Shivani Sud, whose interest in cancer research began 11 years ago, when she was six and a relative developed a brain tumor, identified patients at risk for tumor recurrence and proposed potential treatments for her top-winning presentation.

She created a model that analyzes the specific "molecular signatures" of tumors from patients with stage-II colon cancer, and used that information to predict the rate of recurrence.

Here's a podcast of the awards ceremony, which also features the contest's other top winners.

With ideas like this, the millennial generation just might disprove the longstanding belief that you can't cure cancer.