The 3rd Health Hackathon, hosted by Yale’s Center for Biomedical Innovation and Technology (CBIT), was held January 25-27, 2020 in New Haven. Nearly 200 participants registered with approximately half representing the Yale community at large. Other contributors attended from throughout the United States and internationally, with participants from as far as Indonesia, Singapore, India, and Brazil.
Teams were tasked with creating a product or resource to solve problems addressing the theme of “Social Determinants of Health,” more specifically, within the categories of Affordable Housing, Food Insecurity, Environment and Health, Medical-Legal Partnerships, Behavioral Health, or Transportation. Over three days, teams were formed, and presentations were honed in preparation for their four-minute pitch to a panel of judges. Of 16 total teams that presented pitches, five received awards:
Diversifi – Grand Prize Winner $2,500
- Team Members: Shrey Shah, Columbia; Rohan Singh, Penn; Waez Umer, The College of New Jersey; Jasmine Weiss, MD, National Clinician Scholar Fellow; Afash Haleen, Rutgers Medical School
- Pitch: A virtual role model experience for high school students lacking interaction with career role models
It Takes a Village – Runner Up $1,500
- Team Members: Mia Jackson, Yale College; Alexandra McCraven, Yale College; Chika Ogbejesi, Yale College
- Pitch: An online and mobile application to provide women of color with perinatal resources
amiKa – Audience Choice Award $750
- Team Members: Gazi Inkiyad; Anxhela Docaj; Christo Vairamon; Rodrigo Guerra; Dr. Arta Subagiarta; Ying Ying Koh; Olivia Tan
- Pitch: An app targeting children that gives a ‘virtual pet’ to its user to gain insight into opportunities for behavior modification and improving population mental health
Food Savers – InnovateHealth Yale Sponsored Award $1,000
- Team Members: Aliza Gazek; Jordan Lue, MA candidate; Olufemi Ojo, MS candidate; Patrick Scarborough, BFA Candidate; Jeannie Su, MD, PGY-5; Peter Zapata, DTR, MPH candidate
- Pitch: An app for food pantries to communicate with each other to exchange food and other pantry items to balance out their offerings and be able to provide guests with food diversity
Cisterna – Sustainable Health Initiative Sponsored Award $1,000
- Team Members: Junior de Mata; Murilo Dorion; Graziela Gabriel; Shalon Santos; Lucas Shepard
- Pitch: Improving sewage treatment in rural regions of the Amazon with the goal of reducing infections and improving the quality of drinking water