Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

Health Make-a-Thon to award $10K in idea support to 10 area innovators

An initiative of the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, the Health Make-a-Thon aims to help Champaign County residents bring to life their ideas for improving human health through the Health Maker Lab – a network of maker labs, design spaces and fabrication facilities across the Urbana-Champaign campus of the University of Illinois. Out of 140 ideas submitted, 20 finalists have been selected to pitch their concepts to a panel of judges and a live audience on April 13. Ten will each win $10,000 in Health Maker Lab resources to create a prototype of their idea.

The public is invited to attend and participate in the selection of the winners on Saturday, April 13, at 6 p.m. in the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology auditorium. With the judges, the  audience will hear two-minute pitches from each of the 20 finalists and will vote for the 10 best ideas. Attendees are invited to a post-event reception to meet the Health Make-a-Thon participants and the people behind the Health Maker Lab.

 “Please join us as together we take this very exciting first step toward the global democratization of health innovation,” said Marty Burke, the associate dean for research at the college. “We want to involve as many people from the community as possible to help us choose 10 future health innovators.”

More information about the event can be found online.

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