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A2H2 Weekend: Removing Barriers to Healthcare
Friday, June 23, 2017 - Sunday, June 25, 2017
| FreeA2H2 is a healthcare hackathon in Ann Arbor addressing challenges to health around the world and providing participants a forum to develop solutions and scale their ideas. This year’s topic is Removing Barriers to Healthcare.
Why are barriers an issue? Health improves the condition of the human body. There have been developments in healthcare, but people around the world who would benefit from them have trouble connecting with these solutions. Barriers can mean not getting the healthcare you need, getting that care too late, or even not getting follow-up to maintain health. This includes, but is not limited to:
- affordability
- physical access
- transportation
- lack of quality care
- limited supplies
- inability to leave work
- improper preventive care
- lack of care professionals
The event takes place June 23 to June 25 on The University of Michigan campus. Over the course of these days participants form cross-functional teams to collaborate and compete for prizes, developing a minimum viable product or prototype to bring down a barrier in health.
Schedule
Friday, June 23
6:00 – 8:00 P.M. Opening Reception
Saturday, June 24
8:00 A.M. Registration & Breakfast
9:00 A.M. Keynote Speakers
10:00 A.M. Problem Pitches
11:00 A.M. Hacking Starts
Sunday, June 25
11:50 A.M. Hacking Stops
12:00 P.M. Team Pitches to Judges
2:00 P.M. Winners Announced
Keynote Speakers
Scott Hollister
Dr. Scott Hollister is a Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Chair of Pediatric Technology at Georgia Institute of Technology, where he directs the Tissue Engineering and Mechanics lab (TEM). Dr. Hollister and his collaborators have designed and developed a variety of medical devices utilizing 3D printing, an area in which he has worked for 18 years, publishing his first paper in 1997. His general research focuses on the design, fabrication and evaluation of biomaterial platform systems for tissue reconstruction. He is a fellow of the American Institute of Biological Engineering. His work on a bioresorbable tracheal splint along with Dr. Glenn Green was given a Popular Mechanics 2013 Breakthrough Innovation Award. This implantation of this 3D printed device to save the lives of two children has been featured on the Today Show, USA Today, NPR, Time magazine, Nature, Science, and Popular Mechanics among other media.
Alexander Plum
Alexander Plum, MPH, CHES is responsible for leading Henry Ford Health System’s global healthcare delivery “reverse-innovation” portfolio. Alex identifies and adapts promising solutions from the field of global health and partners with non-profits, universities, faith communities, and other health care systems in Detroit and regionally to implement and evaluate these “global-to-local” interventions. In Detroit, his research and health programs explore how structural and socio-environmental factors impact the health of Detroiters living on the margins, specifically the elderly, homeless, LGBTQ young people, those with mental illness, and those impacted by government-imposed water shutoffs. He is an investigator on global studies and interventions to reduce antimicrobial resistance (Micronesia, Nepal, India, and Detroit), promote vaccines (Haiti and Detroit), and research the intersection of gender, religion, and health outcomes (Kenya, Haiti, Atlanta, and Detroit). Alex received his Master of Public Health from Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health, which honored him with its 2015 Humanitarian Award.
Judges:
Ann Verhey-Henke, Managing Director, Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship at University of Michigan School of Public Health
Anne Fisher, Senior Director, Research Analytics at Truven Health Analytics
Steve Schwartz, Co-founder, CTO at Genomenon Inc.
Kathy Nagy, Owner, KN Enterprises
Joyce Lee, Robert P. Kelch MD Research Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Michigan
Jonathan Goldstein, Director of Operations for Entrepreneurial Services, Ann Arbor SPARK
Prizes
In addition to meeting cool people, creating a dream team, and launching a new venture, we have some excellent prizes lined up for you! We want to make sure that you have the right resources after the weekend to help you move your great ideas forward.
