Every day, more than 115 people die from an opioid overdose in the United States, making it one of the nation’s top public health epidemics1. As this problem continues to worsen, especially in California, the need for innovative solutions has become more important than ever. With the advent of new technology, we have more tools at our disposal to address this epidemic.
The University of California Institute for Prediction Technology (UCIPT) seeks to address opioid addiction by hosting a hackathon featuring the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). This 24-hour hackathon will bring together teams from different fields to come up with a new approach to solving the opioid crisis.
These interdisciplinary teams will include professionals or Master’s/PhD-level students in data science/visualization, public health/medicine/law enforcement, and legal/ethical/psychological research, as well as patients or family members of those affected by the opioid crisis.
Teams will be provided with data sources related to opioid outcomes and alternative approaches (ex. Virtual reality and augmented reality data, cannabis data, wearable and social media data, and data on behavior change approaches) to develop a solution to address one of four tracks. The winning team from each track will receive prize money, as well as the chance to meet with key collaborators to help teams put their solutions into practice. Food and drinks are provided, and all participants will have the opportunity to meet fellow participants.
The hackathon will be held at the Beckman Center (100 Academy Way) in Irvine, CA on October 14-15, 2018. To learn more, and to apply, please visit our event website.
Hackathon Tracks
- Infrastructure/application interface for ethical/secure sharing of opioid-related data among key stakeholders
- Designing personalized behavior change apps that can be applied by patients their families, and/or providers/health systems for long-term reductions in overdose-related risk behaviors
- Real-time/prediction models and visualization tools to prevent addiction and overdose
- Real-time/prediction models and visualization tools showing new integrative therapeutic benefits and approaches to prevent addiction and overdose
1U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2018, March 6). What is the U.S. Opioid Epidemic? Retrieved from https://www.hhs.gov/opioids/about-the-epidemic/index.html.