over 2 years ago
Judges Annouced!
We are pleased to announce the three STI Virtual Hackathon Judges: Sonia Almonte, Andre Berro, and Abhik Choudhury. Check out their bios below. Also, remember to sign-up for a mentor session to get feedback on your solution (see the update with how to do that here).
Sonia Almonte, is a Senior Program Analyst at the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO). Prior to joining NACCHO, she served as the Sexually-Transmitted Infection (STI) Program Manager with the Florida Department of Health in Hillsborough County (Tampa, FL), where she led efforts to scale up Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) services in an STI Specialty Clinic, strengthen community partnerships, and educated school board members to reaffirm a comprehensive and inclusive sex ed curriculum in Hillsborough County Public Schools. Her launchpad to public health was at Johns Hopkins, first serving as a Community Health Worker (CHW) in 2013 and advocating for the passing of the Maryland Senate Bill Health Occupations - Maryland CHW Act in 2017. These relevant public health and diverse life experiences were essential in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ms. Almonte was deployed to the local health department (LHD) in Baltimore County and assisted in forming the first Immigrant Affairs Advisory Group. She also organized and mobilized Latinx community-based organizations to start a food distribution site where COVID testing, vaccination, health education, and resources. Ms. Almonte is proud to be a first-generation college student and recipient of the University of South Florida (USF) Latino Scholarship. She earned a Bachelor of Public Administration from the University of Baltimore and plans on pursuing an MPH degree this year.
Andre Berro, MPH, SCPM, is the lead of the Informatics Team with the Surveillance and Data Science Branch (SDSB) within the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's Division of STD Prevention (DSTDP). The Informatics Team works on bridging the gap between the program’s goals and IT/informatics. This involves developing, testing, and applying innovative methods for optimizing the acquisition, reconciling, analysis, and reporting of STD related data. Some of the Team’s contributions included an algorithm to aid jurisdictions in triaging syphilis cases, clinical decision support systems for STDs and HIV/AIDS, utilizing FHIR in electronic case reporting of STDs, an STD data repository for channeling different stream of data, and onboarding states jurisdictions to transmit HL7 STD notifications to the CDC. Andre is also currently exploring the applicability of artificial intelligence and machine learning in the arena of STD prevention data. Before joining DSTDP in 2023, Andre had 19 years experience working with the CDC Quarantine and Border Health Services Branch (QBHSB) where he fulfilled multiple leading roles across preparedness, operations, program management, data analytics, and informatics. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Andre architected the optimization of the travel related data sharing between the CDC and its key partners. Andre finished his Master of Public Health in International Health from the University of Michigan in 2002 and an Advanced Project Management certificate from Stanford University in 2013. When he is not immersed in the world of epidemiology and informatics, Andre enjoys his spare time in activities related to understanding the human condition through the preservation of art and collectible tech including antique mechanical typewriters.
Abhik Choudhury is a Senior Analytics Managing Consultant and Data Scientist with 11 years of experience in designing and implementing scalable data solutions for organizations across various industries. Throughout his career he has developed a strong understanding of AI/ML, Cloud computing, database management systems, data modeling, ETL processes, and Big Data Technologies. His expertise lies in leading cross-functional teams and collaborating withstakeholders at all levels to drive data-driven decision making in in longitudinal pharmacy and medical claims and wholesale drug distribution areas. His technical skills encompass a wide range of areas, including architecting cloud solutions, business intelligence, data visualization, machine learning algorithms, probability and statistics, data analysis, data warehousing, data quality, linear algebra, cloud computing, big data, data governance, and relational databases. Mr. Choudhury has hands-on experience with languages such as Python, R, SQL, UNIX, and DAX, as well as packages like Scikit- Learn, Pandas, SciPy, NumPy, Matplotlib, XGBoost, NLTK, ggplot2, dplyr, and tidy verse. In addition, I have worked with tools and technologies such as Google Cloud Platform, IBM Watson, Microsoft PowerBI, Jupyter Notebook, GIT, Tensor, Pytorch, MySQL, SAP BusinessObjects, IBM DB2, SAP HANA, Hadoop, and Microsoft Excel. In his current role as a Senior Analytics Managing Consultant at IBM Corporation, he has been responsible for designing and implementing scalable data architecture solutions for Healthcare and Pharma clients. He has also played a key role in architecting, building, and managing Legal and compliance data platforms using the Google Cloud Platform. Mr. Choudhury earned an MS in Analytics from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a B. Tech in Electronics and Communications Engineering from West Bengal University of Technology, WB, India.
Questions?
If you have any questions about the hackathon, please post on the discussion forum.