HIC Concept & History
Healthcare Innovation Challenge sets out to empower health professionals to adopt an interdisciplinary mindset in their work to improve human health.
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We believe that acknowledging our individual limitations,
leveraging our colleagues’ diverse skill sets and working with
them collaboratively can improve the current dismal state of
American healthcare.
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The competition was founded by three first-year medical students
(Jeff Woods, Niharika Neela, and Luciano Posada) from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston McGovern Medical School. The idea was born out of their prior experience
with the healthcare system and recognition that successful patient care required much
more than science.
To these students, it became apparent that inter-professional training was limited, but luckily not absent. They decided to create a case competition/hackathon-style event where students could be on teams with students from other healthcare professions working on a common problem. With help from the mentors and the interprofessional education office, they were able to successfully hold the first UT Health Healthcare Innovation Challenge in April 2019.
Purpose: To promote interprofessional innovation in the way healthcare professionals approach systemic issues in healthcare.
Mission: To organize an annual interprofessional, team-based, healthcare problem-solving event for professionals and students who want to work toward creating a better healthcare system in America.
Goals:
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To catalyze early student collaboration with their interprofessional peer network.
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To spark interest in the shortcomings of the healthcare system and to increase the accountability of future health professionals.
3. To share and create: effective, detailed, and practical solutions to real problems in the healthcare system.
