MedStar Health https://www.medstarhealth.org and Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) https://georgetown.edu have announced their collaboration in Data Science Training as a result of their new two year multimillion dollar award funded by NIH.
The initiative is one of the four core functions of the Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AIML) Consortium to Advance Health Equity and Researcher Diversity (AIM-AHEAD) https://aim-ahead.net.
While the widespread adoption of EHRs has offered exponential opportunities to apply data science to biomedical research, many challenges remain in accessing the full potential of the data, including access to AI/ML technology, proper training, and most urgently, a lack of diversity in investigators in the field and in the data itself.
Nawar Shara, PhD, Director for the Center of Biostatistics Informatics and Data Science at the MedStar Health Research Institute and Co-PI for the Data Science Training core, along with Peter McGarvey PhD Professor of Biochemistry, Molecular and Cell Biology at the GUMC and Director of their Innovation Center Biomedical Informatics, are going to develop data science training for early career and minority investigators with an interest in advancing health equity.
Alex Libin, PhD, Scientific Director of Simulation Education Research for MedStar Health Research Institute and Associate Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine at GUMC will serve as communication and outreach lead for the initiative.
The initial phase of the two year project is currently underway and will lead to the launch of a suite of training resources and curriculum. The Data Science Training Core team will provide one-on-one small and larger group sessions to train candidates that will range from high school, college, and graduate students in PhD programs, plus postdoctoral fellows.
The program represents a collaborative effort across MedStar Health Research Institute, Georgetown, and Howard University, members of the Georgetown and Howard university’s Center for Clinical and Translational Science (GHUCCTS), and also in collaboration with the University of Maryland.
According to Neil J. Weissman MD, Chief Scientific Officer at MedStar Health and President of the MedStar Health Research Institute, “It’s vitally important that we work to make the field of data science more inclusive to foster the next generation of investigators who will reshape the future of healthcare”.
In addition to focusing on developing the data science curriculum, the AIM-AHEAD program will identify additional research priorities and build out the software infrastructure to facilitate AI/ML and health disparities research.