Digital Health Initiative Inaugural Roundtable & Funding Opportunity

On Monday, February 27, BU’s Digital Health Initiative (DHI) hosted a roundtable to discuss the future of digital health in various functions. Additionally, the event announced a new funding opportunity for faculty interested in pursuing “research that examines the leveraging of technologies and methodologies from computing and data sciences to tackle a range of applications related to healthcare systems, from medical informatics to healthcare delivery and patient activation.” Proposals are due Friday, March 31, 2017. For more information, please review the proposal call and submission form.

Led by DHI Co-Director Jonathan Woodson, the roundtable hosted three visiting guests, Dr. Patrick McNellie, MD, physician and researcher for IBM’s Genomics team; Dr. Belinda Borelli, MD, Lead-Co Director of the Mobile-Electronic Health Arc at BU; and Dr. Meera Kanhouwa, MD, MHA, and Managing Director of Systems Integration at Deloitte. The day-long event successfully chronicled a variety of evolving areas of digital health.

Clinical Lead and Architect on Watson for Genomics, Dr. Patrick McNellie, spoke on the importance of cognitive computing in healthcare. Mostly working on cancer research, Dr. McNellie discussed how cognitive computing and the resulting data is used to better understand both the links to cancer and the best treatment for patients. As the technology is formed, Watson for Genomics has partnered with various institutes that provide them with data. The platform allows for the data to be labeled unbiasedly by using a special team known as FAST (Focused Annotation Specialist Team). The team is then able to leverage the data through the annotations that then, if performed well, standardize concepts and ontologies. The goal of the project is to allow clinicians to remove bias from cases, stay up-t0-date with complex issues, and take more time caring for their patients.

Dr. Belinda Borelli spoke on the digital influence in health research and providing care for minority populations. The ARC’s mission “is to conduct state-of-the art research and training in mobile and electronic health to improve the health of underserved populations across the lifespan.” With many of the University’s working professors and researchers also practicing at care facilities, primarily Boston Medical Center where a majority of patients are underrepresented, the ARC’s work aims to provide an easier way of accessing healthcare. The ARC was founded in January, and will continue to look for research and work collaborations in the BU and external communities. The project has found success in funding from SAIL (Software & Application Innovation Lab), which will allow the team to tackle their beginning research.

The seminar’s last guest, Dr. Meera Kanhouwa, focused on bridging the gap between health data and patient care.  Her main question centered on how to address daily lifestyle choices in a way that makes sense for patients, and for their providers. Through a cloud-based data system, she aims to create a system for patients to manage their health at any time, in any place. Security, analytics, and the ability to access information and help were of the most importance. In an increasingly digitized world, health management has becoming an ever-evolving complex issue, especially for those who do not have regular access to their health information. Dr. Kanhouwa’s project would allow patients instant access to manage their own health, dealing with anything from transportation to appointments to daily suggestions for health maintenance.