The Sustainability of Health Economics
The outcomes of the National Inter-University Big Data Challenge — a student-led exploration of how AI and data science can shape better health and social futures.
2022
Inter-University Big Data Challenge™
IUBDC offers a rare and highly sought-after opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students to use AI and advanced data analytics to conduct hands-on, student-driven research in biomedical sciences and health.
IUBDC™
3D illustration of a colorful owl with large eyes and one wing raised.3D cartoon owl holding a glowing black square chip with the letters AI.

partners

& sponsors

Program Statistics
DIVERSITY & INCLUSION
IUBDC
63% / 50%
63% are women in STEM, 50% from underrepresented groups in STEM
94.5%
aim to publish their work in the Underline.io database with a unique DOI
89%
are competing in Inter-University Big Data Challenges for the first
TALENT POOL
IUBDC
68.8%
are students from the top 4 universities in Canada (UofT, UotA, UBC, McGill)
Culminating Events
Western Canada Finals
Calgary, AB, January 31, 2025
University of Calgary Hunter Hub for Entrepreneurial Thinking
Three people working on laptops and tablets at a long table in a modern workspace with a mural featuring words like imagination, leadership, and culture on the wall behind them.
No items found.
Winners
Winners of Canada’s National Big Data and AI Challenge
No items found.
member profile image
Dr. Wanhua Su
Associate Professor at MacEwan University
LinkedIn Icon
member profile image
Hemant Kumar
Pipecandy Technologies, Inc./ Lead Data Scientist
LinkedIn Icon
member profile image
Farzad Khandan
Manager of Solution Architecture, Business Data Technologies, at Amazon
LinkedIn Icon
member profile image
Yang Tang
Senior Data Analyst, Roche Canada
LinkedIn Icon
member profile image
Alex Wang
Senior Data Scientist, Amazon
LinkedIn Icon
member profile image
Eudell Clarke
Academic Assessment in the Pre-Medical Field
LinkedIn Icon
member profile image
Zalika Ruddock-Scott
Medical Student at the Avalon University School of Medicine
LinkedIn Icon
member profile image
Olayinka (Yinka) Awoyemi
SAS User Group
LinkedIn Icon
member profile image
Agnes Klein
Health Canada
LinkedIn Icon
member profile image
Dr. Edris Madadian
Chair, Canadian Association of Postdoctoral Scholars AMTD Global Talent Postdoctoral Scholar, University of Waterloo
LinkedIn Icon
member profile image
Hilda Azimi
Research Associate at National Research Council
LinkedIn Icon
member profile image
Karthik Balakrishnan
AWS Marketplace Site Leader for Canada (Senior Manager at AWS Marketplace)
LinkedIn Icon
Special Guests
Provides expertise and fosters connections with government academia, and industry to guide initiatives.
No items found.
estern Canada Finals
Toronto, ON, January 30, 2025
Microsoft Canadian Headquarters
Three people working on laptops and tablets at a long table in a modern workspace with a mural featuring words like imagination, leadership, and culture on the wall behind them.
See you never: Predicting patient readmission as a preventative and cost-effective measure
Ethan Rajkumar , Kevin Nguyen , Sandra Radic and Jubelle Paa
Bayesian Diagnostic Pipeline and Trauma Response
Isaac W.R.Bahler, Samantha B. Chong and Neel S. Shah
Food for thought: An economic approach to Northern Canada’s food insecurity crisis
Deema ElRufaei, and Alima Sultana
Can tweets be used to identify PPE shortages and inform healthcare supply-chain decisions?
Minh Vu, Kevin Hui , Mahakprit Kaur, and Taylor Cargill
Are mothers getting the most bang for their buck? An evaluation of efficiency of healthcare expenditures related to maternal health
Rayyan Zuberi, Tan Li, Michelle Lu, and Grace Lew
A machine learning approach to classify patients according to the KTAS system using triage information: Predicting the level of risk of adult patients who visit the emergency department
Fiorella Ojeda, Carlos Pariona, Ariane Huaynate, and Piero Latorre
The potential for digital healthcare workforce integration to alleviate the global health worker shortage crisis
Chee Mei Ling & Oladosu Temidayo Lekan
Disability and Smoking: An Instrumental Variable Analysis of UK Households from 1972-2004
XingZuo Zhou, Yiang Li, Tianning Zhu
Improving Psychiatric care wait times in Canada
Krittika Misra, Srinivasa Sai Bharath
Winners
Winners of Canada’s National Big Data and AI Challenge
No items found.
member profile image
Dr. Wanhua Su
Associate Professor at MacEwan University
LinkedIn Icon
member profile image
Hemant Kumar
Pipecandy Technologies, Inc./ Lead Data Scientist
LinkedIn Icon
member profile image
Farzad Khandan
Manager of Solution Architecture, Business Data Technologies, at Amazon
LinkedIn Icon
member profile image
Yang Tang
Senior Data Analyst, Roche Canada
LinkedIn Icon
member profile image
Alex Wang
Senior Data Scientist, Amazon
LinkedIn Icon
member profile image
Eudell Clarke
Academic Assessment in the Pre-Medical Field
LinkedIn Icon
member profile image
Zalika Ruddock-Scott
Medical Student at the Avalon University School of Medicine
LinkedIn Icon
member profile image
Olayinka (Yinka) Awoyemi
SAS User Group
LinkedIn Icon
member profile image
Agnes Klein
Health Canada
LinkedIn Icon
member profile image
Dr. Edris Madadian
Chair, Canadian Association of Postdoctoral Scholars AMTD Global Talent Postdoctoral Scholar, University of Waterloo
LinkedIn Icon
member profile image
Hilda Azimi
Research Associate at National Research Council
LinkedIn Icon
member profile image
Karthik Balakrishnan
AWS Marketplace Site Leader for Canada (Senior Manager at AWS Marketplace)
LinkedIn Icon
Special Guests
Provides expertise and fosters connections with government academia, and industry to guide initiatives.
No items found.
Blue and white cartoon owl figurine sitting on a pile of assorted closed books with worn covers.

Invest in Success

Empower R&D Talent

Your contributions support young talent, who transform communities.

Previous Project
IUBDC
2026
Equitable Health Technologies: Overcoming Biases and False Inferences in AI Diagnostics and Drug Discovery
See Details
IUBDC
2025
Aging Powerfully: AI Blueprint for Chronic Disease Management and Social Determinants of Longevity
See Details
IUBDC
2024
Leveraging Open Data Analytics and Machine Learning to Improve Mental Health Research & Innovation
See Details
IUBDC
2023
Leveraging Open Data Analytics & Machine Learning to Improve Diagnosis of Rare Diseases, Patients’ Care and Support
See Details
IUBDC
2022
The Sustainability of Health Economics
See Details
IUBDC
2021
Infodemiology for the Future of Digital and Public Health
See Details
IUBDC
2020
Personal and Public Health Decisions in a New Open Data Reality
See Details
IUBDC
2019
Big Data of Recreational Drugs Through the Lens of Pharmaceutic, Public Health, and Socioeconomic Data
See Details