Beaverton student named by White House as a U.S. Presidential Scholar

By Anna Katayama

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    BEAVERTON, Oregon (KPTV) — The White House Commission on Presidential Scholars picks high school students each year who show academic or artistic excellence as well as a commitment to community service. This year out of the 3.7 million kids expected to graduate from high school – 161 have been recognized as U.S. Presidential Scholars. One of them grew up in the Beaverton School district.

Rishab Jain attended Stoller Middle and Westview High Schools. The awards for him, have been coming for years. At 13 he was named America’s Top Young Scientist for his research into improving treatment for pancreatic cancer patients. In 2018 TIME Magazine named him one of the nation’s 25 most influential teens.

Dr. Aaron Grossberg is a pancreatic cancer specialist at OHSU. He says Rishab reached out to him in 2020 asking to work with him. Initially the answer was no, but recognizing Rishab’s perseverance Dr. Grossberg agreed to talk over zoom and began mentoring Rishab.

Using computers, the teen has come up with a way for doctors to determine how tolerant a patient might be to various cancer treatments—helping doctors tailor treatments to best suit each individual patient. Rishab has been doing research on his own with weekly guidance from Dr. Grossberg.

Dr. Grossberg says, “The rate at which he was able to learn and implement these things was really tremendous – I seldom see that out of graduate students or post docs, being able to turn over ideas that quickly and move forward.” Grossberg says Rishab has helped further his lab’s work and has even been an inspiration to him. He says, “I hope he hires me someday to work for whatever incredible endeavor he undertakes, he’s really special.”

Jain say his recent selection as a Presidential Scholar has been an inspiration. He says, “I woke up and I saw the email and it was surprising and very exciting to hear about the award so yeah it’s something I value very highly it’s a recognition and testament to the work I’ve done and it motivates me to do more.”

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