A team from the Defense Health Agency Chief Data and Analytics Office turned the Defense Technologies “Hackathon” into a major step forward for mission and medical readiness. As part of the National Defense Industrial Association’s Emerging Technologies for Defense Conference & Exhibition, held in Washington, D.C., Aug. 25-29, the team competed in a weeklong competition alongside 50 other teams from government, private industry, and academia. The DHA CDAO team finished second overall for what the judging panel of military technology leaders called an “impactful and innovative readiness solution.” Members of Team MEDAL — Medical Evaluation for Defense Airmen’s Readiness — who represented DHA CDAO included Barinderjeet Dhillon, operations research analyst; Chris Kittrell, branch chief; and Junayd Park, functional lead for application prototyping and integration. Dr. Jesus Caban, DHA’s chief data and analytics officer, said the team participated in the event to gain valuable experience in a competitive environment, solving real-world issues to enhance operational readiness. The team took “synthetic data similar to what we see in MHS GENESIS and combined it with readiness policies,” he said. “They then spent three to four days developing a software application to show the value of leveraging DHA data and AI (artificial intelligence) to better understand and support medical readiness.” For Caban, the event offered more than a trophy: He said it served as proof for how data and AI can remove barriers that limit the force’s response speed. “As the agency’s leader for analytics and AI, participating in this event provides exposure to emerging technologies,” Caban said. “It also highlights the incredible talent we have within the agency that we can leverage to apply innovative solutions in support of warfighter readiness.” Leveraging AI to increase workflow productivity and efficiency Team MEDAL took on the challenge of automating aeromedical waiver generation for U.S. Air Force pilots. The scenario was a “known constraint on pilot availability,” said Park. They developed a prototype to “streamline aeromedical waiver processing and readiness,” directly addressing issues of medically clearing pilots in an efficient and timely manner, Park said. Aeromedical waivers can be a critical piece of the readiness puzzle. Before pilots can fly after a disqualifying injury, illness, or new diagnosis, providers must draft an aeromedical waiver, which reviews the airman’s medical history, current condition, and specific occupational requirements. This process can be unnecessarily time-consuming for military providers. “Leveraging AI capabilities, we were able to demonstrate a significant decrease in the time that a doctor would take to process aeromedical waivers,” said Kittrell, referring to a process that commonly ranges anywhere between 30 minutes and multiple days. “Our solution demonstrated the ability to get this down to less than 30 seconds.” The entire prototype development took less than 16 hours of coding during the hackathon, according to Park. “We used a coding platform to stand up the front end, coupled with an MHS GENESIS-compatible backend that we integrated using AI tools.” Creating real-world streamlining solutions Team MEDAL’s success demonstrated DHA’s capability to leverage AI and innovative approaches to improve efficiency, enhance clinical decision-making, and ultimately increase warfighter readiness, according to Dhillon. “This experience allowed us to test readiness-focused use cases, transforming how we approach medical readiness solutions within the DHA,” she said. “We’re excited to continue piloting AI solutions in support of the agency’s mission.” Since the hackathon, the team has continued refining the application using an approved application programming interface and has explored how similar tools could enhance other enterprise-wide initiatives. This example of integrating human and technology operations also aligns to DHA’s FY26 Mission Focused Directive as a combat support agency. The vital work of Team MEDAL demonstrated agility, innovation, and enhanced productivity for military medical readiness, Caban said. “I want to recognize and congratulate the team on their outstanding work and their continued support as we move quickly to mature our data and analytics capabilities in support of the readiness mission,” he added. “They are truly agents of change.”