First Prize:
- Entry into the competitive Entrepreneur Bootcamp program at Ann Arbor SPARK
- Showcase on our web site for up to one year
Second Prize:
- Entry into the competitive Entrepreneur Bootcamp program at Ann Arbor SPARK
- Showcase on our web site for up to one year
Third Prize:
- Customer Discovery Program from The SearchLite
- Showcase on our web site for up to one year
People’s Choice:
- A special prize for the crowd favorite
All winning teams will have opportunities to present their future work and gather feedback from the A2 Health Hacks community at future events!
What’s a Hackathon?
What’s a Makeathon?
Our definition:
An all-weekend, high-intensity brainstorming and prototyping event for participants from all walks of life: students and professionals and retirees from fields across IT, engineering, design, health and business, collaborating, putting their skills and knowledge together to create an new solution to a problem. Solutions can be websites or apps, devices, service offerings or or business models, to present to the judges by Sunday to win prizes. In the worst case you’ll have a great weekend creating new things with interesting people and go back to your day job on Monday. In the bast case you just met your co-founders and started a company.
Ann Arbor Health Hacks is dedicated to providing a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, age, or religion.
We do not tolerate harassment of hackathon participants in any form. Sexual language and imagery is not appropriate for any hackathon venue, including receptions, hacking time, and/or talks. Hackathon participants violating these rules may be expelled from the event at the discretion of the organizers. Please approach one of the hackathon staff members or find help at the information desk if you have concerns or would like to report harassment. Harassment includes, but is not limited to:
- Verbal comments that reinforce social structures of domination related to gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, age, or religion
- Sexual images in public spaces
- Deliberate intimidation, stalking, or following
- Harassing photography or recording
- Sustained disruption of talks or other events
- Inappropriate physical contact
- Unwelcome sexual attention
- Advocating for, or encouraging, any of the above behavior
Enforcement
Participants asked to stop any harassing behavior are expected to comply immediately. If a participant engages in harassing behavior, event organizers retain the right to take any actions to keep the event a welcoming environment for all participants. This includes warning the offender or expulsion from the hackathon. Event organizers may take action to redress anything designed to, or with the clear impact of, disrupting the event or making the environment hostile for any participants.
Reporting
If someone makes you or anyone else feel unsafe or unwelcome, please report it as soon as possible to event staff and/or the information table. Harassment and other code of conduct violations reduce the value of our event for everyone. We want you to be happy at the Gupta Family Hackathon for Health Communication. People like you make our event a better place.
Copyright (CC-O)
This policy is licensed under the Creative Commons Zero license. This code relied heavily on the Code of Conduct created by our friends at Ignite UX Michigan. You can find their code of conduct here. We would like to thank them for sharing their code, as well as the people at Geek Feminism who inspired Ignite UX Michigan. You can find the Geek Feminism code here.
Outside of your time, nothing!
Our wonderful organizers and sponsors have worked hard to make this event free of cost to you. Food and beverages will be provided over the weekend as well.
No you don’t. We will have keynote speakers to inspire your ideation. That said, if you have an idea, come pitch it! Inspire others to join you and prototype it. But be open to be inspired by another idea and form a team around that. We discourage teams from pre-forming or bringing projects that have already been worked on prior to the event. Work with new people on new things! That’s more fun anyway!
Bring a laptop, a bottle for water, energy, and an open mind! An extension cord would be a good call too! Layered clothes are recommended as well. There’s always someone who is too hot or too cold
We will have some maker mentors available with gadgets, more to come on that front, but if you have gadgets you think you may want to tinker with, feel free to bring them!
You do! Neither the A2 Health Hacks organization nor any of the sponsors claim any rights to the intellectual property generated during the event i.e. we don’t automatically get a cut of anything you have made. That said, IP is always tricky and we’re not in a position to give you legal advice but are happy to connect you to an IP lawyer or the appropriate USPTO resources.
Absolutely! The purpose of this event is to bring people with diverse backgrounds and skill sets together. The solutions generated over the weekend will be varied and can be anything from a new app, a new physical product, or a service-based solution
No you don’t. That’s entirely up to you and your team. We will have food available throughout the event, but we want you to be safe. Wear your event tag at all times so we can make sure only registered participants are on the premises.