Beachwood Grad Competing For Harvard TED Talk Spot

BEACHWOOD, OH — One of Beachwood High School's class of 2017 graduates is competing with other Harvard University students to give a TED talk at the school's fall TEDxHarvardCollege conference. Swathi Srinivasan, whose academic career at Beachwood was sterling, wants to speak on inspiration — where it comes from and how it strikes — and she needs help to get stage time.

Srinivasan was named to the Regeneron Science Talent Search at the beginning of 2017, while still a senior at Beachwood High. She was named to Regeneron's list because of her study on spices' impact on Alzheimer's Disease.

How did a then 17-year-old girl stumble onto such a heady project? The answer is both simple and surprising: Grey's Anatomy.

The long-running television show featured a character named Dr. Derek Shephard (known to some fans as "McDreamy"). Shephard, a neurosurgeon, spends an episode trying to cure Alzheimer's. That simple, 45-minute plot inspired Srinivasan to pursue medicine at Harvard.

"I fell in love with Gray’s Anatomy and Derek Shephard and decided I wanted to be an Alzheimer’s researcher," Swathi told Patch in January, noting that her crush led her to research the disease. Unlike other fifth graders, she soon found herself diligently investigating neuroscience and neurobiology and how Alzheimer's interacts with both.

In her pitch for the TED talk stage, she brings up her passion for Grey's. (To stay up to date on local stories, subscribe to the Patch Beachwood newsletter. As news breaks and the story develops, you will be the first to receive updates from Patch.

"I start by describing one of my own processes of invention: the development of an infant warmer to target hypothermia, for which I found inspiration in the often-disregarded heating power of resistors. At the same time, I conducted Alzheimer's research, due to my love for Grey's Anatomy. If given the opportunity for a full TED talk, I'd love discuss these two endeavors further, and, more importantly, show the simple joy and power of being inspired," she said in her pitch.

To vote for Srinivasan click here.

She then shares a video displaying her presentation skills.

Photo from Swathi Srinivasan