UBC Medicine Datathon

UBC Medicine Datathon 2025: A Weekend of Collaboration, Innovation, and Impact 

The UBC Medicine Datathon 2025, held on March 22 and 23 at the Life Sciences Centre, brought together 70+ students and professionals from diverse fields including medicine, pharmacy, public health, computer science, and more. Over two immersive days, participants worked in interdisciplinary teams to tackle real-world healthcare challenges through data-driven approaches. 

Designed to be inclusive and collaborative, the Datathon welcomed participants of all experience levels. Teams gained hands-on experience working with healthcare datasets such as chest x-ray images from the National Institutes of Health and clinical data associated with stroke risk, applying analytical thinking and teamwork to develop innovative solutions. The event began with an orientation and dataset overview, followed by team formation and a full day of collaboration. The second day continued with focused work sessions and concluded with final presentations evaluated by expert judges. 

Participants explored a wide range of healthcare topics such as AI applications in medical imaging and predictive modelling for stroke risk, showcasing creative, practical solutions that underscored the potential of cross-disciplinary collaboration in health innovation. 

We extend our sincere thanks to our judges for their time, insights, and thoughtful feedback: Dr. Ricky Hu and Ryan Sandoval. 

We are also deeply grateful to our dedicated mentors, who supported participants throughout the weekend: Justin Fu, Dr. Mahmoodur Rahman, Roozbeh Bazargani, and Armaghan Sarvar. 

Congratulations to our winners and runner-ups! 

Winning Team (Group 6): 
Rongze, Zoe, Jincheng, Nazanin, Yichi, Yuci, Zoe 

Runner-Up Teams: 
 Group 4: Jennifer, Coralie, Rita, Kimia, Emma, Katherine 
 Group 8: Pushya, Joel, Charity, Erhan Asad, Vivaan, Ethan 

Here’s what participants had to say: 

"I am a third-year UBC Chemistry PhD. student studying Drug Discovery. The UBC Medicine Datathon was a great opportunity because it helped to learn from doctors and better understand how to build models that would be most helpful in a clinical context.”  

Cailum Stienstra 

Participating in the UBC Med Datathon was an incredible experience — the event was extremely well-organized, offering a range of datasets tailored to different skill levels and outstanding mentorship throughout the process. I especially loved applying what I’ve learned in medical school to real-world clinical challenges, such as using my recent knowledge of stroke pathophysiology to help develop a primary stroke-prediction model designed for implementation at the primary care level.” 

Jennifer Lim, UBC MD 2028 

Thank you to everyone who joined us. Stay tuned for future events and more opportunities to connect, collaborate, and create impact through data.