Artificial intelligence solutions and algorithms for data collection needs to improve so that health disparities don’t keep impacting minority populations in the U.S. To deal with the problem.
As a result, NIH https://www.nih.gov began the Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Consortium to Advance Health Equity and Researcher Diversity (AIM-AHEAD). NIH AIM-AHEAD’s goal is to reduce health disparities by creating new algorithms and healthcare databases that more accurately reflect the diverse U.S. population.
To do this, NIH selected the University of Miami’s Institute for Data Science and Computing (IDSC) https://idsc.miami.edu to receive a $13 million grant. The funding will enable the University of Miami’s IDSC to work with historically Black colleges and universities, tribal colleges, and other minority serving institutions to create a computing structure to share patient data that is devoid of personal information.
As a first step, the University of Miami’s IDSC is sharing a tool to collect and de-identify patient’s electronic records to use for research which was developed a few years ago for the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine.
The tool called University Research Informatics Data Environment (URIDE) is a web based platform that collects, sorts, and helps researchers visualize patient data from multiple clinical health systems.
URIDE can help healthcare professionals explore demographics, diagnoses, procedures, vital signs, medications, labs, allergies, co-morbidities, and other information for certain patient populations in order to pinpoint trends of optimal treatment practices.
Another award for $362,000 will help IDSC create another pilot program with Florida Memorial University and enable Miami Dade College to train 40 existing faculty members and students on how to use AI and machine learning techniques in their clinical practices, research, and curriculum.
The team is also working with Florida Atlantic University’s Schmidt College of Medicine and also Caridad Center, Inc., which is the largest free clinic in Florida used by uninsured and underserved children and families in Palm Beach County
In this program, IDSC will build upon another program created at the University to attract and foster the careers of underrepresented minorities in science especially in the burgeoning field of data science.