Team of NUS Medicine and Computer Science Students Emerged as 1st Place Winner at Codechella Tour Singapore
Published: 11 Dec 2025
A team of five NUS undergraduates; three from Medicine (Year 2) and two from Computer Science (Year 1); emerged as the 1st place winner at Codechella Tour Singapore, a nationwide innovation festival hosted by ChatAndBuild. The event brought together more than 200 students from 10 institutions to rapidly design and prototype solutions to real-world challenges.
Their winning project, HERA, addresses the often-overlooked emotional and practical challenges mothers face after childbirth, particularly those related to postpartum depression (PPD).
About the team
The interdisciplinary team, known as MedTech Adventurers, consists of Year 2 Medicine students Andrew Tay, Joshua Siew, and Pranav Rao, alongside Year 1 Computer Science students Jessica Chen and Zhang Jingze.
This collaboration began with a shared interest in women’s health and the desire to build a solution that blends clinical considerations with accessible digital tools. The team’s varied academic backgrounds shaped HERA into a platform that combines thoughtful healthcare insights with user-centred design and product feasibility.
From left to right: Zhang Jingze, Jessica Chen, Anastasia (Head of Integration at ChatAndBuild), Andrew Tay, Pranav Rao, and Joshua Siew.
Why they chose postpartum mental health
Postpartum mental health remains a significant challenge in Singapore. 1 in 7 mothers experience postpartum depression, yet up to half go undiagnosed due to stigma, limited follow-up, and the overwhelming pace of early parenthood.
From their observation, the Medicine students saw how emotional wellbeing is often overlooked in favour of physical recovery and caregiving responsibilities. Their Computing teammates recognized the potential for a digital companion that could provide gentle and consistent support to mothers. Together, they set out to address this critical gap.
Team MedTech Adventurers presenting HERA during the pitching session.
HERA: A supportive postpartum companion
The team’s solution, HERA, is a mobile app designed as a holistic postpartum companion. It integrates mental wellness monitoring with daily tools to help mothers feel supported without stigma.
Core features based on the team’s design:
- Short mental wellness check-ins inspired by the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS)
- Referral suggestions when responses indicate potential PPD risk
- Trackers for breastfeeding, sleep, and baby routines
- Community forum and curated marketplace for shared experiences and convenient access to products
- Data-informed insights based on changes in habits, routines, and self-reported inputs
The team intentionally blended mental-health and lifestyle features after recognising that mothers may avoid an app focused solely on PPD. By weaving check-ins into routine parenting activities, HERA encourages mothers to engage more regularly and comfortably.
Building rapidly with ChatAndBuild
To complete the HERA mobile app within the competition timeframe, the team used ChatAndBuild, an AI-powered no-code development platform. Through iterative prompting, they generated app screens, expanded functional sections such as the forum and marketplace, and refined design elements to improve usability.
This approach allowed them to focus on the overall experience and features mothers would find most helpful.
Team MedTech Adventurers with the judges after being named the 1st Place Winner of Codechella Tour Singapore
What’s Next for HERA
Looking ahead, the team aims to explore enhancements including:
- AI-based speech analysis, allowing mothers to record short voice messages for mood interpretation
- Expanding the platform to include support for perinatal depression (before and after pregnancy)
- Customisable user experiences, enabling mothers to choose between a lightweight tracker model or a more comprehensive wellness tool
- Integration with external APIs for emotional and audio analysis
- Potential collaboration with maternal health organisations for pilot studies
These next steps reflect their vision to create an evidence-informed tool that could complement existing maternal support systems.
A promising start for a student-led innovation
HERA’s success at Codechella Tour Singapore highlighted the strength of a student-driven, interdisciplinary collaboration at NUS. By combining medical insights with computing expertise, MedTech Adventurers demonstrated how thoughtful, well-designed solutions can emerge when students apply their skills to real community needs.
Their journey also reflects the growing role of technology in addressing gaps in maternal and mental health support, and the potential for student-led innovations to inspire broader change.
As the team continues to refine HERA, their achievement marks the beginning of a project with meaningful potential to support mothers and families in Singapore.
Group photo of the Top 10 teams, judges, and ChatAndBuild team at the Final Round of Codechella Tour Singapore.
