Tag Archive for: Hackathon

2022 Hackathon logo

Addressing health equity issues through an app innovation competition

Children’s National Hospital launches The Health Equity in Research Hackathon — a team-based collaborative competition that empowers researchers to address health equity issues in the community through innovative apps. A panel of expert judges will select winning app ideas for full development, including finding grant opportunities, access to mentors and collaborators.

The big picture

“This Hackathon is a great chance for our research community to address larger issues related to advancing health equity within translational and clinical research,” said Patrick O’Keefe, administrative director for the Clinical and Translational Science Institute at Children’s National (CTSI-CN). “We are thrilled to see how people collaborate to create solutions for big problems that have traditionally slowed research and contributed to the vast inequities in health we see today.”

Additional details

The 2022 hackathon will be a two-part event. During Part I, slated for June 17, participants will gather in diverse teams to discuss and refine the selected app ideas. They will learn from technical and scientific experts and brainstorm app-based approaches to address health equity.

Each team will pitch their ideas to a panel of judges, and the winning app(s) will advance to Part II of the hackathon planned for Fall 2022, where app developers will build the selected apps.

“We encourage anyone at Children’s or George Washington University to submit an app idea – even if it is not fully formed — as long as they think it would help reduce health disparities through improving the research process,” said Lisa Guay-Woodford, M.D., director for Clinical and Translational Science Institute and Center for Translational Research at Children’s National. “We also hope researchers, staff and students who don’t have app ideas at this time will consider attending anyway to participate in the lively development process of the Hackathon.”

Anyone within the Children’s National and George Washington University research communities can submit an app idea for consideration. No app development experience is necessary to enter.

Why it matters

Health equity also means bringing the community into the research process. Thus, in part II, Children’s National will partner with high schools and universities in the area to incorporate voices who are often under-represented in the science and technology field.

“Our community is home to brilliant young minds at our local high schools and universities,” said Chaya Merrill, Dr.P.H., director for Child Health Data Lab at Children’s National. “We are excited to create an opportunity for them to work alongside experienced app builders – at the intersection of health equity and technology – by engaging in Part II of the Hackathon to build the winning apps!”

The hackathon will take place at Children’s Research and Innovation Campus in partnership with CTSI-CN and the Center for Translational Research.

The app idea submission deadline is on May 20, 2022, by 5pm. You may apply here. If you have questions about completing this submission, please email Patrick O’Keefe at pokeefe@childrensnational.org.

2022 Hackathon logo

Girl using smartphone with dad

Children’s National to participate in Hackathon

Girl using smartphone with dad

On March 24, 2019, George Washington University will host their annual George Hacks Medical Hackathon. Among the participants are Seema Khan, M.D., a gastroenterologist, and Kelley Shirron, MSN, CPNP, a nurse practitioner, at Children’s National Health System.

The event is a 24-hour innovation competition at George Washington University that will feature pitches addressing needs for patients battling cancer, medical and social innovation solutions for the aging community and more.

Below, Seema Khan and Kelley Shirron provide insight about the My EoE and BearScope mobile app they are pitching for the competition:

What is the idea surrounding the mobile app you are developing?

We encounter a lot of cases where the patient diagnosis of eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) and its follow up care are delayed due to a lack of understanding regarding the nature of symptoms, miscommunications related to type of treatment and scheduling as a whole. From the moment the patient visits the doctor to the point of when an endoscopy is scheduled, the process warrants improvement and we believe this mobile app can assist tremendously. The availability of a mobile app like this can make it easier for patients to have better preparation for their procedures.

What are some obstacles that you encounter in relation to endoscopies?

We often experience instances where patients inadvertently violate their NPO (nothing by mouth) order, which results in complete cancellation of their endoscopy procedure. In a case like this, the patient would have to wait another few weeks before they can reschedule an appointment. An NPO violation leads to wasted resources. Mom and Dad took off work, the patient missed school, experienced unnecessary fasting and now they have to do it all over again, resulting in a delay of diagnosis.

How will the mobile app help patients with these issues?

We would like for the mobile app to allow patients to monitor their symptoms, corresponding to their period of treatment. The treatment for our patients is a very important process which requires close adherence. For example, the treatment can be tricky because it resembles the same diet that many kids with food allergies have to adhere to. With this mobile app, the patient could have easy access to that information and identify their food avoidances. The mobile app would identify foods they should avoid in their diet and the seasons they should avoid for scheduling of their scopes due to known seasonal allergies.

How do you envision your patients personally benefitting from the device?

We believe our mobile app can help patients avoid unnecessary pitfalls. For example, the mobile app can incorporate a game or an alarm to remind the patient to drink water or to take their medicine when necessary. A notification can pop up to remind the patient to stop eating and drinking and can detail what that means. Those notifications also include alerts for no gum chewing, hard candies, drinking coffee, etc.

Sometimes patients accidently go to the wrong location. It’s really heartbreaking to experience that because in some cases the patient hasn’t eaten in eight to 12 hours. Many times they’ve endured the pre -colonoscopy “clean out” for those also undergoing a colonoscopy and now we have to reschedule their procedure, all because of a location mix-up. We’re thinking of ways to integrate with WAZE or other navigational apps into this application to help patients coordinate their routes better, which is a helpful feature to have in Washington, D.C. An address of their procedure location could be pre-entered into the mobile app by their provider to avoid location mix-ups. By incorporating this feature, it will help us provide patients with efficient and prompt care.

