WASHINGTON — The winners of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Virtual HACKATHON: Tech & Media Solutions to Reduce Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) were announced today. Held from Sept. 19 to Oct. 30, the hackathon challenged participants to generate innovative solutions to address the increase in STIs in the U.S. Competing individuals and teams each created either a functional prototype or proof of concept illustrating the feasibility of their solution.

The competition followed an in-person hackathon held in June 2023 in Irvine, California, at which five teams won awards. Both events drew inspiration from the 2021 National Academies consensus report Sexually Transmitted Infections: Adopting a Sexual Health Paradigm, which provides evidence-based guidance and recommendations on how to prevent and control STIs in the United States. The report calls for technology experts from the public and private sectors to collaborate and develop timely and open data systems and artificial intelligence-based mass marketing strategies to advance STI prevention. The report also outlines solutions to the ethical issues surrounding the use of technology to address this public health issue.

The virtual hackathon attracted more than 125 registered competitors from academia, philanthropy, and private industry. Sessions with expert mentors and judges were available for all teams to hone and refine their pitches.

The judges evaluated the competitors’ solutions based on innovation, feasibility, technical complexity, implementation, potential impact and scalability, and presentation. The first-place winner was awarded a $12,000 grant, the second-place winner earned a grant of $6,000, and the third-place winner earned a grant of $2,000. The first, second, and third place grant-winning teams will have the opportunity for ongoing mentorship to further develop and implement their solutions.

In addition, the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) Catalyst Fund on Reproductive Health, Equity, and Society sponsored two innovation prizes of $2,000 each. Along with the grant winners, the NAM prize-winning teams will have the opportunity to publish their work through the NAM’s journal, Perspectives.

The winners of the virtual hackathon are:

First Place — StatusQuo serves as a comprehensive solution to addressing disparities in sexual health in a free, user-friendly, inclusive platform. The app empowers individuals to take charge of their well-being while dismantling the social stigma surrounding STIs. With cutting-edge features such as QR code verification for updated STI test results, STI testing appointment reminders, and confidential record-keeping that can be shared with health care professionals, the app encourages transparency, routine testing, and informed choices. The road map for this project includes plans for health portal integration, stricter user verification, discreet partner notifications, symptom information, and pill bottle scanning to ensure users take the right medication at the right time. Creator: Jeressia Williamson, full-stack software engineer, Nashville, Tennessee

Second Place — SHARE (Sexual Health Analytic Risk Educator) is a data-driven, patient-centric risk tool and continuous record designed to help users estimate their personalized HIV risk profile and receive recommendations for HIV testing and PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis). Users list their partner(s) and provide information on sexual activity. The tool accounts for uncertainty in the HIV status of partners and calculates a probability of HIV infection across all partners for a given period. The Flutter-based app is made to be a private, accessible, and data-driven approach to recommending screening frequencies using personalized risk profiles to mitigate HIV transmission. SHARE can be used by individuals to self-assess their risks, by policymakers to enhance public health recommendations, and by health care professionals to offer personalized, evidence-based care according to an individual’s unique risk profile. Creators: Landy Sun, full-stack developer, and Andrea Olvera, data scientist, Houston, Texas

Third Place — Metacare.AI is a ChatGPT patient education assistant utilizing AI-driven guardrails to keep chats limited to medical topics, such as STI questions. Metacare.AI stems from the ambition to provide individuals with a private medium to discuss medically sensitive subjects with a large language model (LLM). The platform is designed to facilitate private, no-login-required, discussions between users and ChatGPT about health-centric subjects. With a focus on ensuring complete anonymity, it promises users a worry-free environment to explore topics like STIs without the fear of personal data exposure. It has its own API layer fortified by a BioBert AI model, fine-tuned to sift out spam or off-topic inquiries. Creator: Richard Braman, FLY HEALTH, Durham, North Carolina

NAM Reproductive Health, Equity, and Society Innovation Prizes — Through a standardized numerical judging process, both NAM Innovation Prizes were awarded to Eric Sanchez, a data scientist from Greensboro, North Carolina, for two different innovative solutions: 

• Health Watch is a mobile app designed to seamlessly merge the world of fitness tracking with the need for regular STI testing. Health Watch analyzes fitness metrics, sexual history, local STI trends/data, and user feedback to create a personalized risk profile without collecting any personally identifiable information. The algorithm considers each user’s sexual history, such as the number of sexual partners, condom usage, and last STI test date. Health Watch uses local health data to understand the current risk level in a user’s location. It also incorporates user feedback on any recent symptoms or sexual health concerns, if shared. When the time is right for the next STI test, Health Watch sends a reminder to the user.
  

• VR Community aims to revolutionize STI education through virtual reality (VR) to make learning about STIs engaging and accessible for all. The solution aims to educate, increase awareness, and reduce stigma and discrimination associated with STIs. VR Community aims to offer diverse learning formats, including community stories, quizzes, and bite-sized lessons in lifelike and immersive simulations. Users will be able to step into a world where they can see how STIs spread, understand the importance of using protection, recognize signs of common STIs, and comprehend the potential outcomes of unprotected sexual activity. VR Community will also engender empathy and address stigma by giving the user a chance to walk in the shoes of someone living with an STI, gaining profound insights that transform perceptions and attitudes.

The mentor panel was:

• José Arturo Bauermeister, chair, Department of Family and Community Health, University of Pennsylvania

• Jen Hecht, co-founder and director, Building Healthy Online Communities

• Allysha C. Maragh-Bass, scientist, Behavioral, Epidemiological, and Clinical Sciences Division, FHI 360

• Alok Patra, public health informatics branch director, National Association of County and City Health Officials

• Jessica Willoughby, associate professor, Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, Washington State University

The judges were:

• Sonia Almonte, senior program analyst, National Association of County and City Health Officials

• Andre Berro, lead, informatics team, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

• Abhik Choudhury, senior analytics managing consultant and data scientist, IBM

The virtual hackathon was organized by the National Academies in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Association of County and City Health Officials.

For more information about the virtual hackathon and the report that inspired it, please visit nam.edu/STIHackathon.

Contact: 

Dana Korsen, Director of Media Relations
Office of News and Public Information
For questions about the initiative, contact STIHackathon@nas.edu