The second annual Triangle Health Innovation Challenge took place September 16-18, 2016 at the Trent Semans Center for Health Education at Duke University. The event brought together 159 participants from across the Triangle and beyond to build innovative solutions for problems in health and healthcare.
35 “pain points” in health were pitched by participants, 25 solutions were proposed, and 21 teams formed to build innovation healthcare solutions. Over the next 48 hours, participants met with 35 expert clinical, business, and technical mentors; consumed over 900 cups of coffee; and worked late into the night to build and test their prototype solution, develop a business plan, and refine their final pitches. On Sunday, the 21 teams pitched their products to our panel of judges, who awarded prizes for the best solutions.
Organized by students from Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill and NC State, the Triangle Health Innovation Challenge taps into the areas strong academic, technical and startup communities and brings participants out of their silos to work collaboratively on important challenges in health. Participants included undergraduate students (36%), graduate/professional students (47%) and young professionals (17%). Among student participants, 40% were from Duke, 25% from UNC-Chapel Hill, 23% from NC State, and 2% from other universities.
The following teams were selected for prizes by our judges, Dr. Blake Long (Chief Medical Officer, Mosaic Health Solutions), Dr. Alan Metz (Senior VP and Global Head, Therapeutic and Specialty Centers of Excellence, Quintiles), and Dr. Michael Gunn (Professor of Medicine and Director of Research Development, Department of Medicine, Duke University):
Grand Prize ($4000): Team Pilot - Reducing heart failure readmissions through at-home weight, blood pressure and symptom monitoring
- Ahmad Hamad, MD: UNC Allergy & Immunology Fellow
- Gina Lee: Duke Pratt
- Hyun Keun Ahn: Duke Trinity ‘18
- Jake Mullett: Duke Pratt ‘19
- Kyle Hamilton: Duke Pratt ‘16 (MEM)
- Michael Wells: UNC Pharmacy ‘17
- Muath Bishawi, MD: Duke Cardiothoracic Surgery Resident
- Stephen Robinson, MD: Duke Faculty, Duke Pratt ‘89
Runner-up Prize ($2000): and the Janssen Mental Health Prize ($500): Team Lotus - Virtual reality therapy for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder
- Francia Fang: Duke Trinity ‘19
- Gary Wang: Duke Trinity ‘19
- Howard Li: Duke Pratt ‘19
- Jackie Xu: Duke Trinity ‘19
- Jasmine Lu: Duke Pratt ‘19
- Pooja Joshi: UNC ‘19
- Robyn Guo: Duke Trinity ‘19
Third Place Prize ($1000): Team CareChoice - Triage platform to shift patients from the ED to Urgent Care and reduce wait times
- Brandon Barrentine: UNC ‘19
- Gary Chang: Duke Pratt ‘16 (MEng)
- Keaton Armentrout: Duke Pratt ‘17 (MS)
- Mario Padilla: Duke Pratt ‘16 (MEng)
- MengMeng Xu: Duke M’19 G’18