The Great Oncology Hackathon
The Challenge
A global life sciences organization wanted to recruit graduate students from a wide array of prestigious universities in order to solve a complex data science challenge AND build a pipeline of future data science talent.
The Approach
We recruited a dozen teams from several leading universities (Columbia, NYU, Rutgers, Johns Hopkins, etc.) to compete in a 3-week competition. Graduate student teams were paired with internal hackathon help desk coaches to guide them and build long-term relationships.
The Outcome
The teams produced solutions that ranged from radically unexpected to vaguely familiar and helped to push the organization to rethink the way they approached predicting future patient needs. The solutions also had the potential to improve the process of connecting patients with the right medications in a timely manner. As a byproduct of the hackathon, dozens of participants are now applying for internship opportunities with the company.