Hackathons provide an opportunity for innovators to brainstorm creative ideas to solve a defined problem. Traditionally, hackathons have served as a methodology to foster the rapid generation of innovative solutions leveraged by digital technologies and immersive collaboration across a broad range of multidisciplinary contexts (1). In educational settings, hackathons are transformative tools for engaging students, enhancing knowledge retention, and developing both soft and technical skills. Importantly, hackathons offer students a hands-on, experiential learning opportunity to address broad systemic issues that fall beyond the remit of regular educational curricula (2). In recent times, the application of hackathons has expanded notably into sustainable health innovation, with events designed to bring together diverse stakeholders and address real health needs. For example, a health hackathon in Berlin directly involved patients and healthcare professionals in all stages of the innovation process, demonstrating a user-centered and transdisciplinary approach to developing digital health solutions and producing systematic recommendations for future innovation events (3). Similarly, rehabilitation-focused hackathons have been documented in the medical literature as interdisciplinary events that unite clinicians, engineers, designers, and others to rapidly prototype healthcare solutions while fostering cross-sector collaboration (4). Beyond academic case studies, recent applied events such as the ReFlow: Menstrual Health Innovation Hackathon in India have mobilized students, startups, NGOs, and other community partners to co-create sustainable solutions for menstrual health challenges, highlighting the broader real-world impact of health-oriented hackathons (5).

Peer-based learning is a well-established pedagogical approach in public health education, grounded in social learning theory and constructivist models of education, which emphasize learning as a collaborative, socially mediated process (6). Through peer interaction, learners actively construct knowledge, reinforce understanding, and develop critical thinking and communication skills essential for public health practice. Within workforce development frameworks, peer learning has been shown to strengthen professional identity formation, teamwork, leadership, and problem-solving competencies—skills that are increasingly recognized as core to the future public health workforce (7). The Health Hackathon empowers students to become agents of change within their school communities while inspiring them to explore careers in the health workforce. School-based preventative health interventions targeting adolescents can significantly enhance health literacy and foster health behaviors that persist into adulthood (8). Peer education is a well-established approach for delivering such interventions, with evidence demonstrating positive impacts on students’ knowledge, attitudes and behaviors across various health topics (9). However, to ensure effectiveness and avoid unintended harm, peer leaders require close support from adults to guide their responsibilities and communicate accurate health messaging (10).

Traditionally, hackathons are intensive 1–2 day events emphasizing rapid prototyping and pitching. In this format, teams work under tight time constraints to produce working prototypes or solution demos by the end of the event, supporting fast learning and innovation in health and technology contexts. For example, health-focused hackathons have been documented as short, interdisciplinary events that bring together participants from diverse backgrounds to collaboratively design and pitch healthcare solutions within a discrete time frame (11). In contrast to this time-bounded hackathon model, design competitions and similar student challenge formats often span weeks to months, providing extended periods for structured workshops, mentorship, ideation, research, iterative prototyping, and reflective refinement, which are aligned with deeper learning outcomes and real-world problem solving. For instance, global case competitions in public and global health challenge student teams to work over several weeks to develop thoroughly researched proposals and multimedia deliverables around pressing health issues, fostering critical thinking, teamwork, and sustained engagement with complex material (12). Recognizing these differences, the School of Public Health, University of Memphis adopted an extended design competition format to better serve high school students’ developmental needs. This extended timeframe allowed students to build foundational public health knowledge, receive ongoing expert guidance, engage meaningfully with mentors, and develop critical workforce skills in a balanced way alongside their academic commitments—thereby prioritizing educational depth over the rapid pace typical of traditional hackathons.

The design competition hackathon methodology offers an innovative solution to these challenges by creating a structured and supportive environment where students can collaborate with public health experts to develop and test their ideas. Leveraging this methodology and youth voice to foster impactful health innovation, the University of Memphis School of Public Health launched the innovative Public Health Hackathon series “RE-AIM Public Health IDEAS through the Lens of Youth Hackathon”, first of its kind initiative to engage high school students to design, develop and implement out of box, creative ideas following human-centered approach and design thinking principles to address public health challenges that impact in the local or global settings. This initiative seeks to create public health awareness among high school students and guides students to develop a health promotion campaign for their school community, their families and the communities they live in. It further engages the students broadly with public health experts across various sectors including health department, hospitals, insurance organizations, pharmacy, start up and community organizations and broaden awareness of careers in the field of public health.

The initiative “RE-AIM Public Health IDEAS through the Lens of Youth Hackathon”, public health hackathon is driven by young people, their innovation, creativity and their will to be drivers in the delivery of public health approaches towards advancing Sustainable Development Goal three, good health and wellbeing.

The objectives of the public health hackathon include (i) to sensitize individuals about the field of public health (ii) assist future public health leaders to come up with out-of-box solutions to address public health challenges of the 21st century, (iii) connect, collaborate, and coordinate with students from across the world to build teams to solve common public health challenges, and (iv) to create a platform that enables future leaders to bring together ideas on how today’s pressing public health problems can be addressed across various local and global settings.

