In partnership with the State of New York, the Office of the Staten Island Borough President, Northwell Health, the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and the Columbia University School of Engineering, the Consortium for Affordable Medical Technologies (CAMTech) organized the Empire State Opioid Epidemic Innovation Challenge for a diverse community to co-create solutions that have the potential to change the trajectory of the local and national opioid crisis. Over 200 people attended the Challenge Summit, Solutions Sprint and Demo Day to identify unmet needs in the opioid epidemic and co-create solutions to address those needs.
Demo Day
Thursday, January 31, 2019
Demo Day was the last leg of the Empire State Opioid Epidemic Innovation Challenge and an opportunity for six teams to present progress made 90 days after co-creating innovations to curb the epidemic at the Challenge Summit and Solutions Sprint. Ahead of team pitches, Rob Kent of New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) and Shelly Wiezman of Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo addressed innovators + offered insight on innovation from government.
A cross-disciplinary panel of expert judges at Demo Day included Shelly Weizman, Charles Monson of OASAS, Dr. Silvia Martins of Columbia University, Eric Feinstein of Northwell Health Ventures, Jim Miller of Partners Healthcare and Diana Hernandez of Columbia University who awarded two grand prize winners:
Challenge Summit
Friday, September 28, 2018
The Challenge Summit convened clinicians, government representatives, public health experts, the private sector and affected community members to facilitate a discussion of challenges and provide critical insight into the opioid epidemic.
Welcoming Remarks
“What’s important is that each of us bring our own life experiences and skill sets to help co-create solutions in response to the opioid epidemic.”- Dr. Kris Olson, CAMTech Director
Morning Keynotes
“As the opioid crisis continues to impact communities across New York and the country, we’re committed to putting forward investments in resources needed to save lives. We will not stop fighting to prevent addiction, expand treatment services, and help those in recovery." - New York Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul
Fireside Chat
Panel 1: Introduction to the Opioid Crisis, Progress, and Challenges
Personal Story
Panel 2: Prevention
Personal Story
Panel 4: Recovery
Solutions Sprint
Following the Challenge Summit, the Solutions Sprint on September 29-30 served as an open-innovation platform for a diverse community to co-create innovations over a 48-hour period.
Saturday, September 28, 2018
Welcoming Remarks
Morning Keynote
“You do not need to have a technical background. You need to have a desire to solve a problem and the willingness to work towards a solution.” - Andrew Schwartz, GEMs Boxes
Solutions Sprint 101 & Business Model 101
Innovators receive an introduction to the Solutions Sprint model and an overview of sustainable business models.
Pitching, Networking & Team Formation
Innovators pitched 40 challenges related to the opioid epidemic and formed 12 cross-disciplinary teams to address those needs.
Hacking Commences
Teams work over a 48 hours to ideate, innovate and co-create solutions to curb the local and national opioid epidemic with feedback from 23 mentors with expertise in public health, clinical medicine, engineering, design, business, government and community organizing.
Sunday, September 29, 2018
Practice Pitches
Teams practiced pitches with 23 mentors before final presentations to a cross-disciplinary panel of judges.
Final Pitches
During final pitches, 12 teams pitched their solutions to a panel of six judges representing six different disciplines, include clinical, public health, policy, engineering, community organization and business, while competing for cash prizes.
Steve Hanson of NYS Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS), Patrice Wallace-Moore of Armes Acrs, Dr. Joshua Sharfstein of Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Dr. Elizabeth Hillman of Columbia University School of Engineering, Udai Tambar of Northwell Health and Alan Batkin from the Board of Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health served as experts on a cross-disciplinary panel of judges to select the grand prize winners.
Grand Prize Winners
All 12 teams are eligible to compete for the $10K grand prize and 6 months of acceleration support at the Empire State Opioid Epidemic Demo Day on January 31, 2019.
Empire State Opioid Epidemic Innovation Award - Team Random Access Network (RAN): Stephanie Campbell, Tim Cheney, Maureen Farrell, Richard Isaacs, Liya Lomsadze and Michael Rand received $2,000 for innovating a network that aims to change culture in emergency departments, standardize emergency department protocols for substance use disorder and engage patients using peers and linkages to services.
Northwell Health Innovation Award - Team Recover-We: Angela Kedzior, Carlee Hulsizer, Carol Michelle Hulsizer, George Chao, Gautham Harinarayan, Kevin Chen and Wendy Lin received $1,500 for innovating real-time, personalized peer support that connects peers with local resources via integrated search engines.
CAMTech Innovation Award - Team Quick Reversal: Asher Varon and Morgan Cambareri received $1,000 for innovating an intranasal patch that detects serious respiratory depression and automatically releases naloxone to prevent opioid overdose.
Opioid Epidemic Design Award - Team Addiction Recovery Kit (ARK): Avi Israel, Julie Israel, Linda Ventura, Ben Beck, Kara Rodecker, Ryan Donovan and Malory Johnson received $500 for innovating an integrated kit that consolidates and streamlines existing prevention, treatment, and recovery tools.
CAMTech thanks our partners at the State of New York, the Office of the Staten Island Borough President, Northwell Health, the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and the Columbia University School of Engineering, mentors, judges and all 12 teams co-creating solutions to curb the local and national opioid epidemic.