Student Innovators

We asked students to tell us about their most innovative projects. Here is what they said.

Working at the forefront of change in the 911 system

“The West Metro Fire Rescue Advanced Resource Medic in Lakewood, Colorado, is a pilot agency for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation. It employs a nurse practitioner, a physician assistant, and an advanced practice firefighter/paramedic who schedule urgent-care services and telehealth visits in patients’ homes. They also do lab work, provide pregnancy tests, set broken bones, order mobile imaging, suture wounds, prescribe from a progressive formulary from the back of a specialty ambulance, and are working towards admitting patients in mental health crisis directly to in-patient services.

"The opportunity to work on the forefront of change in the 911 system has been the professional honor of my life."

– Program Director Mike Binney, Executive MPH '25

Turning patients into healers

“Bravo Conscious Health is a health care-technology platform redesigning patient care by joining distinct medical modalities with allopathic medicine to prioritize root cause resolution, emphasize preventative care, and achieve greater power parity between patients and their doctors.

“A team of MDs, non-allopathic clinicians, healers, and lifestyle coaches will redefine the patient experience by unifying the interaction between belief systems, physiological functioning, and disease states. The platform simultaneously aims to bridge silos in patient data to develop predictive models to improve diagnosis and treatment, while minimizing the effort and uncertainty that sick people must go through to successfully engage with their own health and healing.

“I hope to empower patients to become their own healers, and doctors to be guides.”

– Rodrigo “Rod” Bravo, MPH ’24 (Health Care Management); MD Candidate, College of Medicine Tucson

Changing the paradigm of emergency treatment

“Auriva Health’s IoT platform has the potential to address life-threatening events across a spectrum of medical conditions. Recently, Auriva Health secured a spot in the highly competitive MIT/NIDA Bootcamp for Biomedical Innovation, with support from the National Institutes of Health.
“Auriva Health’s wearable and portable devices can detect medical emergencies including seizures, myocardial infarction, and diabetes-related hypoglycemia. Once an event is identified, the platform can activate a drug delivery device, potentially saving lives in the critical moments before medical assistance arrives.”

– Jolene Bressi, PharmD, Executive MPH '25

Providing a mental health platform for children and families

“I’m working on a mental health analytics platform/app that specializes in helping students K-12 and their families navigate their mental health journey using data insights. We collect and analyze data from various sources, such as surveys and therapy sessions, to understand a child's mental health status. Our platform offers guidance on available treatments and provides caregivers with a customized dashboard on mood, behavior, anxiety, and depression. We provide parents with on-demand classes and a directory of culturally aligned therapists so they can address concerns early and make informed decisions about their child's well-being.”

– Sham Firdausi, Executive MPH '25, (Health Informatics)

Author, motivational speaker & coach

“I am devoted to serving students from diverse backgrounds. My journey, from public housing apartments in rural Alabama to becoming a PhD student has armed me with invaluable insights, which I now use to help others realize their greatest potential. In my role as a certified Academic Success Coach, I provide much more than academic guidance. I offer accountability, mentorship, and insightful wisdom, drawing from my personal journey.”

– Crystal Harrell, PhD candidate (Social and Behavioral Sciences)

Building a ‘knowledge hub’

“In my mental blueprint, the HealthLink platform's mission will be to empower users by providing them with resources on preventive care, healthy living, and early disease detection. It wouldn’t be just a health care tool – it would be a knowledge hub with the mission to turn individuals into informed decision-makers about their health.”

– Casey Ma, MPH ‘25 (Health Care Management)

Empowering Thailand’s ‘disease detectives’

“Based on the award-winning PODD project empowering farmers in Thailand to become disease detectives, we've released a free open source surveillance platform called The One Health Toolkit that helps low- and middle-income countries implement affordable and effective One Health surveillance as an early warning system for outbreaks.” Watch the video here.

– Matt Parker, MPH ’24 (Epidemiology)