We #MakeHealth Fest 2015
In October 2015, the 2nd annual We #MakeHealth Fest took place at the University of Michigan. Like last year, this was a collaborative event focused on participatory design, innovation, and the creation of a Maker Movement for health.
Check out Dr. Lee's blogpost to learn more about how the maker movement is transforming healthcare!
Watch videos of our keynote speakers Susannah Fox, Chief Technology Officer of the US Department of Health and Human Services, and Jose Gomez-Marquez and Anna Young of the Little Devices Lab and MakerNurse as well as presentations from the Symposium: The Nightscout Project, Patient-Driven Innovation, & the Maker Movement!
Check out photos from the Fest!
What is Making?
“Making is fundamental to what it means to be human. We must make, create, and express ourselves to feel whole. There is something unique about making physical things. Things we make are like little pieces of us and seem to embody portions of our soul.” -Mark Hatch
Traditionally, makers are inventors, designers, tinkerers, and computer hackers who develop creative technology solutions. They share their knowledge and technologies with other community members in peer-to-peer learning environments like meet-ups, makerspaces, or large community events.
What is the link between Making and Health?
In the arena of health, patients and caregivers are doing their own version of “making”. Caregivers are hacking kitchen tools to ease the physical burden of caring for an elderly parent; parents of kids with type 1 diabetes are developing Do-It-Yourself mobile technology solutions for remote monitoring of blood sugars; and parents of children with rare diseases are creating rare disease research networks and therapies using social media tools.
“Making” and collaboration by patients and caregivers has resulted in the creation of some of the most innovative health solutions today:
To fix healthcare, we need to infuse it with the maker movement
That is why we are holding this event: to learn about new tools and technologies (wearables, 3D printers, mobile technology) that could be applied to health, to connect with a diverse group of individuals (designers, programmers, tinkerers, patients, caregivers, and healthcare providers), and to create a movement that recognizes that we all can should and want to be MAKERS of health, especially expert patients and caregivers.
2015 Planning Committee
Patricia Abbott, Associate Professor, University of Michigan School of Nursing
Patricia F Anderson, Emerging Technologies Librarian, University of Michigan
Nancy Benovich Gilby, Ehrenberg Director of Entrepreneurship, Clinical Associate Professor, University of Michigan School of Information
Julie Cruz, Project Coordinator, Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship, University of Michigan School of Public Health
Emily Hirschfeld, Clinical Research Associate, University of Michigan Health System
Matt Kenyon, Associate Professor, University of Michigan Stamps School of Art and Design
Joyce Lee, Associate Professor, University of Michigan Medical School/School of Public Health
Scott Olson, Managing Director, M-PED Pediatric Device Consortium at University of Michigan
Emily Puckett Rodgers, Entrepreneurship Program Leader, University of Michigan School of Information
Sponsors
Dexcom
Health Forward
The following departments of the University of Michigan:
The Institute for Healthcare Policy & Innovation
FastForward Medical Innovation
The School of Information
The Department of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases
The Taubman Health Sciences Library
Medical School Information Services
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