What is the Triangle Health Innovation Challenge?
The Triangle Health Innovation Challenge (THInC) brings together students and young professionals (engineers, clinicians, designers, business people and others) to tackle and build innovative solutions for the biggest challenges in health and healthcare. Organized by students at UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke University, and NC State University, THInC brings together the academic, industry, pharmaceutical, startup and student communities to collaborate to solve problems of immense importance.
At THInC, you’ll join a team that’s tackling a specific “pain point” in health. Over the next 48 hours, you’ll work together to construct technological solutions to address your team’s problem, and in the process, help raise the standard of healthcare. You’ll hear from thought leaders, work with clinical, technical and business mentors, and stay well fed on local fare and copious coffee. On Sunday, each team will pitch their solutions of judges, and a grand prize winner will be selected!
Over the last three years, THInC has brought together 381 participants from across the Triangle and beyond. Winning solutions have included a wearable physical therapy activity tracker, an algorithm for smart patient-specific clinic scheduling, a virtual reality tool for veterans with PTSD, an app for preventing heart failure readmissions and an EHR-integrated notification app for the Apple Watch.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to be from the Triangle to participate?
Definitely not! We welcome anyone who’s passionate about improving healthcare, whether you’re from the Triangle, North Carolina, or beyond.
How much time do I need to commit?
We expect all participants to be on-site Friday evening after 6pm, all day Saturday, and Sunday until 3:30pm. If you can’t make it on Friday, or need to leave early on Sunday, we can accommodate that, but you must be able to commit to participating all day Saturday and into Sunday afternoon. We don’t require teams to stay overnight working on their projects
How much does it cost?
Our registration fees are very low at just $15 before 12/1. Your fee includes a t-shirt, event and sponsor swag, and meals from dinner Friday evening to Sunday lunch and an afternoon snack. If you need financial assistance, please contact info@thincweekend.org and we’ll do our best to accommodate you!
What type of projects can we work on?
You’re welcome to tackle any project related to health or healthcare. When selecting a project to pitch or to work on, remember that you should pick something for which you and your team can develop a prototype solution (typically an app, a website-based service, a workflow or a relatively simple physical device) within 48 hours.
Media Mentions
Sponsorship
We’re seeking academic and corporate sponsors for allowing us to hold THInC 2019. Sponsors have the opportunity to showcase their products/APIs, recruit new talent, and demonstrate their commitment to healthcare innovation in the Triangle and beyond!
Interested in becoming a sponsor? Get in touch! 2019 sponsorship details coming soon!
Sponsors of THInC 2019 included:
Previous sponsors included Eisai, Innovate Carolina, Duke MEDx, Aetna, Biogen, Grifols, Janssen, Allscripts, Quintiles, Mosaic Health Solutions, Validic, Metlife, Forecast Health, OrthoWilmington, the Duke Institute for Health Innovation, the Duke Pratt School of Engineering, the UNC Eschelman Institute for Innovation, Duke MMCi, the Center for Advanced Hindsight, the Duke Brain Imaging Center, and the Health 2.0 NC Triangle Chapter. We thank our previous sponsors for their generous support!
Our Team

Pooja Joshi
Executive Co-DirectorPooja is a senior at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Gillings School of Global Public Health majoring in Health Policy & Management and minoring in Entrepreneurship and Asian Studies. She is the Vice President of UNC AMWHO, an annual public health conference at UNC; Executive Director of UNC Samaa, North Carolina’s premier South Asian fusion a cappella team;…
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Anita Amin
Executive Co-DirectorAnita is a senior at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Gillings School of Global Public Health, double majoring in Health Policy & Management and Biology, and minoring in Chemistry. She is the President and Co-founder of PI+CH (Promoting Innovations + Collaborations in Health) at UNC, a graduate and undergraduate student organization dedicated to engaging more students with health…
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Kathy Chan
Executive Co-DirectorKathy is a senior at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Gillings School of Global Public Health, majoring in Nutritional Biochemistry. Kathy conducts research surrounding novel fatty acids in Dr. Raz Shaikh’s lab. She also serves executive positions with the PI+CH team and a variety of minority and immigrant health groups, and volunteers as a doula with UNC Birth…
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Farial Rahman
Director of MediaFarial is a senior at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Gillings School of Global Public Health, majoring in Biostatistics and minoring in Chemistry. Outside of THInC, she works on TEDxUNC and Aaj Ka Dhamaka, an intercollegiate dance competition. She is also Reflections Co-Chair for APPLES, a service organization at UNC that seeks to promote active engagement in service…
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Hiral Jivanji
Director of External LogisticsHiral is a fourth-year student at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Eshelman School of Pharmacy, pursuing her PharmD. She currently interns with Digital Health Impact and Transformation (DHIT), a social venture that aims to create innovative solutions to help the opioid crisis in North Carolina. Hiral is also involved with several pharmacy organizations and enjoys participating in patient…
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Howard Li
Assistant Director of External LogisticsHoward is a senior at Duke University majoring in Biomedical Engineering. He is also pursuing a minor in Chemistry as well as a certificate in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship program. He is a studio lead for the Design for America club at Duke, which focuses on applying concepts of human-centered design to create products that…
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Pranav Kemburu
Assistant Director of External LogisticsPranav is a senior at NC State University, double majoring in Electrical Engineering and Economics. At NC State, he is also involved with Amateur Radio Club, Chancellor’s Aides, Social Innovation Fellows, and the Haiti Goat Project.
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Laura Gerlach
Co-Director of Finance and SponsorshipLaura is a junior at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School, majoring in Business Administration and minoring in Spanish for the Professions. Laura also serves as the President of the UNC Newman Center, Professional Development Director of the Honors Carolina Student Board, and Treasurer of PI+CH. She is a member of Alpha Kappa Psi Business Fraternity…
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Deepika Senthil
Co-Director of Finance and SponsorshipDeepika is a junior at UNC Chapel Hill on the pre-med track, majoring in Computer Science and Quantitative Biology with a minor in Public Policy. Outside of THInC, she works at Morehead Planetarium and does genetics research. For fun, she also enjoys going on impromptu adventures, napping, and eating lots of food while binge-watching reality…
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Raveena Kothare
Co-Director of Internal LogisticsRaveena graduated from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and a minor in Economics, and is currently pursuing her PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University. She is the Co-Founder of Duke Research in Engineering Program (DukeREP).
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Misbah Ahmad
Co-Director of Internal LogisticsMisbah is a senior at UNC-Chapel Hill, majoring in Biomedical and Health Sciences Engineering, and minoring in Neuroscience. She also serves as the Director of Nutrition for Pearl Hacks, an all-female hackathon that is held in the spring at UNC.
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Founding Team





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