Students from multiple universities and disciplines will join veterans, healthcare innovators and mentors in the VCU College of Engineering on Nov. 3-4, 2018, for the third annual HealthHacks, a 24-hour problem-solving marathon. Student teams will create new ideas and innovations in assistive technologies and prosthetics for unmet needs presented by mentors from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, veterans and rehabilitation specialists. More than 200 student participants are expected. Throughout the event, veterans along with engineering, medical faculty and industry professionals will be on-hand for mentoring, technical guidance and feedback on concepts.

“HealthHacks’18 precedes observance of Veterans Day on November 11. We expect the event to bring additional focus on our veterans’ needs for innovations and engage the creativity of undergraduate and graduate students,” said L. Franklin Bost, M.B.A., IDSA, FAIMBE, executive associate dean for innovation and outreach, director of the VCU Institute for Engineering and Medicine and professor in the Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering.

Rehabilitation technologies and products have an enormous impact on many veterans and in the daily lives of many other citizens. Multidisciplinary student teams from engineering, arts, business and medicine will tackle challenges in three major categories: A) product innovation, B) improving care and C) patient experience. Solution prototypes can take many forms including early-stage conceptual models, computer-aided designs, 3D-printed models, new smartphone apps, computer programs or improvements on existing medical devices.

The event concludes Sunday afternoon with a multidisciplinary panel of experts evaluating team concepts and culminates in an awards ceremony with prizes for the most significant solutions.

Additional information on HealthHacks’18, along with registration links and corporate sponsorship information, may be found at http://healthhacks.vcu.edu/