iSchool codefest

Drexel University’s The iSchool, College of Information Science and Technology will host the premier Philly Health Codefest, a two-day coding competition with the goal of transforming data into health care solutions. More than 150 software developers and designers will join health care professionals, educators, students and entrepreneurs at the event which will take place in the Bossone Research Enterprise Center’s Mitchell Auditorium on April 5-7.

“The Philly Health Codefest provides a unique opportunity to bring together some of the most innovative movers and shakers in the tech and health care communities, while spurring new ideas and startups to solve real-world health issues,” said iSchool Dean David Fenske.

Participants will form teams to come up with creative ways to tackle a variety of health care challenges facing people in Philadelphia. During the 36-hour event they will work to produce new prototypes and tools related to open data, personalized health care, wellness apps, health care through social media, senior care and doctor-patient interaction. 

Using anonymized data about community health data, food and nutrition, clinical trials, quality health care performance, food and drug recalls, and Medicare coverage, the coders will be able to produce new applications to improve health care data access and/or organization.

Chief Data Officer of Philadelphia Mark Headd will open the event on Friday, April 5, along with representatives from Philadelphia’s Office of New Urban Mechanics, Jumpstart NJ Angel Network, and Independence Blue Cross before the participants begin their marathon coding session.

Saturday’s Codefest events feature panels and presentations with Basecamp Venture Partner Mel Baiada, Ken Kay, SmartStart Managing General Partner Yuriy Porytko, and Tigerlabs General Manager and Managing Partner Bert Navarrete.

A panel of judges that includes both venture capitalists and respected members of Philadelphia’s tech community will review the projects. Winners will be announced on Sunday, April 7 with winning teams splitting a prize pool of more than $17,000. Teams will be recognized for creating the best mobile app and the most scalable solution, among other special category prizes.

Drexel has previously hosted hackathon events, such as “Random Hacks of Kindness”—an open source solution effort founded by Microsoft, Google, Yahoo!, NASA and the World Bank. Codefest is in this same spirit, but more narrowly focused on giving people more access to healthcare data that they can use.