Mayor James Donchess recently recognized Yuvanguru Balagurumoorthy, a 15-year-old sophomore at Nashua High School South, for his work in developing ACCESS-AD. Courtesy photo

NASHUA – Yuvanguru Balagurumoorthy, a 15-year-old sophomore at Nashua High School South, was formally recognized by Mayor James Donchess for his work in developing ACCESS-AD, a screening device designed to provide early and affordable detection of Alzheimer’s disease.

“This young man will absolutely be making significant contributions in the STEM field,” said Donchess. “I am very proud of him and his commitment to scientific research already.”

Balagurumoorthy said he was honored to receive this recognition.

“To me, this recognition is not just about the project itself, but about the importance of making healthcare innovation more accessible and building things that can truly help people,” he said. “I’m especially grateful because ACCESS-AD is very personal to me. Seeing how Alzheimer’s affects families made me want to work on something that could help make earlier screening more affordable and reachable for more people.”

Balagurumoorthy said ACCESS-AD functions with 94 percent accuracy and costs less than $300.

“I kept thinking about the families who know, deep down, that something is changing in someone they love, but cannot get answers quickly or easily. Alzheimer’s often begins with small, quiet signs and for many families those signs are followed by fear, uncertainty and a long wait for help,” he said. “What stayed with me was how unfair that is, especially for lower-resource families, where early evaluation can be expensive, delayed or simply out of reach. So much research is focused on pushing the most advanced methods forward, which matters, but I wanted to focus on something equally important, building research that people can actually reach, afford and use.”

In contrast, traditional Alzheimer’s screening can cost up to $3,000 depending on health insurance coverage.

“When you think about a grandmother, a grandfather or someone you love slowly slipping away, this becomes more than a research project,” said Balagurumoorthy, adding that he is looking to partner with clinics and community organizations. “I want ACCESS-AD to reach as many people as possible, especially families who are too often left behind. If we can make screening more accessible, we can give people something incredibly valuable — more time to understand, more time to plan and more time with the people they love.”

In addition to developing ACCESS-AD, Balagurumoorthy was a finalist in the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair. He took first place in the New Hampshire Science and Engineering Exposition last March and won the 3M Young Scientist Challenge in 2023. Balagurumoorthy is also a member of the Nashua Robotics Team Tesseract and competed at the FIRST Championship in Houston in 2025.

Looking ahead, Balagurumoorthy said he is interested in a career at the three-way nexus of technology, research and healthcare.

“I’m very interested in building startups and creating technologies that can make a meaningful impact at scale,” he said. “For me, success means creating something that is not only innovative, but truly useful in people’s lives.”