UC Health Hack Expands Opportunities for Students, Builds Partnerships for the Future

By Jacquelyn Lim  

A few months after UC Health Hack 2017, organizers are still buzzing from the success of the hackaton's first partnerships with Southern California health institutions- UC San Diego Health, UC Irvine Heath and Rady's Children's Hospital- prompting event coordinators to start planning early for the annual event next year.

Health Hack was hosted in 2015 and 2016 solely by Engineering World Health (EWH)- the UCSD chapter of a nationally-backed organization dedicated to improving medical health and living standards in underdeveloped communities around the world.

This year was the biggest yet.

New partnerships with the three health systems doubled the amount of participants of what the event had previously.  It provided the opportunity for engineering and medical students to collaborate for the first time, to address the mission of EWH and current problems within partnered institutions.

The results were creative and innovative solutions to this year's most pressing topics: refugee healthcare, healthy aging, home care, and patient experience.

"We already had participation from UC Berkeley and are looking to partner with UCSF, UCLA and all of the other UCs next year," said Tracy Magee, Integrative Health Coordinator and Systems Information Project Manager.

Student prototypes thrilled event organizers, health experts and industry professionals.

"It's been a week and we are surprised, so impressed, we are deciding on where to go from here," Magee said.

Participants were divided into two tracks over two days to keep teams organized.  

One was the Integrative Health Systems Track, where teams developed solutions for domestic problems in clinical settings. The other was the Global Health Track, where teams developed solutions for international public health issues.

First, second and third place prizes were awarded to teams in both tracks after a panel of judges- experts in health and industry leaders- decided which prototypes stood out. Team members are awarded mentorship from the Von Liebig Entrepreneurism Center and are given lab space from the Pepper House, two incubators involved in the event.

Winning teams from the Integrative Health Systems Track will be able to apply their prototypes to in UC San Diego’s and UC Irvine’s health systems immediately, which is the next step in enhancing their projects.

“They will be able to incorporate items that are built into the UCSD and UCI health systems and will try real-world solutions to these problems already, that we see in our institutions; in Thornton and Jacobs Medical Centers,” said Magee.

Off the Wall, the team placing first in the Integrative Health Systems Track, created a project called "Incentivizing Patient Mobility Through Augmented Reality Art Therapy," which helps reduce delayed discharge and lack of mobility of inpatients using mobile technology to connect them to art. The pilot study was done at Jacobs Medical Center.

Global Health Track winning teams will also have the opportunity to further work on their prototypes.

“ Our goal is to ensure that the projects that are developed during UC Health Hack are pursued beyond the weekend,” said Niranjanaa Jeeva, EWH Health Hack Co-Director.

Awesome, the team placing first in the Global Health Track created a project called "Blueprints for Life: Design Solutions for Refugee Health," where international refugee communities lacking basic needs are connected to engineers through a website, to create blueprints for local infrastructure.  

In addition to having more participants, the hackathon drew larger sponsorships from leading companies.

“Amazon Web Service and Epic, were two proprietary software companies that got involved this year and we are wanting to expand the numbers of companies and incubators that get involved [next year],” said Magee.

EWH coordinators are identifying  goals they want to reach next year and plans have already taken shape. Jeeva says the event gained significant exposure this year and organizers are working on leveraging what was gained into the coming year.

" We want participants from all over California to come and attend. We will be aiming for over 500 participants!"

#ILookLikeAnEngineer: Christopher Yin

Meet Chris, the next student of our campaign and VP Project Team for Engineering World Health. With a passion for improved global health, he hopes to impact entire populations through engineering - all while listening to The Velvet Underground and doing some creative writing. 

Name: Christopher Yin

Major: Bioengineering

Graduation Date: 2018

Why did you choose engineering at UC San Diego?

When I was applying to schools, I wasn’t even really considering UC San Diego. I was set on attending a private university, and if that didn’t work out and I had to choose a UC, then, of course, it would have to be Berkeley. The only reason I included UC San Diego was because I saw that its bioengineering program was ranked second in the nation. I attended Triton Day and  realized that it’s a great school for engineering. There are a ton of resources available for research and a number of engineering organizations on campus - those were primarily what drew me here.

What are your career goals?

I want to pursue either a Ph.D. or an M.D./Ph.D. program. I like being in school, and I like learning. Ultimately, I want to be involved in research that has an impact on global health. I love the science and I want to understand as much as I can, but I also really appreciate the part of engineering where you actually build your solutions. It’s pretty satisfying to make something tangible, and especially to have that something matter to other people. Engineering represents the opportunity to affect not just individuals, but entire populations.

Do you have a favorite quote or mantra?

From David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest: “I do things like get in a taxi and say, ‘The library, and step on it.’”

What are three things that are unique about you?

(1) Along with being a bioengineer, I would also like to write stories and novels. (2) I love brussel sprouts. (3) I listen to old and weird music, like The Velvet Underground, King Khan and BBQ Show.

What does this campaign mean to you?

The only way I can think to answer this question is with something platitudinous like, “It’s important for people’s awareness of engineering to encompass the full breadth and diversity of the people who do the engineering.” But just because it sounds cliché doesn’t mean it’s not true. I still think there needs to be a greater push early-on in education for all students, regardless of race, gender, religion, sexuality, etc., to explore STEM fields and figure out for themselves if it’s something they want to pursue. From my experience, any demographic disparities are due not so much to a lack of ability or opportunity, but a lack of awareness of ability and opportunity. If campaigns like this could change that, then that would be pretty great.