2023–24 Hackathon
These initiatives task youth with presenting out-of-the-box solutions to address public health challenges impacting the world today. This platform brings together youth's ideas on how today's pressing public health problems can be addressed across diverse local and global settings. In our inaugural launch, a few selected high schools were given the opportunity to generate solution-based ideas.
As we connect youth locally, nationally, and globally, we are beginning to embark on solving public health challenges on a greater scale. To further sensitize public health among high schoolers, the University of Memphis School of Public Health plans to expand these initiatives in high schools globally and, for this second series, proposes to address the topic of:
Public Health Infodemics in a Digital Environment Among Youth
The rapid spread of misinformation and disinformation online has emerged as a pressing public issue of the 21st century. Too much information overwhelmed individuals, communities, and health systems and led to people developing information avoidance. Changes in consumer behavior, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, are increasing the need for a redesign of the entire health ecosystem. A recent study showed that 41% of teenagers can’t tell the difference between true and fake online health messages. Given the alarming spread of health-related misinformation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, there is an urgency to teach youth the skills they need to evaluate the credibility of online sources of news and information.
This initiative will allow the participants to present innovative ideas to address the issue of public health infodemics/misinformation in a digital environment.
We invite multisector, multi-institutional, cross-country participation in this innovative initiative to sensitize youth about the importance of public health and create a community of learners and leaders in public health. These public health change makers will be equipped with training in "Public Health Infodemics in a Digital Environment Among Youth" and its impact towards the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3: Good Health and Well-Being.
Meet Our Judges
Dr. Neville Calleja
Full Professor and Head of Department for Public Health within the Faculty of Medicine & Surgery of the University of Malta, in Europe
Prof. Neville Calleja is a Full Professor and Head of Department for Public Health within the Faculty of Medicine & Surgery of the University of Malta, in Europe. He is also the Director for Health Information and Statistics within the Ministry of Health in Malta, since 2007, serving as Acting Chief Medical Officer during 2014. He is very active at European level in the field of Health Information for both the EU and WHO (Europe), conducting health information system assessments in the region, and is part of the team involved in the development and revision of the WHO (Euro) tool for this purpose. He has also been recently involved in the assessment of COVID-19 specific health information systems in several countries in Europe and also the preparedness of EU countries for the upcoming European Health Data Space initiative. During the COVID-19 pandemic, apart from providing epidemiological and public health policy support as part of the Senior COVID-19 Advisory Group to the Ministry for Health in Malta and representing Malta on several COVID emergency fora in the EU, he has also been assisting WHO in Geneva in shaping its infodemic management research agenda and competency framework, and has contributed to several training schools in infodemic management covering over 1400 infodemic managers globally. The AD Scientific Index 2023 ranked Prof Neville Calleja as one of the top 10 scientists in Malta.
Tina D. Purnat
Former Team lead for infodemic management, Health Emergencies Programme, World Health Organization
A global health expert working at the intersection of data, technology, and policy.
With over 20 years of experience—including leadership roles at the World Health Organization
(WHO) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). Tina helps
organizations navigate complex health systems and design smarter, evidence-based solutions.
Ms. Purnat is Vice President of the Global Health section at the European Public Health
Association (EUPHA), an Associate Editor for several peer-reviewed journals, and a
Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) candidate at Harvard University. My work spans pandemic
preparedness, digital health, trustworthy AI standards and systems, and the intersection
of digital society with public health. Use of innovative, systems-based strategies
to help organizations and governments design resilient, ethical, and people-centered
health responses in a rapidly evolving world.
