Palo Alto Medical Foundation kick off event with Todd Park and Intel

The Palo Alto Medical Foundation’s (PAMF) Innovation Center is inviting the Silicon Valley community to combine its unique talents in developing new ways to help seniors age successfully. On April 14th-15th, PAMF  will host an event at the Computer History Museum that will launch their “Successful Aging Challenge” with the help of three nationally recognized speakers:

  • Todd Park U.S. Chief Technology Officer
  • Eric Dishman Intel Fellow and Director of Health Innovation at Intel
  • Dr. Paul Tang Chief Innovation and Technology Officer of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation


“More than anywhere else in the country, Silicon Valley is perfectly positioned to apply innovative thinking to the universal challenges of aging,” according to Paul Tang, M.D., chief innovation and technology officer for PAMF. “We live in the heart of technological innovation and have a proud history of excellent health care and supportive community organizations. We can be a national model for how the community supports aging and living well.As part of this event PAMF wants developers to think about significant signals relevant to a senior’s health that if detected and acted upon, could lead to significantly better health outcomes over the long term for that individual. The signals might be clinical (symptoms), social (neighbors notice they have started letting their house and garden go), or both (several missed medical appointments). This event and the related “Successful Aging Challenge” will focus on asking developers to 1) select signals they believe might be important and relevant 2) prototype creative systems in which those signals could be detected, analyzed and visualized to appropriate parties 3) show what actions would be taken as a result and 4) describe how that would influence the health of a senior.

In an event open to the public, both Park and Dishman will discuss the social and health challenges of aging and the tremendous opportunities to apply technology in disruptive, innovative ways to help seniors live vibrant and fulfilling lives – aging successfully. Dr. Tang will describe PAMF’s linkAges successful aging initiative and PAMF’s role as a community health partner.

Following the morning keynotes, developer teams from around the country will engage in ideation sessions, focusing on innovative solutions to address the challenges heard in the public symposium. Top ideas will be awarded monetary prizes.

The Developer Kick-Off Event will be focused primarily on brainstorming, storyboarding, and the creation of basic product wireframes. The workshop will then lead into a related 3-month developer challenge, where the top prize will include an opportunity to participate in an accelerator program with the PAMF Innovation Center. Participants in the developer kick-off event will benefit from additional education and feedback that may facilitate their successful participation in the developer challenge.