This first of its kind initiative, facilitates teamwork, critical thinking and problem-solving skills and challenge high students to present creative and innovative solutions to address public health challenges both in local and global context and contribute towards the improvement of good health and wellbeing of communities across geographic settings (Figures 1, 2).

Brief about the Public Health Hackathon: The Public Health Hackathon engages students in developing creative, solution-oriented responses to pressing public health challenges across local and global contexts. Participants competed individually or in teams, with a defined theme for each annual Hackathon held during 2022–2023, 2023–2024, and 2024–2025. The inaugural Hackathon (2022–2023) involved students from three high schools across two countries (the United States and India). The second Hackathon (2023–2024) expanded participation to include both high school and university students, engaging institutions in the United States and Portugal, with eight student teams participating. The third Hackathon (2024–2025) further scaled the initiative to include 16 teams and 87 participants from four countries—the United States, India, Malta, and Uganda. Implementation process included four major steps:

The workshop prepared students to effectively present their solutions to an expert panel. They learned strategies for showcasing their ideas, gaining buy-in, and communicating their work in ways that engage community members, generate interest, and highlight the impact of their projects.

A total of 87 students from 9 institutions across 4 countries (United States, India, Malta, and Uganda) participated in the 2024–2025 RE-AIM Public Health IDEAS Hackathon. Six high schools and three universities/colleges were represented, forming 16 teams, of which 13 submitted a complete abstract and pitch and 3 submitted an abstract only.

The hackathon, held on May 5, 2025, was preceded by four virtual workshops (problem framing, ideation, project design, pitching) and 5 months of mentorship, technical support, and office hours. Students developed 16 projects addressing sexual health, obesity prevention, mental health, substance abuse, oral health, and environmental sustainability (Supplementary Table S4).

Projects were evaluated by a multidisciplinary judging panel (public health, technology, academia, and finance). Awards recognized innovation, feasibility, clarity, and impact. There were teams that were honorable mentions in the innovation and the impact categories.

The combination of workshops, mentorship, and pitching equipped participants with practical skills in design thinking, communication, and teamwork, aligning with workforce development goals. The hackathon functioned not only as a competition but also as an experiential learning environment supporting workforce-relevant skill development. In total, 66 local students across 11 Memphis-based teams and international peers from Malta, India, and Uganda contributed. Projects highlighted the integration of digital tools, community-based approaches, and sustainability-focused solutions. The hackathon concluded with an awards ceremony on May 5, 2025, celebrating student-led innovation in public health.

This study demonstrates the potential of a Public Health Hackathon as an applied, experiential educational model for engaging future public health workforce in addressing contemporary public health challenges. By integrating the program within school contexts, students were provided with a structured platform to develop, test, and present campaigns focused on health issues relevant to adolescents, extending learning beyond the classroom.

The global, hybrid Hackathon was intentionally designed as a pragmatic, real-world learning experience rather than a controlled intervention, reflecting how public health ideas are developed and communicated in practice. Grounded in design thinking and applied public health education, the model prioritized accessibility, flexibility, and experiential learning.

A key contribution was the emphasis on skill development across the full project lifecycle, including problem identification, evidence review, human-centered design, project planning, prototyping, and communication. The program required no prior public health training, enabling students from diverse educational backgrounds to engage meaningfully in public health problem-solving. The Hackathon also functioned as a peer learning ecosystem, exposing participants to diverse project types and broadening their understanding of public health solutions. The design thinking-informed structure supported iterative learning, balancing creativity with feasibility and evidence.

While flexible mentorship and optional workshops enhanced scalability, participation levels varied, and outcomes were assessed primarily through project submissions rather than longitudinal measures. Future research should examine longer-term educational and workforce impacts.

Overall, the Hackathon illustrates the value of design-driven, experiential learning models in building public health capacity, creativity, and career awareness among future leaders, offering a scalable framework for engaging the future public health workforce.

This study describes the design and implementation of a global, hybrid public health hackathon that integrates future public health workforce engagement, design thinking, and applied public health education. Implemented as a pragmatic, real-world learning experience, the Hackathon emphasized accessibility, flexibility, and experiential skill building. Participants developed competencies across the public health project lifecycle, including problem identification, evidence use, human-centered design, prototyping, and communication.

Beyond individual skill development, the Hackathon functioned as a shared learning environment that exposed participants to diverse public health challenges and solution approaches, fostering creativity and broadening understanding of public health action and career pathways.

Although outcomes were assessed primarily through project submissions, the Hackathon demonstrates the potential of design-driven, youth-centered programming to complement traditional public health education and workforce development efforts. This adaptable model offers a scalable approach for schools and universities seeking to promote public health engagement, civic participation, and workforce readiness. Future work should examine longitudinal outcomes and adaptation across diverse educational and community contexts.