About the Digital Innovation Fest
The AMSA Digital Health Innovation Festival is AMSA’s flagship initiative ensuring that future physicians lead the ethical, equitable digital transformation of healthcare. Launched in 2025, our inaugural festival showcased student-led innovations that specifically address health inequity through digital technology, culminating in 8 exceptional finalists and the selection of “Eden”—a smart automation platform improving health system workflows and equity—as our grand prize winner.
More than a competition, the Digital Innovation Fest embeds health equity at the core of digital health development. We champion innovations that expand healthcare access, eliminate barriers to care, and serve underserved populations—solutions that might not have obvious profit centers but address critical equity gaps. Our 2025 event featured partnerships with industry leaders including Google Health, HP Health, and Thalamus, providing mentorship, accelerator opportunities, and pathways to investment funding for participants focused on mission-driven innovation.
2026 Expansion Goals
Building on our inaugural success, we’re launching year 2 with an ambitious goal: double our applicant pool while expanding the Digital Innovation Fest into a comprehensive year-round innovation ecosystem focused on digital health technologies that address health inequity. Through strategic programming beginning in January and leading up to December’s culminating event at AMSA National Convention, we’re creating sustained opportunities for medical students to develop equity-focused innovations, engage with industry leaders committed to health justice, and amplify the collective student voice on how technology can eliminate—not perpetuate—barriers to care.
The 2026 initiative includes multi-phase programming designed to build digital fluency around equity applications, support student innovators working on mission-driven solutions, and ensure that future physicians help shape what health technologies are developed and how they evolve. We’re developing hackathon events focused on health equity challenges, mentorship programs connecting students with equity-minded industry leaders, ethics panels on inclusive design, and regional Innovation Pathway events—all anchored by our December 2026 capstone at AMSA National Convention in Washington, DC.
The Advisory Opportunity
We’re seeking 5 exceptional medical students to join our advisory team and help shape, expand, and bring to life this transformative initiative focused on advancing health equity through digital innovation. This is a unique opportunity to work directly with equity-minded digital health industry leaders, contribute to a movement that’s positioning medical students at the forefront of mission-driven healthcare innovation, and develop skills that will define the future of physician leadership in eliminating health disparities.
What You’ll Gain:
- Recognition as a thought leader in digital health innovation
- Direct access to industry executives and venture capital leaders
- Free attendance at AMSA National Convention 2026
- Mentorship from digital health pioneers
- Professional development in strategic communications and program development
- Portfolio of published content showcasing your expertise
- Network of connections across the digital health ecosystem
Commitment: 1-2 hours per week through December 2026, with team meetings twice monthly
Available Advisory Positions
1. Strategic Outreach & Engagement
Drive Growth. Build Community. Amplify Impact.
As our Strategic Outreach & Engagement lead, you’ll spearhead the campaign to double our 2026 applicant pool by leveraging medical student networks nationwide to identify and engage future physician-innovators passionate about addressing health inequity through technology. You’ll develop and execute strategic peer-to-peer promotion campaigns targeting students interested in mission-driven innovation, manage our social media presence, and create content that resonates with medical students who want to be part of building technology that serves underserved populations and eliminates barriers to care.
Key Responsibilities:
- Help develop outreach strategies for medical schools and student networks
- Create social media content and posts for platforms like Instagram and LinkedIn
- Support peer engagement through existing medical student organizations
- Assist with tracking outreach efforts and engagement
- Write blog posts or articles about the program and student innovation
- Connect with fellow students and student leaders who might be interested
Ideal Candidate:
- Interest in social media and connecting with fellow students
- Experience with student organizations or campus involvement
- Good written communication skills
- Understanding of medical student life and interests
- Creative ideas for engaging peers
2. Innovation Strategy & Development
Design the Future. Build the Pipeline. Shape Tomorrow’s Innovators.
Join us in developing the strategic framework that will guide student innovators from ideation to implementation of health equity-focused digital solutions. You’ll support the creation of our three-phase innovation pipeline (hackathon → angel investor → VC funding phases) specifically designed to nurture innovations that address health disparities, and help design programming that bridges the gap between medical education and mission-driven technology entrepreneurship.
Key Responsibilities:
- Help brainstorm hackathon and innovation challenge ideas focused on health equity
- Research examples of student entrepreneurship programs at other schools
- Assist with planning mentorship connections and program elements
- Support coordination with industry advisors and speakers
- Help create simple resources and guides for student innovators
- Write content about innovation processes and student entrepreneurship examples
Ideal Candidate:
- Curiosity about entrepreneurship and innovation
- Good research and organizational skills
- Interest in both medicine and technology
- Ability to think through problems and solutions
- Experience with event planning or group projects helpful but not required
3. Communications Strategy
Tell the Story. Shape the Narrative. Amplify the Mission.
As our Communications & Brand Strategy lead, you’ll manage the overall promotional strategy that positions AMSA’s Digital Innovation Fest as the premier platform for medical student innovation. You’ll coordinate content across all platforms and ensure our messaging resonates with students, industry partners, and the broader healthcare community.
Key Responsibilities:
- Assist with creating promotional materials and simple marketing campaigns
- Support messaging coordination with partners and sponsors
- Produce stories about student innovators and their projects
- Help manage website updates and email announcements
- Create content for different audiences (students, faculty, industry partners)
Ideal Candidate:
- Strong writing and storytelling skills
- Interest in communications, marketing, or content creation
- Ability to write for different audiences
- Good organizational and coordination skills
- Experience with social media or digital platforms helpful
4. Research & Strategic Intelligence
Build the Evidence Base. Establish Thought Leadership. Drive Policy Impact.
Lead AMSA’s research efforts in digital health innovation while establishing our organization as the authoritative voice on medical student perspectives in health technology and equity. You’ll conduct and publish research that informs both our programming and the broader conversation about ensuring digital health technologies address rather than perpetuate health disparities, and how student engagement can drive inclusive innovation.
Key Responsibilities:
- Research and write review article on digital health topics (with mentorship support)
- Help conduct surveys or research on medical student perspectives
- Assist with brief reports on digital health trends
- Support connections with academic partners and research opportunities
- Create research summaries and accessible content about digital health and equity
Ideal Candidate:
- Interest in research and academic writing
- Experience with literature reviews or research projects
- Curiosity about health policy and technology
- Interest in translating complex topics for general audiences
5. Focus: Professional Development & Industry Relations Support
Create Learning Opportunities. Expand Access.
You’ll work to create meaningful educational opportunities that prepare medical students for careers at the intersection of healthcare and technology. This role focuses on developing courselets, webinars, and educational programming while supporting industry outreach that brings real-world expertise directly to students.
Key Responsibilities:
- Help reach out to digital health companies for student learning opportunities
- Assist with planning webinars and educational sessions with industry speakers
- Support development of short learning modules on digital health topics
- Help create educational resources about emerging health technologies
- Connect students with professional development and learning opportunities
Ideal Candidate:
- Interest in medical education and learning opportunities
- Good communication and relationship-building skills
- Curiosity about new technologies and how they work
- Interest in teaching or explaining concepts to peers
- Ability to make complex topics understandable for fellow students
