Finsen Headphones: Detecting and Treating Mid-ear Infections Using Machine Learning and Phototherapy
MEETING FOR THE WEEK OF Feb 12, 2024
This Meeting at a Glance:
Program: Finsen Headphones: Detecting and Treating Mid-ear Infections Using Machine Learning and Phototherapy
Speaker: Leanne Fan
Is this your first time to visit us? If so, welcome to our weekly online meeting! To complete our meeting, please continue reading from here to the bottom of this page. Each Monday our week’s meeting is posted early in the morning, U.S. Pacific Time. These meetings are designed so that you can read and watch what we post anytime during the week. The entire meeting takes about 60 minutes to complete, with the video conference recording of the program being the bulk of the time. Note that you can easily read this meeting with your favorite device, so feel free to take our meeting on the go with you. Please also make sure to complete the attendance form at the bottom and leave a comment. Enjoy!
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Read and watch the content below in its entirety.
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Message from our President
Greetings Members and Friends of Rotary e-Club of Silicon Valley. As President of our Club, I want to welcome you all today.
WEEKLY FUNNY WITH SHAGS
We believe laughter is an important part of life, and we should all make time to laugh a little. This segment of our meeting is meant to tickle you just enough. These funnies are curated by member Steven "Shags" Shagrin!
A Good Deed
One day a man drove his secretary home after she fell quite ill at work. Although this was an innocent gesture, he decided not to mention it to his wife, who tended to get jealous easily.
Later, that night the man and his wife were driving to a restaurant.
Suddenly he looked down and spotted a high-heel shoe half hidden under the passenger seat. Not wanting to be conspicuous, he waited until his wife was looking out her window before he scooped up the shoe and tossed it out of the car. With a sigh of relief, he pulled into the restaurant parking lot. That's when he noticed his wife squirming around in her seat.
"Honey," she asked, "have you seen my other shoe?"
INSPIRATION
Every week we share a short video highlighting innovation, education, entrepreneurship, or whatever we think might inspire you to see the world in new ways.
"Piano Stairs" from Volkswagen is an older video, and one we might have featured before, but its message is still an important one. If you want to make a difference, concentrating on how folks can have fun as part of that effort pays off. Note that the site mentioned in the video (TheFunTheory) is no longer active.
LEARN SOMETHING NEW
The Immortal Cells of Henrietta Lacks
To kick off Black History Month, here's a fascinating story about HeLa cells you may not have heard of, courtesy of Robin Bulleri.
Club News
Members
Club Service Club Service focuses on making our club strong, strengthening fellowship, and ensuring the effective functioning of the club. A thriving club is anchored by strong relationships and operating with purpose. Remember, being a Rotarian means more than just being a member, being a Rotarian means you are willing to do Rotary work. Please volunteer! If interested in working on a club committee (Membership, Programs, Foundation, Youth Service, Mini-Grants, Budget & Finance) please let President Nick or President-Elect Mike know ASAP!
TRF & Every Rotarian, Every Year (EREY)
It’s not too late. Help our club join others in District 5170 to achieve 100% EREY. Only a $25.00 donation (more is welcome if you can) per member will qualify us for the District EREY lottery. The winning clubs will earn extra DDF funds to help us in our efforts to make a better world. Remember, our DDF comes back to us through your TRF giving. Sign-up today for your TRF contribution - https://www.siliconvalleyrotary.com/trf
Is your latest information posted on our ClubRunner Members site at: https://portal.clubrunner.ca/8370/Page/ShowHomePage. After logging in, please be sure to access the MyClubRunner tab, and select My Profile. Please update your personal information here, which automatically updates our club directory.
Your Service Hours reporting will now take you directly to your ClubRunner Login and Entry for Volunteer Hours. From this point forward, your Service Hours will report to Rotary from ClubRunner.
