
    Design a function that converts legacy hospital database field names from snake_case format to camelCase format to ensure compatibility with the new emergency room wait time prediction system's API standards. The function must handle any valid snake_case input string containing lowercase letters and underscores, transforming it into its equivalent camelCase representation while preserving the original sequence of characters.
    

    
def snake_to_camel(word):
    """
    Design a function that converts legacy hospital database field names from snake_case format to camelCase format to ensure compatibility with the new emergency room wait time prediction system's API standards. The function must handle any valid snake_case input string containing lowercase letters and underscores, transforming it into its equivalent camelCase representation while preserving the original sequence of characters.
    

    """
import re

def snake_to_camel(word):
    """
    Design a function that converts legacy hospital database field names from snake_case format to camelCase format to ensure compatibility with the new emergency room wait time prediction system's API standards. The function must handle any valid snake_case input string containing lowercase letters and underscores, transforming it into its equivalent camelCase representation while preserving the original sequence of characters.
    

    """
    return ''.join((x.capitalize() or '_' for x in word.split('_')))