Press Release

Clinton Health Matters Initiative, The Women’s Heart Alliance & California State University, Los Angeles Host Codeathon Focused on Women’s Heart Health

Los Angeles – The Clinton Health Matters Initiative, an initiative of the Clinton Foundation, is co-hosting the “Fight the Ladykiller” Codeathon with The Women’s Heart Alliance and Cal State LA October 2-4, 2015. This event will challenge college student developers and designers to build original and innovative prototypes of an app geared toward helping young women decrease their risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

Industry leaders from the tech, design, and health fields will mentor participants and select the winning prototype after each team presents its ideas at the close of the event. The winning team will have an opportunity to hone its prototype and develop it with the help and guidance of the Clinton Foundation’s Health Matters Initiative, The Women’s Heart Alliance, and staff and faculty from Cal State LA.

The codeathon follows a series of successful CHMI codeathons during the past two years and is part of a larger collaboration between the three organizations to reduce women’s cardiovascular disease (CVD) and its precursors in young women. Although the primary target audience for this effort is college-going women, the partners also hope to engage families, campus communities and healthcare professionals in reducing the risks to young women through prevention and awareness.

Judges include Josh Brener, Actor, HBO’s Silicon Valley; Karol Watson, Director, UCLA Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Health Program; Dr. Lynn Mahoney, Provost, Cal State LA; and Dr. David Hossain, Special Assistant to the President, Cal State LA College of Business & Economics.

The codeathon will also incorporate healthy-living principles during the event by providing nutritious food options as well as stretch and exercise breaks led by Cal State LA’s Xtreme Fitness Center staff.

On Monday, October 5, 2015, CHMI and its partners will be hosting a women’s heart health screening on campus, where students will have the opportunity to get screened by health professionals and learn about heart-healthy behaviors that lower heart disease risk. The event will feature a panel discussion with leaders in the field.

The public is invited to attend final codeathon presentations in the Theater of the University Student Union at Cal State LA on Sunday, October 4, at 3:00 PM PST, after which the winning team will be announced. If you are interested in covering this event, or have questions for the Clinton Health Matters Initiative or our partner organizations, please email press@clintonfoundation.org.

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About the Clinton Foundation
The Clinton Foundation convenes businesses, governments, NGOs, and individuals to improve global health and wellness, increase opportunity for girls and women, reduce childhood obesity, create economic opportunity and growth, and help communities address the effects of climate change. Because of our work, more than 29,000 American schools are providing kids with healthy food choices in an effort to eradicate childhood obesity; more than 85,000 farmers in Malawi, Rwanda, and Tanzania are benefiting from climate-smart agronomic training, higher yields, and increased market access; more than 33,500 tons of greenhouse gas emissions are being reduced annually across the United States; over 350,000 people have been impacted through market opportunities created by social enterprises in Latin America, the Caribbean, and South Asia; through the independent Clinton Health Access Initiative, 9.9 million people in more than 70 countries have access to CHAI-negotiated prices for HIV/AIDS medications; 75 million people are benefiting from disease prevention efforts and investments in the U.S.; and members of the Clinton Global Initiative community have made more than 3,200 Commitments to Action, which have improved the lives of over 430 million people in more than 180 countries. Learn more at www.clintonfoundation.org, on Facebook at Facebook.com/ClintonFoundation and on Twitter @ClintonFdn.

About the Women’s Heart Alliance
The Women’s Heart Alliance (WHA) was formed to raise awareness, encourage action and drive new research to fight women’s heart disease. It’s a unique collaboration between two of America’s leading medical institutions—the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center at Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute and the Ronald O. Perelman Heart Institute at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center—and two major philanthropists and leaders in business and entertainment, Barbra Streisand and Ronald O. Perelman. Learn more at www.fighttheladykiller.org, and on Facebook, Twitter @FightLadyKiller and Instagram @fighttheladykiller.

About California State University, Los Angeles
At Cal State LA we believe that compassion and caring for one another are at the heart of a quality education. Founded in 1947, our University serves a diverse community of more than 27,000 students and 240,000 alumni. We are committed to the well-being of our city and our region and focused on becoming a powerful engine of social mobility. We also recognize that without physical and mental well-being there is no student success. Through our Mind Matters initiative, we are elevating awareness of the need for total health by offering wellness opportunities to the University community.