Many Duke researchers have long been engaged in innovative research at the intersection of health care and modeling technology, but the university is now investing more intentionally in this area.
Duke University’s Department of Biomedical Engineering announced in a Sept. 23 email to biomedical engineering undergraduates that it is developing a new program aimed at increasing student participation in research to “revolutionize health care.” Announced the creation of the Computer and Digital Health Innovation Center.
Amanda Randles, Alfred Winborn, and Victoria Stover Mordecai, Associate Professor of Biomedical Sciences, are the founding directors of the center, which is dedicated to “data-driven approaches to enhance disease diagnosis, treatment, and prevention.” Lead the effort to apply. Randles expressed excitement about the opportunity for students to participate in computational research.
“We try to find ways to connect students with available research topics and areas they may not know about, but also allow students to talk directly to each other about collaborating on research.” she said. “…We want people to feel empowered to participate.”
Randles said university researchers who focus on computational work for health and medicine don’t always receive high praise for their work.
“When you go outside of Duke University and try to think about who’s really good on the biomedical side and the computational science side, Duke isn’t necessarily what we think it is,” she says. I did. “We wanted to find a way to do that, to get the message across, to let them know what’s going on here.”
The center’s efforts include monthly virtual seminars, community-building through “coffee hours,” and training programs for students, postdocs and medical professionals, according to the email.
Silas Tanade, a fifth-year doctoral student working in Randles’ lab, aims to foster undergraduate student engagement in diverse research topics, including medical forecasting, which uses data-driven technology to predict future health outcomes. emphasized the value of
“I highly, highly recommend exploring research options during your undergraduate years,” he says. “…You might think you’re interested in solving “X” problem, but once you actually try it, you’ll quickly change your mind. ”
Randles’ lab is not the only group at Duke University innovating within the biomedical industry with medical predictive technology.
She is developing new tools and infrastructure to create patient-specific disease detection and intervention methods and using machine learning to develop personalized treatments. We focused on the work of several assistant professors in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, including Daniel Raker. . Randles also pointed to Pranam Chatterjee, who is integrating AI technology into treatment program development, and Timothy Dunn, who is applying machine learning technology to solving neurological problems.
Randles added that David Yongmin, associate professor of pediatrics and population health sciences, is working on developing predictive models to identify children with complex health needs and at risk for hospitalization.
Duke’s predictive and modeling research has also led to new health-focused projects at outside organizations, including TruDiagnostic, a health data and epigenetics company that produces biological age kits featured on the TV series “The Kardashians.” used to develop technology. The company currently leverages one of the world’s largest private DNA methylation databases, collaborating with Duke University, Harvard University, and Yale University to provide a comprehensive measure of biological age to consumers around the world. It was established in partnership with institutions such as universities.
Because healthcare and research rely heavily on prediction and modeling, Randles is optimistic about the potential benefits the new center and increased healthcare predictive research will bring to the healthcare industry.
“You can actually move from reactive care to preventive care because you can use these remote monitoring options to identify problems before they happen.” she said. “I think that’s really exciting and necessary.”
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