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A team of graduate students from the Center for AI Privacy and Security (CAPS Lab) at George Mason University participated in HooHacks 2025 a 24-hour hackathon hosted by the University of Virginia. Under the mentorship of Professor Sanchari Das, CAPS Lab director, the students designed and developed Medifact, a browser-based tool aimed at improving how users interpret and engage with online health information.
The team of Aravind Panchanathan, Aishwarya Balasubramanian, Banudeep Reddy, and Praneeth Ravirala identified the growing issue of health misinformation and the widespread difficulty in understanding medically dense content online as a critical area for intervention. Their goal was to create a user-friendly tool that assists individuals in making sense of health-related content, particularly when faced with unfamiliar terminology or questionable claims.
Medifact functions as a browser extension that activates when users highlight health-related text on a webpage. It provides a simplified summary of the selected content, checks claims against reputable fact-checking sources, and supplies brief, accessible definitions for medical terms within the text. This is delivered through an intuitive interface designed for real-time use without interrupting the user’s browsing.
The team built a working prototype during the hackathon, focused on ensuring the system delivered responses quickly and accurately, while maintaining ease of use. The short timeframe presented a significant challenge in balancing functionality with performance, but the pressure of going from concept-to-product in 24 hours brought out the best in the participants, according to Panchanathan. “We learned well because we were put under stress. We were trying to see what to do and how to do it and we would not do it the same way without having that pressure. We were evolving as a group and enriching our knowledge and that is the most important outcome of this hackathon.”
In addition, Panchanathan said the team enjoyed the hackathon atmosphere, suggesting that all students would benefit from participating in such an event.
Medifcact highlights the interdisciplinary approach and mentorship fostered within CAPS Lab and illustrates how students are engaging with real-world problems at the intersection of artificial intelligence, privacy, and public health. The team is exploring opportunities to further develop the tool and evaluate its impact in real-world contexts.