​Photo caption: Student presenters from Scarborough Health Network's Summer of Vibes program at Grand Demo Day​​

From AI-powered medical tools to digital hospital twins, Scarborough Health Network’s (SHN) Grand Demo Day showcased student-led innovations from the inaugural Summer of Vibes program shaping the future of health care, education, and technology. Held at the University of Toronto Scarborough’s Sam Ibrahim Centre, the event marked a milestone in SHN’s research and education journey through the SHN Research Institute Student Experience (RISE) program.​

Get a feel for the day with this grand video!

Summer of Vibes is SHN's inaugural summer research cohort, designed to empower students from diverse academic backgrounds – medicine, engineering, design, and business – to tackle real-world health care challenges using cutting-edge AI tools. The program's unique approach, dubbed “vibe coding," enables students with minimal coding experience to build prototypes by leveraging large language models (LLMs) and other AI frameworks.

The energy and creativity of the student teams were on full display during Grand Demo Day, where attendees were treated to a series of live presentations, product demos, and networking sessions. Several projects showed how AI can help improve health care, education, and hospital operations. One promising tool was designed to help doctors tell the difference between cancerous and non-cancerous growths in the colon. In medical training, a system using audio and video running unobtrusively in the background was tested to automatically evaluate how students are doing, assist them in their learning, and make projections to guide their studies. 

Another innovation was a “digital twin" – a virtual version of our Emergency department – that uses real-world data to make predictions about things like future wait times, bed availability, and possible delays, which would help inform hospital resource planning and decision-making.

“What I saw today from these students and what they have done over the course of the summer to develop tools to help clinicians and patients in healthcare settings is astounding," said Dr. Samir Grover, EVP Academics, SHN. “I left feeling inspired by the promise of our talent pipeline."

The event featured keynote speaker Tony Pialis, Founder and CEO, Alphawave IP Group, who spoke on the deployment of AI in health care, and linked many of the projects to real-world developments. 

Summer of Vibes is more than a seasonal event – it's a strategic on-ramp to RISE, SHN's year-round, initiative that formalizes student research activity. With a full launch planned for Summer 2026, RISE will support approximately 50 students annually, offering mentorship, training, and access to SHN's research infrastructure. The visibility generated by Grand Demo Day is expected to play a key role in cultivating donor interest and expanding the program's reach.

For SHN, the success of Summer of Vibes signals a new era of discovery – one where student energy, mentorship, and technology converge to promote innovation at the future site of the Scarborough Academy of Medicine.