April 16, 2024 – More than 500 folks worldwide spent two intense days creating modern concepts to sort out well being care challenges at an early April hackathon organized by the Health Systems Innovation Lab (HSIL) at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

The hackathon, held April 5-6, was aimed toward fostering an atmosphere during which members might harness digital health—akin to health-related apps and personalised drugs—and artificial intelligence (AI) to give you options to assist enhance well being care in certainly one of three areas: cardiovascular disease and diabetes, cancer, and mental health. The occasion drew members from greater than 30 nations to various hubs around the globe, together with Boston; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Kyiv, Ukraine; Lima and different cities in Peru; London, UK; Santiago, Chile; and Sao Paulo, Brazil. Participants included college students, postdocs, and younger professionals.

The hackathon started with a gap panel moderated by Rifat Atun, professor of worldwide well being programs and HSIL director. The panelists shared insights on the newest tendencies in using AI and digital options in well being care and how you can scale up and maintain improvements on this enviornment.

Then the groups set to work. Throughout the occasion, groups have been supported by each in-person and on-line mentors. On day two of the hackathon, groups pitched their concepts to panels of judges at every location, with one winner chosen per monitor.

Diabetes, psychological well being improvements

Winners within the Boston hub, which hosted 70 members at Countway Library, included a crew within the heart problems and diabetes monitor that developed an thought known as “SweetAudio,” a machine studying mannequin that may analyze variables within the human voice, akin to pitch or depth, as a way to estimate blood glucose ranges. Team member Hein Thu, an MD slated to earn a grasp of public well being in well being administration from Harvard Chan School in May, defined that blood glucose degree can have an effect on the elasticity of the larynx and vocal cords, and power diabetes can result in muscle ailments and muscle weak point, which might in flip trigger voice issues. The SweetAudio mannequin shall be educated by matching variabilities within the voice with blood glucose ranges, as measured by a steady glucose monitor (CGM). Once the mannequin has been fine-tuned, it ought to be capable to analyze an individual’s voice in just some seconds and supply a blood glucose estimate. The plan is to offer a free model of SweetAudio for low-income populations that won’t have entry to CGMs or blood glucose check strips, Thu stated.

Another successful crew within the Boston hub, within the psychological well being monitor, proposed an AI bot known as “Sam.io” to assist psychological well being sufferers adhere to their drugs by means of personalised follow-up care. Reasons for low adherence amongst psychological well being sufferers embrace poor well being literacy, mistrust of docs, and medicine unwanted effects, based on crew member Mariel Sander, a Harvard Medical School scholar. The Sam.io bot would be capable to converse with sufferers over the telephone and through textual content, in addition to perceive affected person feelings from their voice and language, Sander stated.

All the successful groups are invited to take part in a bootcamp in preparation for pitching their concepts to a worldwide judging panel in early May. Winners of the worldwide judging shall be invited to hitch the HSIL’s six-month Venture Incubation Program (VIP) to additional their improvements. Through VIP, the winners obtain on-line assist from tutorial and entrepreneurial companions in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Peru, and Saudi Arabia on how you can fine-tune their concepts, current enterprise proposals and make monetary projections for his or her startups, and pitch their concepts to potential companions and buyers.

Organizers (L to R) Jonathan Gong, Jake Figi, Eunsoo Cho, Bukhtawar Azhar, Luke Brothers, Caroline Bulstra, Assel Ibadulla, Nour Sharara

Mentor Roline Brunnekreeft works with one of many groups

Participants hearken to crew pitches

Group image of members within the hackathon’s Boston hub

– Karen Feldscher

Photos: Jonathan Gong