Students across Canada tackle real-world health challenges

What do you get when you bring together a group of university students from across Canada to brainstorm technology solutions to improve healthcare through pharmacy practice? The only pharmacy-focused hackathon, an annual event developed by the University of Waterloo’s School of Pharmacy. Since its inception in 2019, HackRX has been growing in scope—now attracting up to 200 participants annually—with a mission to inspire the next generation of pharmacists and other innovators to work together to find healthcare solutions. Along with pharmacy, the event is open to students from all other faculties across the country.HackRx 2024 president Maya Abdul Majed says her own journey in pharmacy has been shaped by a “deep passion for advancing the profession and finding new ways to improve patient care through technology."Read: Pharmacist creates novel tool to catch billing errors in real-timeAs the first female president, she worked tirelessly to market the event on social media (resulting in some 80,000 page views) and make other changes that would raise awareness. “There are lot of hackathons out there but this one is the only one focused on pharmacy,” she says, noting that last year's date was changed from summer to September to get even more students engaged.The three-day virtual event focused on the theme of rural pharmacy and featured keynote speaker Danielle Paes, chief pharmacist officer at the Canadian Pharmacists Association (CPhA), who set an inspiring tone for the weekend. Groups of up to five people came up with an idea they pitched to judges for a $5,000 prize. “Participants also had an opportunity to connect with MedMe [one of the sponsors] and the organizing group to talk about their ideas and how to take their initiatives further,” says Abdul Majed.The winning team of engineering students from Waterloo, Team BayMax, took top honours for their concept: a triage kiosk designed for rural areas to help direct patients to the appropriate healthcare provider based on their symptoms.Along with heading the event, Abdul Majed—who is currently completing her U of W co-op placement in Calgary—was recognized as one of two national pharmacy disruptors at the CPhA Summit this past June. As she passes the reigns for this year’s HackRx (date still to be determined), she says she’s so grateful for the experience. “Moving forward I’m already thinking of further ways to bring pharmacy and technology together,” she says.

Students across Canada tackle real-world health challenges

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