CajunCodeFest 4.0 to offer advice to programmers, software developers

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

The Informatics Research Institute at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette 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 UL Lafayette 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 Research and principal investigator, REACHnet;
• Dr. Arun Lakhotia, UL Lafayette professor of computer science and chief executive officer of Cythereal;
• Jeffrey Lush, UL Lafayette 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 UL Lafayette 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 Research 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 www.cajuncodefest.org.