From idea to impact: ASU students launch MobileHealthConnect app

A unique collaboration is underway at Arizona State University (ASU), spearheaded by two faculty members. 

Spiro Maroulis is an associate professor teaching PAF 415 Social Entrepreneurship: Coding for a Social Good this semester in the School of Public Affairs, part of Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions. Similarly, Anthony Kuhn is an associate professor with Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering teaching FSE 394 Interdisciplinary Mobile Application Development. 

Together, they’re combining their courses’ subject matter – social entrepreneurship and mobile app development – to change the world. And ASU students are at the forefront.

“Having students get out of the building and conduct the fieldwork required to design the apps lets them see the problems through the eyes of those they are trying to aid,” said Maroulis. “That not only helps them identify innovative and feasible solutions, but also changes the students a bit as they gain an appreciation of the human costs of the social problems they are trying to address.”

This year, the two courses are taught in the same building on the Tempe campus with a shared goal of creating mobile apps to enact change for social good. Students in the Watts College course— all of whom are participants in the Next Generation Service Corps — are focused on identifying opportunities for impact around the specific needs of the community. In parallel, students from Fulton Schools are focused on learning the coding skills required to develop a mobile app that can facilitate said social good. 

Both Maroulis and Kuhn used Apple’s Swift programming language with their students to develop app solutions for the community.

“I see great things happen when we have students working together to solve the same problem but with different ways to measure success,” noted Kuhn. “Whether it is a student that feels success when they share a great idea, or a student who is good at solving technical problems, they can pull each other in opposite directions until they are both on the same level without losing the strengths they brought into the relationship.” 

Over the 15-week spring semester, students in both courses work in tandem to identify a social need, dive into coding for mobile apps, and then work together to design a prototype mobile app solution. The semester culminates with students pitching their ideas, with the most promising prototypes selected for further development. 

These solutions, alongside a select group of students from both courses, continue to be developed as part of the Public Value Technology Accelerator (PVTA) program, which helps students develop the prototypes created during the class into fully functional apps released to the public. Student work on launching new apps based on prototypes from the spring 2024 semester will be the focus of this summer’s PVTA work. 

MobileHealthConnect is a free mobile application designed to support Circle the City, a non-profit dedicated to providing healthcare services to thousands of individuals facing homelessness in the metropolitan Phoenix area. One key service of the non-profit is their Mobile Health Units, travel clinics that provide care around Phoenix, including to permanent supportive housing communities, community agencies, parks and more. The clinics operate on a walk-in basis, with no appointment necessary.

The app offers community members a way to access FAQ, contact information, the Mobile Care Units’ schedules and locations, all in real time, helping to improve access to the primary, preventive and behavioral medical services provided.

"The MobileHealthConnect app is a game-changer for Circle the City and the individuals we serve,” said Kim Despres, chief executive officer of Circle the City. “The passion, dedication, and innovation of the ASU students who developed this app are truly inspiring, and we are so grateful for this collaboration and the transformative impact it will have on our mission to provide compassionate healthcare to all individuals facing homelessness in Maricopa County.” 

The project kicked off with the spring 2023 student cohort, where the prototype of the app was presented. Fast forward one year, and students have continued to refine, develop and now launch the app to the public. 

Circle the City sponsored a brief event at their offices in downtown Phoenix on April 26th to commemorate the release of MobileHealthConnect.

“This iterative process allowed my team and me to explore the ins and outs of app development, project management, and community outreach to create the most easily-accessible app possible,” said Ava Lemke, student project manager from Maroulis’ course. “Though one app will not solve homelessness, we hope to contribute to the impactful work already being done in our community.” 

“Connecting with students in both the technical and business colleges, while being able to help the Phoenix community, has been incredible,“ noted student Ben Ashkenazi, one of the app’s lead developers from Kuhn’s class last spring. 

The 2023-24 academic year marks the fourth year of the university’s collaboration as part of the Swift Community Playground initiative. The next phase of the MobileHealthConnect app is currently available exclusively at the App Store for iPhone in both English and Spanish. The team also plans to make the app available on additional platforms in order to reach additional community members, according to Maroulis. 

This initiative is led by ASU Enterprise Technology with support from Apple’s Community Education Initiative, which partners with institutions to create opportunities for learners of all backgrounds to gain skills in coding.