Cooper University Health Care’s Innovation Center recently hosted the second Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) Hackathon, which included a pitch competition, an innovation showcase, and a reception. The showcase featured inventions from Cooper team members and collaborations with Rowan University, with posters and discussions from industry and state leaders.
Following the showcase, 12 teams competed in the SDOH Hackathon and pitched their tech innovations to judges. The three winning teams earned the opportunity to present at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society’s (HIMSS) Emerge Innovation Experience Conference in Las Vegas in early March.
The finalists and their winning pitch presentations were:
First Place:
Team: careMESH
Peter Tippett, MD, CEO of careMESH
Presentation: Revolutionize SDOH Disparities via Improved Care Coordination Communications, Workflow, Tasking & Patient-centric Management
Second Place:
Team: B.E.N.D. Connections
Monae Haskins, BSN, RN, ITIL, Founder of BEND Connections
Bright Ubani, MScIT, CAHIMS, ITIL, Clinical Informatics Specialist
Presentation: Food Prescription Mobile App: Reducing Chronic Disease in Food Deserts
Third Place:
Team: Oncora Medical
David Lindsay, MD, PhD, CEO of Oncora Medical
Kevin Yee, CTO, Oncora Medical
Presentation: Transforming Cancer Registry Automation
In addition, the Vest-O team received an honorable mention for their cooling vest technology. Team members Carlos Diaz and Luna Avila of Vest-O will receive free guidance from the Cooper Innovation Center to develop their innovation, which is designed to reduce health issues associated with working in the heat.
Since 2022, the Cooper Innovation Center has worked to promote innovation and entrepreneurship for new medical devices, diagnostics, and therapeutics as well as encourage invention disclosures, protect intellectual property rights, and secure patents. The center helped to greatly increase investment in new technology development and launch two startups — HydroPep Therapeutics and Upstream Access, among other initiatives.
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