Speakers

Andrew Trister MD

Andrew Trister leads digital health on the Innovative Technology Solutions team for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. His team focuses on building hardware and software solutions that enable high quality healthcare at the frontline of care delivery in the home and in the community in low resource settings.

Gary Butts MD

Gary Butts is Executive Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, as well as Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer for the Mount Sinai Health System. He also is the Dean for Diversity Programs, Policy and Community Affairs for the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

Stephen Brown MSW

Stephen Brown is the director of preventive emergency medicine at University of Illinois Hospital and Health Sciences System. He runs the Better Health Through Housing program, which identifies the chronically homeless in our emergency department and transitions them into permanent supportive housing.

Franscesca Gany MD

Dr. Francesca Gany is the Chief of the Immigrant Health and Cancer Disparities Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, the Director of the Center for Immigrant Health and Cancer Disparities, and a Director of the community based participatory South Asian Health Initiative. 

Agenda & Further Information

On Our Summit Eventbrite:

Eventbrite Link

Prizes

At the BEN Hacks 2021 event, we offer a prize for the best project in each of the following fields. 

$200 - Maternal Health
$200 - LGBTQIA Health
$200 - Immigrant and Refugee Health
$200 - Environmental and Occupational Health
$200 - Combating Racism
​$200 - Accessibility of Care for Underserved Populations

Hackathon

Our Mission

Health Equity
Why: Concerns about health equity have been raised and addressed for the past several decades, but unmet needs in underserved communities continue to exist. The recent pandemic coupled with the loss of smaller, locally serviced, and rural health centers has further exacerbated lack of access to care. Thankfully, existing telehealth services have been utilized and upgraded to fill these needs, and we believe that further advancements in telehealth that serve more diverse populations can further equalize health access.
How: To target health equity, we initially conducted a literature review to analyze the most affected fields in the past year; Rural Primary Care, Immigrant Health, Environmental Impact, Maternal Health, LGBTQ Health, and Ethnic Minority Health. On the first day of the summit, participants are invited to attend optional workshops by experts in these fields to learn about specific, lesser known issues they can solve. Finally, to encourage participation in health equity centered hacks, judging rubrics award points for decreasing health equity, and prizes will be given for the best project in each of these subfields.
Collaboration
Why: Collaboration is essential in the field of medical innovation, as practitioners who identify issues in healthcare may not be equipped to solve them, while business and technology experts may not be aware of current healthcare concerns. Due to the lack of in-person events in the past year, we have noted a decrease in the number of connections between these groups and between innovation focused faculty and students eager to learn and participate in projects. Therefore, the BEN summit aims to create exposure between these groups.
How: Due to a lack of confidence in group gathering guidelines, this year’s summit is currently virtual. Historically, virtual hackathons have had issues creating opportunities for participants to interact with each other in informal settings. To combat this, we are using a virtual world that enables character-based, proximity triggered person-to-person and group videochat. This platform, coupled with several short optional workshops, will allow participants interested in similar fields to meet and collaborate. In addition, judges of both the pitch competition and hackathon will include innovation focused faculty, CEOs and COOs, and venture capitalists from high-growth cities to allow promising projects to find further funding and mentorship after the event.​

Learn More

FAQs

What is a hackathon?
A hackathon is an overnight competition where teams identify and solve problems using technology. A hackathon does not necessarily have anything to do with breaking (hacking) into computers by using code and revolves around building a finished product that could be shipped and distributed. Events like these are great networking and socializing opportunities as there will be games and workshops to help you get to know each other as well as meet others in the healthcare field.

Who can attend this hackathon?
Anyone currently unrolled in either an undergraduate or graduate degree program can attend this event. A hackathon is not limited to coders and computer scientists: anyone with a passion to learn is welcome. We encourage students of all academic backgrounds, especially medicine and healthcare, to participate. We have prizes that will award all aspects of the product development cycle. 

Where is the event, and how do I get to it?
This event will be hosted online. The link for the online hosting platform will be sent closer to the event date.

What is the cost of attendance?
The event is absolutely free. Thanks to our wonderful sponsors, we are able to provide you with great prizes and workshops!
​
What are the rules of the competition?
Please see the MLH Code of Conduct (http://mlh.io/code-of-conduct) and the Rules and Regulations below

What is the goal/theme of the hackathon?
​The theme of the hackathon is health equity. You are encouraged to solve problems that you face while studying healthcare, listening to the summit speakers, or through your personal healthcare experience. The problems you identify and solve with your products would better the lives of patients and healthcare practitioners. You may even begin to use your product after the event!

How many people per team?
The minimum number of people per team is 2 and the maximum is 5. We want to encourage teamwork without giving too much advantages to teams with larger people. If you are coming to the hackathon without a team, we will have time for you to find a group. The one stipulation is that all teams must have at least one medical student and one nonmedical student. You do NOT need to preregister for the event.

Can I win in multiple categories?
​Yes, it is possible, but unlikely. We recommend focusing on a single category to increase the likelihood of winning a prize.

​Do I need to know how to code?
​Of course not! We will have some workshops to help you get started coding, and not everyone has to work on the software aspect of a product. Every product has many different aspects to it, and coding is just one. Don’t worry if you don’t know how to code, you can always find a team, or ask any of our staff, and they will be willing to help!