Cohort Collaboration: MDes Students Receive Recognition for Recent Projects

Congratulations to MDes students Kathy Wang, Qianyi Chen, Xinyi Zhu, and NYU collaborator, Ziqing Li for the recognition and awards of two recent projects—Post Covid Healthcare Healer, and Smell Revived. Post Covid Healthcare Healer, founded by Kathy, Qianyi, Xinyi, and Ziqing, received the third prize at the COVID-19 Healthcare App Challenge, organized by Microsoft and IQVIA. The team generously donated their prize money of $6,500 to the Asian Pacific Fund, an organization that addresses critical issues in COVID-19 recovery.

The team worked entirely remotely, having never met in person before deciding to collaborate. Kathy and Qianyi, both students in our second incoming cohort, met first cohort member Xinyi through the MDes Slack channel, later inviting NYU collaborator, Ziqing. Their developed app was created to support long-term patient health following a diagnosis with COVID-19 and into initial recovery. Learn more about the project on the Hackathon’s website, here.

Kathy and Ziqing continued to work together on a second project, Smell Revived, a VR project that helps patients with smell dysfunction. The pair has been recognized in three individual awards for their work, including:

• Finalists in the National Technology Awards 2021, Virtual or Augmented Reality Product of the Year
• Finalists in the VR Awards 2021, VR Healthcare of the Year
• Shortlisted in the Design Intelligence Award 2021, Concept Group