What excites you about this project?

We’re excited about this because this mobile app could improve the delivery of health care by helping patients and their families identify possible associations between their diet and their symptoms. The content in the app will also help them be better prepared for their diagnostic procedure, and will hopefully reduce last-minute cancellations due to misunderstandings. These capabilities are fun to think about and we’re excited about the creativity that will be incorporated into this project.

Children’s National will also be hosting the 2019 Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) Healthcare Hackathon on March 29th. The half day hackathon will feature both medical and public health applications developed by participating teams. 

2nd-annual-hackathon

Genetic testing reigns triumphant at health app hackathon

2nd-annual-hackathon

The growing popularity of genetic testing has one large hurdle: There are fewer than 4,000 genetic counselors in the United States, and people who use commercial genetic testing kits may receive confusing or inaccurate information.

To combat this problem, a team of doctors from the Rare Disease Institute at Children’s National Health System created the framework for a smartphone application that would house educational videos and tools that provide reputable information about genetic disorders and genetic testing.

On April 13, 2018, Debra Regier, M.D., Natasha Shur, M.D., and their teammates presented the app “Bear Genes” at the 2nd Annual Medical & Health App Development Workshop, a competition sponsored by the Clinical and Translational Science Institute at Children’s National (CTSI-CN) and the Milken Institute School of Public Health (Milken Institute SPH) at the George Washington University. Bear Genes won first place, and the team received $10,000 to develop a working prototype of the app.

The Bear Genes team was one of 10 who presented their ideas for smartphone apps to a panel of judges at the competition. Ideas covered a variety of topics, including emergency room visits and seizures related to menstrual cycles. Sean Cleary, Ph.D., M.P.H., an associate professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the Milken Institute SPH, and his teammates proposed an app called “MyCommunicationPal” that would assist autistic individuals in reporting their symptoms to healthcare providers.

Sean Cleary and Kevin Cleary, Ph.D., technical director of the Bioengineering Initiative at Children’s National Health System, created the hackathon to bring together professionals from various fields to create technology-based solutions for public health and medical challenges. Interested participants submit applications and app proposals in the fall, and 10 ideas are selected to be fleshed out at the half-day hackathon. Participants join teams to develop the selected ideas, and on the day of the event, create a five-minute presentation to compete for the top prize. About 90 people attended this year’s hackathon.

“The workshop provides us with the opportunity to collaborate with healthcare providers, public health professionals and community members to develop an appropriate user-friendly app for those in need,” said Sean Cleary. “The event also fosters future collaborations between important stakeholders.”

This article originally appeared in the Milken Institute SPH pressroom.

Electronic medical record on tablet

Children’s National submissions make hackathon finals

Electronic medical record on tablet

This April, the Clinical and Translational Science Institute at Children’s National (CTSI-CN) and The George Washington University (GW) will hold their 2nd Annual Medical and Health App Development Workshop. Of the 10 application (app) ideas selected for further development at the hackathon workshop, five were submitted by clinicians and researchers from Children’s National.

The purpose of the half-day hackathon is to develop the requirements and prototype user interface for 10 medical software applications that were selected from ideas submitted late in 2017. While idea submissions were not restricted, the sponsors suggested that they lead to useful medical software applications.

The following five app ideas from Children’s National were selected for the workshop:

  • A patient/parent decision tool that could use a series of questions to determine if the patient should go to the Emergency Department or to their primary care provider; submitted by Sephora Morrison, M.D., and Ankoor Shah, M.D., M.P.H.
  • The Online Treatment Recovery Assistance for Concussion in Kids (OnTRACK) smartphone application could guide children/adolescents and their families in the treatment of their concussion in concert with their health care provider; submitted by Gerard Gioia, Ph.D.
  • A genetic counseling app that would provide a reputable, easily accessible bank of counseling videos for a variety of topics, from genetic testing to rare disorders; submitted by Debra Regier, M.D.
  • An app that would allow the Children’s National Childhood and Adolescent Diabetes Program team to communicate securely and efficiently with diabetes patients; submitted by Cynthia Medford, R.N., and Kannan Kasturi, M.D.
  • An app that would provide specific evidence-based guidance for medical providers considering PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) for HIV prevention; submitted by Kyzwana Caves, M.D.

Kevin Cleary, Ph.D., technical director of the Bioengineering Initiative at Children’s National Health System, and Sean Cleary, Ph.D., M.P.H., associate professor in epidemiology and biostatistics at GW, created the hackathon to provide an interactive learning experience for people interested in developing medical and health software applications.

The workshop, which will be held on April 13, 2018, will start with short talks from experts on human factors engineering and the regulatory environment for medical and health apps. Attendees will then divide into small groups to brainstorm requirements and user interfaces for the 10 app ideas. After each group presents their concepts to all the participants, the judges will pick the winning app/group. The idea originator will receive up to $10,000 of voucher funding for their prototype development.