On May 22nd 2018, UCIPT and the Alumni Association at UCLA hosted an event for students and alumni who have interest in the intersection of health and technology. The event was designed to give insight into career paths for those who are interested in innovative technical solutions to healthcare problems.
The event began with a keynote talk from Sean Young, PhD, who is the executive director of the UCIPT. He shared his experience of starting as an ethnomusicology major at UCLA and how years later he now serves as the Executive Director at a healthcare and technology research institute. After the keynote, Dr. Young moderated a panel of people in the healthcare and tech industries. The panelists featured Ariel McNichol, the Co-founder and CEO of MotiSpark, José daVeiga, Technology Product Director at Smarter Balanced, and Jeroen van Meijgaard, Health Economist at GoodRx.
The panel was followed by an hour of free networking time. Students in majors like pre-med and computer science may have interest outside of their majors’ traditional ideals. There are pre-med students who are looking to make an impact in healthcare, but may not want to be doctors. Additionally, there are computer science majors who are looking to bring their skills to the healthcare industry. Students and alumni from both fields were able to have engaging discussions in both their interests and career paths. It was great to see this collaboration, which will hopefully lead to further communication and collaboration at this intersection.
A big thank you to UCLA Alumni Association and our panelists for such a successful night!
