Healing outside the box
What if health care workers in under-resourced countries could administer a prognostic test on patients in the field, miles from any hospital, simply with a smartphone app? This is the kind of innovation that the winners of the 2014 President’s Challenge will now be able to bring to thousands, if not millions, of people suffering from diabetic foot ulcers. President Drew Faust on Thursday awarded $70,000 to the project, called VACU Scan. The support will be crucial in widening its reach. “There were so many really great ideas and teams here, I’m just really happy right now,” said Benjamin Brush, a student at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and a member of the VACU Scan team. “This money will speed up our implementation process,” said team member Richard Lin, also of HMS. “The equipment we can buy, the trials we can perform, the personnel we can hire … this is a game-changer for us.” Changing the game,...