,” she says. Prerana is associated as a managing director of personal growth with an online publication – The Teen Magazine founded by Harvard alum, Mia Johansson. She also runs her own newsletter, ‘I am Prerana’.

“Honestly, when it comes to managing my school work and projects, I usually prioritise based on the time of the year. Junior year hasn’t been the kindest in giving me free time, but my weekends usually lend those hours to me,” she signs off.

Prerana Manoj during an edge walk

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