Teams Showcase Brain Health Innovations at Pathways to InnoVAtion Summit
Today and tomorrow six winning teams are in Washington, D.C. to present their ideas at the VA Brain Trust: Pathways to InnoVAtion Summit. The teams have been recognized and selected for their work creating brain health innovations for veterans experiencing mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). MyVA Partnerships, VA Center for Innovation, and Booz Allen Hamilton hosted hackathons at two of Booz Allen’s iHub locations—Galvanize in San Francisco and Capital Factory in Austin in February 2016 where teams showcased their ideas.
Booz Allen has joined several partners to seek solutions to treatment options for veterans who served in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Jarah Meador, Lead of Innovation Sourcing at the VA Center for Innovation reports, “Up to 20% of Veterans from Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom are living with PTSD in a given year. In each of these data points exists a human story – an individual with a life, a family, and loved ones. So we’re here to co-create, with veterans, solutions that will transform how we reintegrate, rehabilitate, and diagnose veterans experiencing mTBI and PTSD.”
The two-day Innovations Summit is designed to promote forward-thinking dialogue among industry leaders, national sports organizations, the Department of Defense and other Federal Agencies, innovators, scientists, clinicians - and the Veterans & caregivers they serve. During the two days internationally renowned experts and thought leaders will have the opportunity to facilitate collaboration among cross-sector stakeholders involved with mTBI and PTSD. Events are planned to take place at The National Press Club, 529 14th Street NW, Washington DC, The Hamilton Live, 600 14th Street NW, Washington DC and IBM Briefing Center, 600 14th Street NW, Washington DC.
The focus of the April VA BrainTrust event is to use accelerated teamwork and partnering exercises to identify critical brain health solutions for veterans effected by the challenges of mTBI and/or PTSD. For more information about the VA BrainTrust: Pathways to InnoVAtion Summit, go to http://www.va.gov/p3/braintrust.asp or #VABrainTrust.
