This past spring, 10 teams competed in a health app hackathon, sponsored by the Clinical and Translational Science Institute at Children’s National (CTSI-CN), a partnership between Children’s National Medical Center and the George Washington University. One of the teams was from Milken Institute SPH and was the only all-student team, which created an app called Your Path—an educational health resource and tool for women of reproductive age. Based on a series of questions the app provides women with the best prenatal care options and/or contraceptive measures based on their preferences and pre-existing health conditions.
“The idea is that by allowing women to express their personal preferences, they will be more likely to discuss their preferred methods with their providers and eventually actively use an effective contraceptive method,” said one of the team members Janelle Wylie, a first-year MPH student in the Community Oriented Primary Care track. Other team members included Meghna Murali, a first-year MPH student in the Epidemiology track and Chiara Dell’Aira, a second-year MS in Global Health candidate at the University of Copenhagen, who took a semester abroad here at GW). Wylie, Murali and Dell'Aira are also currently involved in research at Milken Institute SPH, in addition to their studies.
The students came up with this idea after meeting in their Community Oriented Primary Care introductory class in fall 2016 when they learned about the need for more family planning services in D.C. “All of us grew passionate about the idea, and expanded on this topic to create a more comprehensive app that serves all women of reproductive age. Our overall goals for the app are to aid in decreasing unintended pregnancy rates and to improve maternal and child health outcomes,” Wylie said.
At first, the app was a project for the class and then, with the help of their professor and mentor Freya Spielberg, associate professor in the Prevention and Community Health department, they were able to actually develop the app. Even though Your Path did not win the hackathon, it received second place in the popular vote among event participants.
“The hackathon was a great learning experience for us, and has motivated us to continue working towards bringing our app from the classroom to reality," Wylie said. "We also would like to thank again Dr. Freya Spielberg for all her support and guidance. Additionally, we would like to thank Venkat Murali and Caity Stark Beaudoin who designed our logos and were a large part of the app development.”
What’s next for Your Path? The group is working to do an assessment in the D.C. area so they can get a better understanding of the community needs and population. Additionally, they're hoping to develop a prototype for the target demographic. Their studies at Milken Institute SPH have allowed them to meet each other, identify a problem and work torwards a solution.