This Blue Valley teen uses AI to research cancer; Trump’s budget cuts could halt his work

Editor’s note: The following story was published by KCUR, Kansas City’s NPR member station, and a fellow member of the KC Media Collective. Click here to read the original story or here to sign up for KCUR’s email newsletter.

An Overland Park high schooler traveled to Washington, D.C., to advocate for cancer research funding after the Trump administration proposed slashing the National Institutes of Health budget

Chen, 16, got his start with the KU Cancer Center by volunteering at cancer screening events, eventually moving into cancer research.

At first, Chen spent time experimenting with artificial intelligence and coding in different programming languages. That would later become his focus to help predict patient outcomes, side effects and quality of life from cancer treatment.

After studying existing research, he began writing code, training computer models and spending hours collecting data on patient outcomes. One of his projects looked at where people live and how that impacts their ability to afford cancer treatment.

Another AI model he built tracks lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell, in patients across their treatment.

“It helps doctors to sort of tailor the treatment that patients receive based on what side effects, or the severity of the reaction that they’re predicted to have,” Chen said.

In Washington, D.C.

Chen attended a U.S. Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing last month during which lawmakers reviewed Trump’s budget request to shrink NIH funding. He said he was relieved to hear bipartisan support from legislators, including from U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas, to whom he spoke after the event.

“It was great to feel like I personally am making a difference, and to let Sen. Moran know that his constituents care a lot about this issue,” Chen said.

Matthew Chen, a senior at Blue Valley North High School, spoke with U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas after a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing in June to review Trump’s budget request to shrink NIH funding; photo courtesy of Matthew Chen

National cuts to cancer research could directly impact Kansans, Chen said. The KU Cancer Center is the state’s only NCI-designated cancer center, and it provides residents with access to clinical trials and education on cancer prevention and detection, he said.

Megan Word, the government relations director for ACS CAN in Kansas and Nebraska, said the cancer center also gives patients access to newer treatments and more specialists who treat specific cancers.

The American Cancer Society also has a Hope Lodge in Kansas City, where Word said people who travel more than 50 miles for treatment can stay free of charge.

Word said Kansans are lucky to have those resources, and the group is working to ensure the whole state can access them.

“We can’t do that without research funding. We can’t do that without early detection, prevention screening programs,” Word said. “To look and try to estimate how we’re going to keep that support system in place if we’re looking at a reduction as large as the president has proposed, it’s really unbelievable.”

Funding cuts

Additional federal cuts could impact other cancer prevention efforts across the state.

Trump proposed cutting $4 billion from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which funds the Kansas registry that tracks how often residents are diagnosed with cancer, what type they have and their survival outcomes.

Word said some of the state’s cancer prevention programs have already been impacted by earlier cuts and layoffs.

The Department of Health and Human Services closed the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health, which Word said shutters funding that went toward states’ work on tobacco cessation and prevention education.

Word said more cuts to the CDC under Trump’s budget proposal could threaten the state’s program to detect breast and cervical cancer.

“The current actions that have frozen funding, slash staffing and talk of future funding cuts for lifesaving cancer research is unacceptable. These cuts will have life-threatening consequences,” Word said. “That means fewer people will have access to clinical trials. Researchers on the cusp of new discoveries will be forced to shut off the lights.”

For now, Chen said he’s grateful for the opportunity to get hands-on experience in the biomedical field and to learn firsthand the importance of that work.

Chen said he’s been so inspired by his work that he hopes cancer research will be part of whatever job he pursues in the future.

“If there are these severe cuts, that might not be an option for future generations, and I want to ensure that it is because it’s such a great opportunity, and it helps not only high schoolers, but it helps cancer patients as well,” Chen said.