It is no surprise that communities often know before officials when something isn't right: a wave of unusual symptoms, a cluster of sick neighbors, a worrying illness pattern at the local school. Yet, too often, such threats stay undetected until an outbreak is already underway – disrupting schools, workplaces, supply chains and the rhythms of daily life across Tucson and beyond. 

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EpiHack Arizona, hosted by the University of Arizona's Ending Pandemics Academy at the Zuckerman College of Public Health, brings together health experts and tech developers from across Arizona to address this need for early detection and rapid response. EpiHack Arizona will be held May 18-22, 2026, at the Health Sciences Innovation Building with the goal to create community-based reporting approaches and digital tools that flag outbreaks earlier. 

The event draws on the deep expertise of the Ending Pandemics Academy co-founders, Dr. Mark Smolinski and Nomita Divi. For more than a decade, Smolinski and Divi have partnered with countries around the world to build innovative, community-centered systems for early outbreak detection – work that is now being done in Arizona. 

EpiHack Arizona has a single, urgent goal: to directly engage communities to protect their own health security through participatory surveillance. This approach enables residents to report symptoms and unusual health events, receiving timely and accurate information for prevention or rapid response. This bi-directional engagement with data obtained directly from the community helps health officials detect and respond to outbreaks faster before they spread.

"Communities are the first to notice when something isn't right. EpiHack Arizona is about building the systems and the trust that turn that local knowledge into early action – together," said Divi. 

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EpiHack is not a traditional conference. It is a collaborative event where experts across the One Health spectrum – the intersection of human, animal and environmental health – work together to develop prototype tools and approaches that help close the loop between communities and health authorities. The event will culminate in a demo day where the working solutions built over the five days will be showcased to community leaders from across Tucson and others interested in learning more about this approach. 

"Solutions that are co-created by health experts with local tech developers who understand the capacity and available technologies allow systems to scale quickly," said Smolinski." In addition, health authorities are more likely to promote and trust system that they helped create. This is the magic of EpiHack."

EpiHack Arizona is also an exceptional opportunity for students at the U of A. Students from across the University applied to participate to gain hands-on experience in pandemic prevention strategies and innovative approaches to finding outbreaks faster.  Health experts are coming from across the state, including a team of experts from the Tohono O'odham Nation.

"We are excited to see the enthusiasm from communities across Arizona who are participating in this unique opportunity to improve the health and security of all persons living in the state," Smolinski said.