Workshop explores artificial intelligence for biomedical, health research

Clinical and Translational Science Institute and the Institute for Computational and Data Sciences co-host event to introduce leading-edge AI techniques for medicine

Penn State Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) and Penn State’s Institute for Computational and Data Sciences (ICDS) will co-host a workshop, “Harnessing the Power of EHR Data and AI to Advance Biomedical Research,” that will focus on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for biomedical and health record research. Registration is now open for the virtual event, which will be held on Nov. 3 from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

AI promises to be a powerful tool for improving biomedical research and, by extension, increasing better health outcomes for patients around the world. According to organizers, this workshop is designed to introduce Penn State researchers to AI methods, as well as connect them with resources at Penn State that they can use to leverage AI in their own work.

The workshop will feature three presentations from Penn State College of Medicine research groups that are applying AI techniques to advance their research.

The Successes and Barriers in Utilizing Real-World Evidence in Assessing the Outcomes of Pediatric Diseases

Dr. Conrad Krawiec, associate professor of pediatrics, will present this session, describing how to apply real-world evidence to pediatric medicine and understand existing barriers.

Assessing Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Risk with Machine Learning

David Foley, doctoral candidate in information sciences and technology and a member of AI Research Laboratory, will join Dr. William Curry, Master of Science, professor of family and community medicine and professor of public health sciences, and Dr. Mack Ruffin, Master of Public Health, Hershey Company Professor, the Dr. and Mrs. Forney P. George Fellow and Chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine, for this session. The team will present their work to assess the potential advances that modern machine learning algorithms have on ASCVD, risk assessment, and explore the potential for machine learning techniques to identify new potential biomarkers of elevated ASCVD risk.

Readmissions in Vascular Surgery Patients: What Has Data Taught Us and Where Do We Go From Here?

Dr. Faisal Aziz, Gilbert and Elsie H. Sealfon Memorial Fund for Vascular Research and Treatment Professor, and Justin Petucci, research and development engineer, ICDS’s Research Innovations with Scientists and Engineers, will host this session. Aziz and Petucci will describe analyses on studies that reveal the risk of unplanned return to the operating room for vascular surgery patients, as well as pre-existing conditions that impact readmissions. The presentation will also discuss transitional care planning that helped reduce readmission rates after vascular surgery interventions.

Opening remarks will be offered by Vasant Honavar, professor of information sciences and technology; Huck Chair in Biomedical Data Sciences and Artificial Intelligence; director, Center for Artificial Intelligence Foundations and Scientific Applications and associate director, Institute for Computational and Data Sciences, and Informatics co-lead, Penn State Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute.

For more information, or to register, please visit the webpage.

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