Building a Mobile Health Smartphone App (React Native/Node.js) to Support Cardiovascular Health in Prostate Cancer Survivors
Peter Washington, Professor
UC San Francisco
Applications for Fall 2025 are closed for this project.
The UCSF TECH Lab (https://techlab.ucsf.edu/) led by Dr. Peter Washington at UCSF (DoC-IT, with appointments in the CPH and BMI PhD programs), in collaboration with the OSU Lifestyle Lab (https://u.osu.edu/lifestylelab/home/ and https://cancer.osu.edu/for-cancer-researchers/research/research-labs/lifestyle-lab), is looking for a student researcher working as a full-stack mobile developer to contribute to the of the mHealthy Hearts app, a mobile health smartphone application designed to support cardiovascular health in prostate cancer survivors receiving care at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center.
The smartphone app will integrate wearable device data, patient-reported outcomes, and physical activity coaching to quantify cardiovascular risk and support survivorship care. Students will primarily focus on enhancing the React Native-based frontend and supporting the Node.js-based backend, working with real-time data from Fitbit and Omron APIs.
Participants will collaborate closely with an interdisciplinary team of clinicians, behavioral scientists, and informatics researchers from UCSF and Ohio State to improve usability, accessibility, and system reliability of the app. This work aims to culminate in a publishable digital health intervention and may lead to co-authorship paper publication opportunities on academic papers and conference submissions for all app developers on this project, with an opportunity to increase involvement in the project beyond app development (e.g., data analysis, recruitment, etc) after the initial URAP period.
To apply, please submit a brief statement of interest (300–500 words) describing your experience and what excites you about building technology for health equity. Please also include your transcript and optionally any code samples, GitHub links, or portfolio pieces.
Role: Tasks: meet with the interdisciplinary research team to understand app specs, develop and iterate on the smartphone app, help co-write the resulting research publications that use the app as a published co-author
Learning Outcomes: (1) mHealth app development best practices, (2) designing digital health applications that satisfy the needs of multiple clinical stakeholders (doctors, behavioral scientists, clinical researchers), (3) research paper writing in the field of consumer digital health informatics
Qualifications: Applicants should have experience with:
- Front-end development using React Native
- Designing intuitive UI/UX for mobile apps
- Writing and consuming RESTful APIs
- JavaScript/TypeScript for both client and server
- Working with version control (e.g., Git)
- An interest in digital health or health equity
Bonus Qualifications:
- Experience with Node.js backend development
- Familiarity with MySQL or other relational databases
- Knowledge of AWS infrastructure (e.g., EC2, S3)
- Understanding of secure web and mobile app development
- Exposure to health APIs (e.g., Fitbit, Omron)
- Previous contributions to open-source or public-facing apps
- Experience working in interdisciplinary teams
Day-to-day supervisor for this project: Professor Roberto Benzo
Hours: to be negotiated
Off-Campus Research Site: Remote collaboration on Zoom, with opportunities to meet Dr. Washington (UCSF) in person periodically for mentorship.
Related website: https://u.osu.edu/lifestylelab/home/
Related website: https://u.osu.edu/lifestylelab/home/