On April 5-7th two students from the Bioinformatics for Ukraine initiative – Anastasiia Boshtova and Sofiia Onishchenko – had the opportunity to join and contribute significantly to the Health Hackathon 2024 in Kyiv, hosted by Harvard Innovation Lab and the World Health Organization branch in Ukraine. The hackathon was organized and held with the support of such organizations as “CIVITTA”, “Radar Tech”, “YEP”, Harvard Health Systems Innovation Lab, and WHO Ukraine, with the financial support of the Parliament of Canada. Aimed at developing innovative products and solutions in the healthcare system in a short time, the hackathon united the public and private sectors, bringing together students, scientists, start-ups, IT specialists, marketers, healthcare professionals, and other activists to create solutions in three areas: cardiovascular diseases, mental health, and oncology. The Health Hackathon 2024 attracted numerous teams from eight countries around the world to work simultaneously on the most pressing issues in healthcare. Over the course of three days, participants engaged in research, brainstorming, communication with mentors, and refinement of their solutions in preparation for a full pitch on April 7, World Health Day, and the final day of the hackathon. Our fellows Anastasiia Boshtova and Sofiia Onishchenko worked tirelessly over the weekend, putting their potential and tenacious efforts into developing the selected areas. As a member of the Apixmed team, Anastasiia contributed to the project focused on cardiovascular disease management. Anastasiia’s expertise in bioinformatics helped shape a solution that uses advanced analytics to improve patient care and treatment effectiveness. The project was well received, earning recognition and the opportunity to develop further under the guidance of the Harvard Health Systems Innovation Lab.
Sofiia is the captain of the Ukraine Global Scholars team and the pitching author of the solution dedicated to the Cardiovascular Diseases and Diabetes section. Together with the team, Sofiia developed the concept and demo version of ChroniDi, a mobile application for children with diabetes that aims to help parents educate their children about diabetes and accelerate behavioral changes in children through games and interactive materials. Above all, the team won the opportunity to join the pre-acceleration program in Ukraine, created and managed by CIVITTA for the most promising startups at the Hackathon.
We are extremely proud of our amazing fellows, who demonstrated remarkable potential as young and ambitious Ukrainian scientists focused on collaboration with the aim of improving the healthcare system in Ukraine. We wish them the very best of luck and further success in crystallizing their ideas and launching their products in the nearest future.