Elisabeth Wilhelm
Behavioral and Social Change Advisor and Infodemic Manager
Elisabeth is an award-winning global health expert specializing in social behavior change and public health communication. She has extensive experience in immunization, maternal and child health, and infectious diseases, having worked with organizations such as the US CDC, UNICEF, and USAID. Elisabeth has led and advised teams on emergency and outbreak responses both domestically and globally, and served as the principal investigator on implementation science research projects in multiple countries. She has co-authored over 40 publications in peer-reviewed journals and trained thousands of public health communicators and professionals in capacity-building workshops across the US and around the world. A highly sought-after speaker, trainer, writer, and strategist, Elisabeth is known for her expertise in health diplomacy, creative problem-solving, and her ability to unite diverse teams to tackle complex social, behavioral, and communication challenges in public health. She currently advises on behavior change communication, health equity, and public health and emergency response at USAID. Elisabeth is also a PhD candidate in Midwifery at the University of West Attica, where her research focuses on building competencies in midwifery practice to better leverage use of social media to improve client education and outreach.
Dr. Chris Voegeli
Behavioral Scientist, Acting Inaccurate Health Information Mitigation Team Lead, Division for Communication Science and Services, Office of Communications, CDC, United States
Dr. Chris Voegeli is the acting Inaccurate Health Information Lead in the Office of Director’s Internal Office of Communication at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In this role, he is tasked with developing, implementing, and evaluating the CDC’s strategic plan to address inaccurate health information. Before taking this role, Chris was the Acting Vaccine Confidence and Demand lead in the Immunization Services Division of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, where he coordinated the CDC’s domestic portfolio of work to build the public’s confidence and demand for all vaccines. Prior to that, Chris led the Insights Unit, which worked to monitor and mitigate the spread of COVID-19 misinformation and produced the CDC's State of Vaccine Confidence Report.
Dr. Becky White
Adjunct Research Fellow at Curtin University, a director at Reach Health Promotion Innovations, a Digital Health Advisor to the Australian Digital Health Agency, Australia
Dr. Becky White is a researcher and consultant with over 15 years’ experience in health promotion and digital health. She is an Adjunct Research Fellow at Curtin University in Australia, a director at Reach Health Promotion Innovations, has worked as a consultant in the Infodemic Management team at WHO and is a Digital Health Advisor to the Australian Digital Health Agency. Becky has worked on projects performing social listening in digital spaces and producing and teaching infodemic insights monitoring and analysis, both as part of the WHO COVID-19 response and in a research capacity, looking at information trends over the course of the pandemic. She has worked for many years on how digital health technologies can be best utilised for health promotion and health behavior change in populations. Becky’s research interests are digital and health literacy, infodemics, health promotion and digital health. She has a PhD in Public Health and is an IUHPE accredited Health Promotion Practitioner.
Dr. Tim Mackey
Director, Global Health Policy and Data Institute, UC San Diego, United States
Tim Ken Mackey is a Professor in the Global Health Program at UC San Diego in the Department of Anthropology, the Director of the Global Health Policy and Data Institute, and the Editor-in-Chief of JMIR Infodemiology. He is also the CEO and co-founder of the data science and research services company S-3 Research. He holds a BA in Political Science-International Relations, a Master's degree in Health Policy & Law and earned his PhD in Global Public Health from the joint doctoral program at UC San Diego - San Diego State University. Prof. Mackey’s work has been featured in high-impact journals such as Science, Cell, JAMA, Nature Biotechnology, the Lancet, Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology, and Clinical Microbiology Reviews. His research and expertise has also been featured in major news outlets such as The New York Times, CNN, NPR, and the Wall Street Journal. His work focuses on an array of multidisciplinary topics in domestic and global public health, with a specific focus on health technology and innovation, machine learning, infodemiology, and global health policy. He also has extensive professional experience including over 10 years' experience in the private sector and acting as a consultant for the World Health Organization, the US Department of State and others.
Dr. Catherine Bertrand-Ferrandis
Director Strategic Communication, France
A veterinarian by training, Catherine has worked for over fifteen years in public health communication, with a strong "One Health" focus. She specializes in global health communication, risk communication, infodemic management, and the training of international health professionals. She led the communication department of the World Organisation for Animal Health from 2013 to 2020 and was involved in the development of several tripartite and quadripartite communication initiatives on antimicrobial resistance. Founder of her own consultancy in 2020, she regularly supports WHO teams in projects related to her areas of expertise. She also advises various public and private health sector leaders on their strategic communications.
Participating Schools
