The office of the Chief Technology Officer, US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is hosting their first Code-a-Thon in Washington, D.C., on December 6th and 7th. The HHS is bringing together 28 teams of engineers, data analysts, data scientists, public health experts, and researchers to work together to begin the journey of combating the opioid crisis.
As many of you know, we are facing a crisis of opioid addiction across the United States. According to the Center for Disease Control 91 Americans die every day as a result of opioid overdose.
So, what does HHS want to accomplish by hosting an Opioid Code-a-Thon? The challenge is designed to focus on developing potential solutions in three categories. The Code-a-Thon will have three tracks: Usage, Prevention, and Treatment that will enable progress across the elements of their 5-point strategy to address the crisis.
When HHS invited Alteryx For Good to co-sponsor the Code-A-Thon there was an overwhelming amount of excitement, passion and energy from our associates. We wanted to provide additional support by sending a team to participate in the challenge. After we sent a “call to volunteers” we experienced a response like no other. People jumped at the opportunity, expressing emotion and strong commitment to contribute to the greater cause.
Not only are we co-sponsoring and sending one team as we had originally planned, we have four teams of 19 Alteryx associates and Alteryx ACE partners attending the Code-a-Thon! The ability to engage in the early stages of uncovering data, searching for clarity and finding solutions that can impact federal, state and local communities is a powerful opportunity to influence social change. We want to thank our volunteers who are giving their time, technical expertise, and resources toward this effort and jumping on the journey with us!
Team 1 - Prevention Track | Team 3 - Usage Track |
JP Kabler (@JPKa) – Software Engineer | Mac Roach (@MacRo) – Lead Research Scientist |
Steve Wagner (@StephenW) – Sr. Product Engineer | Matt DeSimone (@MattD) – Community Content Engineer |
David Wilcox (@DavidW) – Sr. Software Engineer | Criston Schellenger (@CristonS) – Associate Research Scientist |
Kuo Liu (@KuoL) – Data Scientist | Brandon Kirkland (@BrandonK) – Software Engineer |
Bridget Toomey (@BridgetT) – Research Scientist |
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Team 2 - Treatment Track | Alteryx ACE's - Treatment Track |
Dr. Dan Putler (@DrDan) – Chief Data Scientist | Mark Frisch (@MarqueeCrew) – Marquee Crew |
Michael Chadwick (@MichaelCh) – Software Engineer | Andrew Kim (@andrewdatakim) – Adventist Health System |
CJ Campbell (@CaleighC) – Software Engineer | Patrick McAuliffe (@patrick_mcauliffe) – Meijer |
Ben Burkholder (@BenBu) – Customer Success Mgr | John Schneider (@JohnJPS) – Sentry |
Mala Gosakan (@MalaG) – Technical Program Mgr |
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We know many of you share the same passion as our volunteers participating and there are ways for you to be a part of this journey as well. It all starts Wednesday, December 6th!
Before teams begin to code, HHS is hosting a “TED-talk style” Symposium where policymakers and state and local leaders present how they are currently unlocking public sector data, leveraging emerging technologies in public health surveillance and innovations to address the opioid epidemic facing their communities. You can register for the public live stream video of the Symposium which takes place on Wednesday from 8:30am – 12:30pm ET.
As you can imagine, our teams will need patience and endurance as they code for 24 hours and eagerly await the judges to announce the results at 6pm ET on December 7th. We’re sure they would love to know their Alteryx fans are rooting for them from all over the nation! Support our teams from our social channels as we’ll be sharing photos and updates along the way.
You can find more about sponsors and Code-a-Thon updates on the HHS website.
We believe this event marks the beginning of the road to solving, uncovering and developing data-driven solutions to the opioid epidemic. We are honored and thrilled to be a part of this journey and thank each and every one of you for supporting our efforts and volunteers along the way!
The Alteryx for Good Team
Tori Adamo is the Director of Alteryx for Good, our corporate social responsibility program at Alteryx. She is responsible for building a growing community of volunteers focused on doing good. Tori believes that connecting associates, partners, and customers gives power to a greater purpose. Alteryx for Good strives to allow all of us to influence social change and education. Whether it’s with hands-on volunteering or by sharing an expertise of analytics using Alteryx, there is a way for everyone to get involved.
Tori Adamo is the Director of Alteryx for Good, our corporate social responsibility program at Alteryx. She is responsible for building a growing community of volunteers focused on doing good. Tori believes that connecting associates, partners, and customers gives power to a greater purpose. Alteryx for Good strives to allow all of us to influence social change and education. Whether it’s with hands-on volunteering or by sharing an expertise of analytics using Alteryx, there is a way for everyone to get involved.
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