Booz Allen Hamilton Joins in #VABrainTrust Hackathon to Improve Access to Healthcare for Veterans

MyVA Partnerships, the VA Center for Innovation, Capital Factory, Galvanize, and Booz Allen Hamilton will host the #VABrainTrust Hackathon to develop brain health innovations for Veterans experiencing mild TBI (mTBI) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The hackathon, which represents the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)’s inaugural public-private partnership on brain health, will be held February 19 – 21 at Galvanize’s San Francisco Campus and Capital Factory in Austin.

Brain injuries are one of the leading injuries from Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), with up to 20% of veterans estimated to be living with PTSD in a given year. The #VABrainTrust Hackathon will bring together veterans, caregivers, researchers, data scientists and technologists to develop innovations that improve access to care for veterans suffering from mTBI and PTSD.

As sponsor of the #VABrainTrust Hackathon, Booz Allen Hamilton subject matter experts will serve as mentors and judges for the event. Additionally, Booz Allen’s data curation platform, Sailfish, will provide hackathon participants with datasets categorized by the hackathon themes of Community Reintegration, Rehabilitation and Diagnostics. Judges, mentors, and hackers across all industries will also participate in this landmark event; including: Vets in Tech, DIUx, U.S. Digital Service, IBM, Google, Kaggle, PARC, Silicon Valley Bank, Women Who Code, The University of Texas at Austin, UC Berkeley School of Information, Bayes Impact and more.

The #VABrainTrust Hackathon serves as the first in a series of gatherings bringing together innovations from across the country to create solutions for veterans with mTBI and PTSD. Three winners in Austin and San Francisco will be invited to showcase their innovations at the 2016 Brain Trust Innovation Showcase in Washington, DC with leaders from industry, the Secretary for the VA, and the Under Secretary for Health for the VA.

In the San Francisco or Austin area? Join this weekend’s #VABrainTrust Hackathon.