The County of San Diego is excited to partner with the Biocom Institute, a Live Well San Diego recognized partner since October 2015, and LiveGoode Programs & Analytics to put on the Hack-A-Thon for Health (H4H) as a part of the 2016 Festival of Science and Engineering.  The H4H brings health related businesses and non-profits together, with data analytics students, to provide pro-bono data analysis to inform non-profit health sector goals.  The H4H teams will work with data provided by the County of San Diego to better understand how protective behaviors can reduce the prevalence of the four diseases (cancer, lung disease, heart disease, and diabetes) that cause over 50% of the deaths in San Diego County.

The backbone of the H4H is a data competition.  A recent study published by the Yale School of Medicine indicated that environmental, social and behavioral indicators account for about 60% of health determinants, where genetics account for 20% and access to quality healthcare accounts for the remaining 20%.  Given the multi-dimensional factors impacting public health, the need for governments and non-profits to work more closely with companies creating the science behind our cures is becoming more and more apparent.  After all, we can create a cure to a disease; however, if the public doesn’t have access to the health care necessary to access this cure, or isn’t following behavioral treatment protocols, many of our scientific solutions are rendered ineffective.

The County of San Diego has provided behavioral and social data for students to analyze with the goal of generating insights that could inform local communities around disease prevention.  Students from local universities’ data science programs including UCSD’s Rady School of Business, the SDSU Masters in Public Health and Cal State San Marcos will compete for cash prizes and internships provided by participating companies.

For students, this is an amazing opportunity to get in front of future employers and demonstrate their data science skills using real world data to solve meaningful problems.  There are opportunities to engage students with varying levels of statistical knowledge, from the beginner to the expert.  

Click here for more information about how your company can get involved or how students can register to compete.