Makeathon: Innovation in Medicine Conference

More than 134 million people across the world need humanitarian assistance. Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières, MSF) is a large, international medical humanitarian organization, focused on providing care “to people whose survival is threatened by violence, neglect, or catastrophe.” They operate in more than 70 countries providing life-saving treatment and spearheading efforts in both innovation and policy. MSF strives to provide high-quality, evidence-based treatment in extremely challenging, low-resource settings. Unconventional settings often require unconventional approaches, whether that’s developing new technologies and adapting existing ones, or finding new and better ways of working. Whatever the approach, the goal is always to facilitate MSF’s work saving lives and reducing suffering. Imperial Friends of MSF cordially invite you to the biggest humanitarian innovation conference of the year! Across the day, we will be exploring recent developments, current challenges and ways you can get involved through a range of short talks. Furthermore, you will have the opportunity to come up with your own life-saving solutions through a mini-hackathon and hear pitches from Makeathon participants who have developed prototypes for 3 key problems over the spring-term. Don't miss out on this incredible opportunity to meet and network with some of the most phenomenal people creating change in Medicine today! ROGER MORTON, CASE MANAGER FOR PROTECTION AGAINST CHEMICAL EXPOSURE KIT. The PeACE Kit is a personal protective kit, to be worn in areas where the threat of chemical warfare is thought to exist. The PeACE kit aims to provide a user with a friendly and convenient way to evacuate and decontaminate a person after potential exposure to a chemical. Roger started out as an engineer in international development projects, focussing on innovation in agriculture in India. He moved into the private sector in east Africa and gained extensive experience in project management of an SME specialising in hydro-electric power generation. Following East Africa he was placed on his first mission with MSF as a Technical Logistics Manager with MSF in the Middle East, where he identified a series of problems that he thought he could solve with innovation. The first being the PeACE Kit. JAMES ROBERTS, MOM INCUBATOR FOUNDER The mOm Incubator is an inexpensive, electronically controlled, inflatable infant incubator designed and built to decrease the number of infant deaths. It offers a safe, medical grade environment for an infant to thrive in, whilst solving many of the problems of effectively incubating infants throughout the world. mOm was conceived by James Roberts during the final year of his university degree. Given the brief of 'design something that solves a problem', James learned from a TV documentary that the lack of infant incubators in Syria during the civil war was costing them an entire generation. James went about solving this problem and came up with the idea for the mOm Incubator. SETH ODOOM, DIGITAL HEALTH CONSULTANT Seth has an academic background in the Medical sciences; with an MRes in Medical Device Design and Entrepreneurship from Imperial College London and a BSc in Medical Biochemistry from the University of Birmingham. His interests lie in entrepreneurial activities and early-stage ventures, particularly in the area of digital health. He has a great amount of experience working on projects at the intersection of novel scientific research and commercial development, which combined competitive intelligence, scientific research and strategy consulting to frame acquisition screens and guide start-up and early stage investment decisions of SMEs and larger organisations. MONOWARA GANI, CEO, DOCTOR'S WORLDWIDE Monowara is the Chief Executive Officer at Doctors Worldwide. Prior to joining Doctors Worldwide, Monowara has held numerous senior executive roles leading various not for profit organisations within the humanitarian sector including development education and campaigning. She has also produced numerous award-winning resources and training courses on development and change, and has been working in the NGO sector for more than 12 years. Mini-hackathon Form your own multi-disciplinary team and jump-start your journey as a humanitarian innovator. Do you want to use your skills to help people or think creatively with other cool people, then this mini-hackathon is perfect for you! You might want to bring your own computer or mobile device(s), Imperial Friends of MSF do not provide computers or laptops. We will provide high-speed Wi-Fi, lunch and plenty of caffeine! Pitching Over the spring term, Makeathon participants have been working hard to build prototypes with the aim of solving problems that humanitarians face in the field. At this Conference, they will be showcasing their prototypes and pitching their solutions to Conference delegates and judges - who will have the chance to vote for their favourite teams. Top teams will be awarded cash-prizes and recognition. Lunch A lebanese buffet will be provided for Lunch as well as an array of refreshments. The Makeathon has been organised by Imperial Friends of MSF in collaboration with Imperial College Advanced Hackspace, Imperial Enterprise Lab, Imperial School of Medicine and MSF Sweden Innovations Unit.