TRF and EREY - There’s still time to consider your gift to Rotary for the annual TRF Fund. There are several ways to give: outright payment (Check or Credit Card), monthly payments billed to your credit card, allocation to several funds, etc. Our TRF Chair, Phil Dean will be in touch with us soon regarding your pledge and methods for collecting. Our Club is striving to be designated as “Every Year, Every Rotarian”. Your gift matters, either a small amount or a large amount (that is up to you - we will never tell you how much to give). A portion of our Annual fundgiving will come back to us for our DDF usage.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK: 5 February
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
– Margaret Mead
District 5170
Read the latest news from District 5170 - https://rotarydistrict5170.org
SERVICE REPORT
Tell us about the service you’ve done recently for the Club or in your community. Also, post here if you attended another Rotary Club meeting this week
Click here to post your Service Hours directly to ClubRunner
SERVICE PROJECT OPPORTUNITIES
For upcoming club projects in District 5170, check out the District 5170 website. Also, if you have some time available for projects, be sure to let your local area Rotary Club know that you are available to volunteer for their upcoming projects.
HAPPY DOLLARS: Do Good by Sharing Something Good
Each week we ask our members to share stories with the club and toss in a few dollars to support our efforts. The primary goal of this section is to provide a fun way of getting to know each fellow members and guests, while giving back to a good cause.
Happy dollars is an opportunity to share something positive that has happened in your life whether it is personal or business. Think of it as your opportunity to brag a little, but also put a little bit into a karma jar. The money donated through happy dollars is put to charitable use.
PROGRAM: Finsen Headphones: Detecting and Treating Mid-ear Infections Using Machine Learning and Phototherapy
SPEAKER: Leanne Fan
Every week we bring you a new program on innovation, entrepreneurship, and education, and how those contribute to service to others.
The Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley seeks to explore perspectives on service from across the world. The views of the speakers in our programs are their own, and unless stated otherwise, are not necessarily reflective of the views of our eClub or Rotary International.
If you have an idea for a cool speaker, please feel free to reach out to them directly or submit THIS FORM so our Program Committee can contact them!
By 2050, 1 in 4 people will have hearing loss to some extent. In children, the majority of this hearing loss is caused by mid-ear infections. Loss of hearing that comes from repeated ear infections can also affect one's future and health. For a child, this can affect the ability to learn and develop social skills. Diagnostic and treatment may be too expensive and unavailable in lower income countries, as over 50% of the world’s population doesn’t have access to healthcare.
Our speaker, Leanne Fan, was inspired by her mother's battles with multiple ear infections to invent the Finsen Headphones, a prototype that detects and treats mid-ear infections using acoustic reflectometry, machine learning, and phototherapy. These headphones can both detect and treat mid-ear infections, and at a low cost.
A high schooler from San Diego, Fan was named America's Top Young Scientist by 3M and Discovery Education in 2022 and rang the New York Stock Exchange opening bell. She strives to provide a low-cost and non-medicinal ear infection treatment in place of antibiotics for kids to prevent hearing loss, control infections before surgery is needed, and reduce the spread of antibiotic resistance. Fan also encourages science and art in her community and in younger children by promoting her local science fairs and teaching children science at science expos.
Members and guests, please welcome Leanne Fan!
To learn more about Daraja, go to:
To learn more about the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley, go to:
Important Announcement - “Weekly Rotarian” Full Meeting Podcasts
Announcing: Our main program speakers are now available as audio podcasts in addition to YouTube videos! Each week they are available on Spotify, Google, and Apple podcasts.
Or you can simply click below for this week’s speaker:
And our original podcast, featuring Some of the best of our previous speakers is still available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts
UPCOMING PROGRAM RECORDING SCHEDULE
All of our guest speakers and programs are recorded live online over Zoom video conference. We welcome members and guests to join us in one of these upcoming recordings. Recordings are approximately 30 minutes long and are subject to change without notice.
Our online video conference room link for these recordings is always http://zoom.siliconvalleyrotary.com/. You are welcome to join us! Please note the timezone listed for all recordings is US Pacific Time (San Francisco, California, USA).
If you can’t join the live recording, please send your questions for an upcoming speaker to programs@siliconvalleyrotary.com.
THE ATTENDANCE SURVEY
Thanks for reading and watching this week’s meeting. You have two last things to do before you’re done.
We have a very short attendance survey below for you to fill out to record your attendance.
Visiting Rotarians, this is how you can get an email receipt to pass along to your club’s secretary as proof that you’ve attended our meeting if you need it for makeup.
Non-Rotarian Guests, we would love to see who is dropping by our meetings! This part is optional for you. If you think you may want to join our eClub at some point in the future, we would strongly recommend you fill out the attendance form as it will improve your chances of success for your membership application.
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