Meet the Winners of the Grand Challenge for Innovations In Public Health Emergencies

Apr 18, 2024 | News

Firefly Innovations, the premier public health entrepreneurship platform of the City University of New York Graduate School of Public Health & Health Policy, in collaboration with the New York City Pandemic Response Institute, is proud to announce the winners of the Grand Challenge Competition for Innovations in Public Health Emergencies. The competition sought to identify the most promising ideas and technological solutions for public health emergencies – from pandemics to climate change – within the following focus areas:

Access to Care and Social Services Solutions, which improve the ability of residents to fill their critical needs during public health emergencies.

Community Engagement & Communications Solutions, which enhance the ability to reach and mobilize the public.

Data Sharing, Analytics, Modeling, & Forecasting Solutions, which increase the prediction and shared understanding of public health emergencies.

Diagnostic Solutions, which address access gaps and advance point-of-care, laboratory, or other testing efforts.

Submissions were required to include an emphasis on Health Equity & Social Determinants of Health and encouraged to incorporate artificial intelligence and machine learning. After a rigorous evaluation process, 9 outstanding submissions were selected for their ingenuity, creativity, and potential for real-world impact. The winning submissions represent a diverse array of approaches in addressing critical aspects of pandemic response.

Meet The Winners

Noga Aharony
Idea: Genome Language Model Prediction
Focus Area: Diagnostic Solutions

Spike Appel (Signals Rising)
Idea: Grid Down Messaging System
Focus Area: Community Engagement & Communications

David Lee
Idea: PandeMesh
Focus Area: Data Sharing, Analytics, Modeling, & Forecasting

​​Vanson Lee
Idea: AI-generated communication platform
Focus Area: Community Engagement & Communications

Maxim Petrovsky
Idea: Centralized Housing Tracking
Focus Area: Access to Care and Social Services

Madhury Ray
Idea: Natural language processing for qualitative data
Focus Area: Data Sharing, Analytics, Modeling, & Forecasting

Justin Snair
Idea: preppr.ai
Focus Area: Community Engagement & Communications

Briana West
Idea: Barbershop Kiosks
Focus Area: Community Engagement & Communications

Nicholas Whitcomb
Idea: Real-Time KPIs for Patients
Focus Area: Data Sharing, Analytics, Modeling, & Forecasting

“We were truly impressed by the caliber of submissions we received for the Grand Challenge Competition,” said Dr. Terry Huang, founder of Firefly Innovations. “The winning projects showcase the power of innovation and collaboration in developing effective strategies to mitigate the impacts of pandemics on our communities.”

The Grand Challenge Competition underscores the commitment of Firefly Innovations and the New York City Pandemic Response Institute to fostering innovation, cross-sector collaboration, and entrepreneurship-based interventions in pandemic preparedness and response efforts. We invite all winners to apply for our newly announced funding opportunity for Innovative Tools and Solutions to Address Public Health Emergencies.