Juxtopia®’s (www.juxtopia.org) team, Juxtopia® Imhotep, formed as a program to create minority telemedicine companies to address telemedicine marketplace needs. The global telemedicine market grew from $9.8 billion in 2010 to $11.6 billion in 2011 and will almost triple to $27.3 billion in 2016, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.6% over the next five years, according to a report from BCC Research.
Juxtopia® Imhotep officially entered the Qualcomm Tricorder X PRIZE http://www.qualcommtricorderxprize.org/ in January, 2014. In this X PRIZE competition, Juxtopia® Imhotep will compete with 31 teams around the world to engineer a consumer-friendly mobile telemedicine device that will measure vital signs and diagnose 15 health conditions including, but not limited to, diabetes, anemia, atrial fibrillation, stroke, tuberculosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), pneumonia, and hepatitis.
Among the competing teams, Juxtopia® Imhotep is unique. This team of 13 and growing comprises 100% of underrepresented minority students in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) from high school to college. More significantly, the engineering team is comprised mostly of African American women students with majors ranging from computer science to mechanical engineering (http://www.juxtopia.org/programs/imhotep/team-imhotep/). The team’s official partners include the American Public Health Association (APHA)’s Health Informatics and Information Technology (HIIT) section (Washington, DC) and the Emerging Technology Centers (ETC) (Baltimore, MD).
Dr. Jayfus Tucker Doswell, African American entrepreneur, inventor, artist, and scientist, is the team founder and graduate of Oberlin College (B.A.), Howard University (M.S.) and George Mason University (Ph.D.). Dr. Doswell was motivated to enter team Juxtopia® Imhotep into this X PRIZE to challenge underrepresented minority youth in STEM to engineer innovative solutions that decrease health disparities, which adversely impact disadvantaged populations around the world. Dr. Doswell states, “Our Juxtopia® Engineers in Training (JET)s are trained to engineer high quality solutions to the most challenging problems in the world and embody intrinsic principles to discipline, preserve, and innovate.”
Team Juxtopia® Imhotep’s technical lead and project manager, Ms. Leshell Hatley, is an African American woman software engineer and Ph.D. candidate in George Mason University’s learning technology program. “I am excited about leading a predominately women engineering team in a worldwide engineering competition that has much potential for improving world health,” asserts, Ms. Hatley. Team
Juxtopia® Imhotep’s partners and sponsors include APHA HIIT, BioHealth Innovations, Coppin State University College of Health Professions, Economic Alliance of Baltimore, ETC, Executive One Transport, The Juxtopia Group, Leibowitz-Magiros Group, Maryland Department of Economic and Business Development, Maryland Technology Development Corporation, Morehouse School of Medicine, and Uplift.
Visit team Juxtopia® Imhotep and meet the young engineers and scientists at the American Telemedicine Association (ATA) held in Baltimore, Maryland, May 17 through 20, 2014.
About the Juxtopia Group (www.juxtopia.org) The Juxtopia Group, Inc. is a Maryland 501c(3) not for profit organization with a mission to improve human performance for populations, underserved and disadvantaged. Follow team Juxtopia® Imhotep on Twitter @JuxtopiaImhotep JULT television (www.jult.tv), and its official webpage, http://www.juxtopia.org/programs/imhotep/team-imhotep/.
About the X PRIZE (www.xprize.org) XPRIZE is the global leader in the creation of incentivized prize competitions. Its mission is to bring about radical breakthroughs for the benefits of humanity, thereby inspiring the formation of new industries and the revitalization of markets.