UTHealth to lead AI research project focused on stroke, diabetes

Numerous healthcare providers and technology companies are working together on a new research project focused on using AI to improve care for patients with subarachnoid hemorrhages and diabetes.

The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), Cardinal Health, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Southborough, Massachusetts-based Virtusa Corporation are all set to participate in the endeavor. Hulin Wu, PhD, chair of the department of biostatistics and data science at the UTHealth School of Public Health, will lead the project, leveraging a dataset of more than 30,000 patients generated by Virtusa and Cardinal Health. More than 20 representatives from UTHealth will work alongside Wu, collaborating with other providers as well.

“We are developing novel statistical methods and machine learning approaches to interrogate EHR databases to identify the best treatment strategies and risk factors for a variety of diseases using real-world evidence,” Wu said in a prepared statement. “The EHR data simulated by Virtusa’s platform will help us test and validate our new predictive models and machine learning algorithms before applying to the real EHR data.”

Virtusa’s cloud-based platform, vLife, will also play an important role in the project, helping the researchers as they aim to “uncover hidden trends that can lead to new treatment strategies.”

“At Virtusa, we recognize the critical importance of collaboration in advancing AI technologies to create intelligent solutions that make lives better and businesses more efficient,” Anthony Lange, senior vice president of life sciences for Virtusa Corporation, said in the same statement. “As data becomes the fuel driving technological and economic growth, a fundamental challenge is how to quantify the value of data in algorithmic predictions and decisions.”

Michael Walter
Michael Walter, Managing Editor

Michael has more than 18 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.

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