91Ó°ÊÓ

A health care technology and entrepreneurial summit will be held as part of the upcoming CajunCodeFest 4.0 competition.

The Informatics 91Ó°ÊÓ Institute at the 91Ó°ÊÓ hosts the annual event. Programmers and software developers register for the chance to develop the best software tool or application related to a predetermined health care topic. This year’s theme is diabetes health care.

The competition will culminate with judging that will take place on Friday, April 22, at the 91Ó°ÊÓ Alumni Center, 600 E. St. Mary Blvd. The winning person or team will get the chance to present their project to a team of potential investors.

As part of the event, a health care technology and entrepreneurial summit will be held from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. that day. Attendees can learn about a range of topics, including advice for transforming ideas and research into a startup company.

Speakers will include:
• Zachary Barker, executive director for the Opportunity Machine;
• Thomas Carton, director, Health Sciences 91Ó°ÊÓ and principal investigator, REACHnet;
• Dr. Arun Lakhotia, 91Ó°ÊÓ professor of computer science and chief executive officer of Cythereal;
• Jeffrey Lush, 91Ó°ÊÓ associate professor of graphic design;
•  Dr. Claude Pirtle, a physician with Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans and co-founder of Intern 911 Medical Applications;
• Pete Prados, chief idea officer and director for Innov8 Acadiana; and
•  Scott Sittig, head of the 91Ó°ÊÓ Department of Allied Health.

CajunCodeFest began in 2012 as a 27-hour hackathon. Competitors at the yearly event have addressed a range of topics related to health care, such as childhood obesity, and aging. It has evolved into a longer competition, to give teams time to build a marketable tool or application.

This year, the event will be hosted in partnership with the REACHnet, an acronym that stands for 91Ó°ÊÓ Action for Health Network. The network is overseen by a partnership that includes the Louisiana Public Health Institute. It is based in New Orleans.

Learn more about the event agenda and speakers, or register to attend, at .