WASHINGTON — The winners of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine HACKATHON: Tech & Media Solutions to Reduce Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) were announced on June 23, 2023, at the end of a two-day event at the Beckman Center in Irvine, California. 

The event built on 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 behavior change and technology experts from the public and private sectors to collaborate and develop timely and open data systems and AI-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.

During the Hackathon, teams pursued answers across two tracks — AI-powered software and data analytics — to generate feasible, innovative, original, and implementable solutions to prevent and control STIs. Regular check-ins with expert mentors and judges were available for all teams to hone and refine their pitches, along with a show-and-tell opportunity for teams to present their ideas to fellow competitors.

The judges awarded five teams with six awards. Within each track, the first-place teams were each awarded a $20,000 grant, and second-place winners each earned a grant of $5,000. A YouTube Health Innovation Prize of $5,000, which recognized solutions that took particularly innovative or original approaches, was also awarded in each track. In addition to prizes and grants, the winning teams will receive ongoing mentorship from experts in engineering, medicine, public health, and project development on how to best develop and implement their solutions, as well as publication opportunities through the National Academy of Medicine. A list of winners in each track, mentors, and judges is below.

AI-Powered Software Solutions Track:

First Place: The winning solution, Poppy, an AI-powered STI diagnosis app and website, offers a personalized and humanized approach to diagnosis and support. By asking personalized questions and incorporating in-house image processing, Poppy will provide accurate preliminary diagnoses and tailored recommendations. Poppy also ensures user privacy by not transmitting sensitive data over the internet. With Poppy, individuals can confidently navigate STI diagnosis, access vital resources, and receive personalized sexual health recommendations. It aims to humanize health care by empowering individuals and dismantling barriers to sexual health services. The app flow involves user onboarding, an initial assessment with image processing, preliminary diagnosis, and personalized feedback. Poppy aims to leverage technology to empower and improve accessibility for end users.

Team members: Joshua Inhyuk Choi (University of California, Irvine), Nathan Choi (University of California, Irvine), and Paul Wong (University of California, Santa Cruz)

Second Place: STIcker allows patients to obtain preliminary STI consultation and self-education via a website (STIcker = STI: “Sexually Transmitted Infection,” C: “classification,” K: “Knowledge,” E: “Eradication,” and R: “Reporting”). The “Classification” page of the STIcker website relies on deep AI learning. Users upload several pictures of skin conditions, and the website classifies the images and gives a preliminary result, picture by picture, indicating whether the images imply chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, trichomoniasis, or none (additional photographs will be needed to refine the prototype). The “Knowledge” tab provides preliminary information and links about STIs that can help bridge users to knowledge. The “Eradication” tab allows the user to access a list of nearby providers. The “Reporting” tab will track the number of STIs in a particular location (based on user data) to allow governmental and public health programs to be better target their efforts.

Team members: Lalit Patel (data science) and Sean Patel (University of California, Riverside, Neuroscience 2023 Graduate)

YouTube Health Innovation Prize: SympToDialog is an AI-powered chatbot designed to simulate patient interactions during medical appointments to improve health care providers’ proficiency at taking patients’ sexual histories, promote confidence, and enhance STI diagnostic skills. It offers a diverse range of personas with factors such as age, sexual orientation, ethnicity, cultural background, sexual behavior, geographic location, and biological factors. The chatbot engages in realistic conversations with medical professionals, allowing them to practice their skills and obtain feedback for improvement.

Team members: Jimy Bombela (California State University, Fullerton, Computer Science 2023 Graduate), Kenny Garcia (California State University, Fullerton, Computer Science Undergraduate), Mauricio Macias (California State University, Fullerton, Computer Science 2021 Graduate), and Ricky Morales (California State University, Fullerton, Computer Science Undergraduate)

Data Analytics Track:

First Place and YouTube Health Innovation Prize: Porcupine is a user-centered application (available via any mobile or web browser) aimed at improving the digital care pathway and providing a data collection model for future accurate and insightful real-time data analytics. It empowers people with tailored, AI-powered sexual health information based on their age, gender, sexual orientation, race, and ethnicity; reduces barriers by identifying sexual health checkup and testing sites based on preferences and filter criteria; and allows anonymous reviews. The testing experience is private and secure via unique test codes allowing patients to visit clinics and sites without sharing their personal details onsite.

Team members: Zhuyuan He (full-stack developer/data visualization/interaction design and prototyping) and Jimmy Wang (software engineering/computer science)

Second Place: STIgma addresses critical barriers to equitable sexual health education, easy linkage to sexual health services, and addresses other sexual health concerns faced by young adults using an evolving AI-powered interactive chat experience. AI will help generate organic social media posts and digital ads on social media and dating sites to target diverse subgroups of 15- to 24-year-olds. Based on the user’s interaction with the AI, they are provided with appropriate STI education and resources. AI can also help identify social media influencers who could create content for specific demographics.

Team members: Oscar Florez (full-stack developer/generative AI), Cornelius Jamison (family medicine physician/health care researcher), Matt Kilboy (registered nurse/health informatics), and Victor Nguyen (front-end developer/software engineering)

Hackathon Mentor Panel and Judges

The Hackathon mentor panel was:

• Catherine Diamond, clinical professor of medicine and epidemiology, Division of Infectious Diseases, UCI Health; researcher, Genetic Epidemiology Research Institute

• Abraham Johnson, HIV community engagement officer, Treatment Action Group

• Elizabeth (Lizzi) Torrone, lead, case-based surveillance team, Division of STD Prevention, National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

• Sean Young, professor of emergency medicine, UCI School of Medicine; professor of informatics, UCI Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences; executive director, University of California Institute for Prediction Technology

The Hackathon judges were:

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

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

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

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

• Saugat Karki, health scientist (senior service fellow), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

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

The National Academies will soon host a virtual Hackathon to generate further solutions around STI prevention; registration will open in mid-August.

In addition to YouTube Health, the Hackathon was supported by the National Academy of Medicine and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention through the National Association of County and City Health Officials.

Contact:
Dana Korsen, Director of Media Relations
Office of News and Public Information

For questions about the initiative, contact STIhackathon@nas.edu.