NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Monday, June 27, 2016

The first annual Ann Arbor Health Hackathon brought together medical professionals, software engineers, public health workers among others to brainstorm solutions to global healthcare problems from Friday to Saturday in Palmer Commons.

The “hackathon” included 24 hours of health-related “hacking,” which involved teams pitching ideas and creating prototypes for solutions to health problems. The event focused on preventing disease in underserved areas of the developing world.

The hackathon was created and operated by Beatrix Balogh, a research associate for the William Davidson Institute, an independent non-profit that provides emerging market solutions; Britt Johnson, a consultant at Integral Chain; Diane Bouis, the innovation programs director at The Inovo Group, an innovation consulting firm; and Neelima Ramaraju, the global health applications director at LLamasoft, a supply chain management software company.

Though there are other hackathons in Ann Arbor, the four co-founders wanted to create something different to engage a more diverse crowd.