Center for Predictive Medicine, Center for Soverign Nations to host Health Data Shootout

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

The Center for Health Systems Innovation’s Center for Predictive Medicine and the Center for Sovereign Nations at Oklahoma State University are hosting the Health Data Shootout competition this fall.

Cerner Corporation donated the country’s largest clinical database to OSU’s Center for Predictive Medicine. The de-identified patient dataset includes clinical, laboratory, pharmacy, and demographic information. For this health data shootout, a 249,000-record American Indian dataset was created where the patient’s name, identifying information, and tribal affiliation were removed. 

The Health Data Shootout competition will be an opportunity for OSU undergraduate and graduate students of any major and from any campus to group up in teams up to five people to analyze the data and present their data analytic solutions and insights to a nationally recognized panel of health data experts. Cash awards of $1,000 for first place, $500 from second place, and $250 for third place will presented.

“We are so used to asking specific questions of our health data and these are extremely valuable insights. We are excited to see what talented students from other disciplines with unique information technology tools and techniques applied in their own unique and innovative manner will be able to find in this health data set,” said Elvena Fong, health data analytics program manager for OSU Center for Health Systems Innovation.

“Our center is committed to connecting American Indian undergraduate and graduate students with the opportunity to learn more about research. We are eager to learn which questions our students and their tribal nations think could be answered by analyzing this dataset,” said Elizabeth Payne, director of the Center for Sovereign Nations.

Registration opens online Aug. 29 and runs through Sept. 23. Teams have until Oct. 2 to submit solutions and ideas. The winners will be honored at an awards ceremony Oct. 13 in the Starlight Terrace in the Student Union on OSU’s Stillwater campus.

“Our goal in hosting this competition is to start to foster those new types of interdisciplinary collaborations with the hope that everyone walks away with something valuable out of this experience,” said William Paiva, executive director for the Center for Health Systems Innovation. “For students, it’s the exposure to health data, and the chance to apply their skills in a fast-growing field with a multitude of job opportunities. For us, it’s the innovations and discoveries that we can implement and use to change the way healthcare is delivered. Most importantly, we find a unique health insight that will benefit the Native American population.”   

For additional information, view the Health Data Shootout flier. For additional information about the Center for Health Systems Innovation, click here.