{"id":16553,"date":"2024-03-13T18:46:36","date_gmt":"2024-03-13T18:46:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mpower.maryland.edu\/?p=16553"},"modified":"2024-03-21T20:10:07","modified_gmt":"2024-03-21T20:10:07","slug":"um-institute-for-health-computing-up-and-running","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mpower.maryland.edu\/um-institute-for-health-computing-up-and-running\/","title":{"rendered":"UM Institute for Health Computing Up and Running"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

L to R: Bradley Maron, Mark Gladwin, Bruce Jarrell, and Greg Ball, University of Maryland VP of Research at UM-IHC on Friday, March 8, 2024.<\/sub><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Published in UMB News<\/a> | March 13, 2024<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThis is really, really exciting,\u201d Maryland Lt. Governor Aruna Miller told a gathering of 50 scientists and policy leaders at the University of Maryland Institute for Health Computing<\/a><\/strong> (UM-IHC) in North Bethesda on March 8. \u201cPlease know that this state is a partner with every one of you. Whatever we can do, to be able to succeed here in Montgomery County means we succeed over the entire state of Maryland.\u201d<\/p>

– Lt. Governor Aruna Miller <\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The UM-IHC is a strategic initiative that aims to improve the health and well-being of those living in Maryland and beyond using advanced computing tools like artificial intelligence, machine learning, and network medicine to create a premier learning health care system. It merges top-tier computational expertise and biomedical research with a vast clinical care network that is diverse socioeconomically and geographically. This network includes access to clinical trial data and de-identified electronic health records from 2 million patients in the University of Maryland Medical System.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe see this as the East Coast Silicon Valley for health computing,\u201d University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) Dean Mark T. Gladwin, MD<\/strong>, explained. The Center\u2019s location also brings significant benefits, he added. \u201cWhy here? We\u2019re on the Red Line. Montgomery County has more than 320 companies. We\u2019re here by NIH, FDA, multiple biomedical partners, and research facilities. We\u2019re by IBBR (Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research), USG (Universities at Shady Grove). And again, we’re a triangle between UMB, College Park and this incredible, vibrant location. So, we’re looking to build the economy through partnerships, and the development of new commercial entities in the space of artificial intelligence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Institute\u2019s staff have only very recently moved into its new headquarters. The team has already generated results from their first analyses and anticipate scaling up their analytical operation in the next two months, which will be fueled by the activation of the Institute\u2019s high performance computing center.<\/p>\n\n\n

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UM-IHC Co-Director Sujal Bista presents to the UM-IHC audience.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The 10-year sublease comprises more than 27,000 square feet of state-of-the-art technology and office space which will serve as IHC\u2019s home until a planned $200 million facility is completed at the North Bethesda Metro Station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both UM-IHC\u2019s current temporary and future locations include space for federal science partners to improve collaboration within the bioscience community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe FDA has already signed a memorandum of understanding with us and they are looking forward to expanding the machine learning and AI group in very close partnership with the Institute for Health Computing,\u201d explained Amitabh Varshney, PhD, dean of the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP). \u201cSo, we see this as a partnership that reinvigorates and revitalizes the fantastic opportunities between the federal government, industry, and the universities right here in Montgomery County and in the state of Maryland.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gladwin noted that UM-IHC has already received its first of what are expected to be many grants to perform medical studies. Rozalina McCoy, MD, MS<\/strong>, associate professor of medicine at UMSOM will use big datasets to determine if new weight loss drugs are as effective or more effective than bariatric surgery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery step we take is looking to advance clinical outcomes, particularly focusing on health equity,\u201d said Bradley A. Maron, MD<\/strong>, professor of medicine at UMSOM and Co-Director of the UM-IHC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To illustrate the power of data science, Maron showed the group an analysis of the smoke infiltration from the Canadian wildfires last June which increased by fivefold the amount of harmful chemicals in the air over communities all over the East Coast, like Baltimore.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Lt. Governor Aruna Miller and Bradley Maron tour UM-IHC.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cWe then determined that this event was associated with a 40% rise in the need for people to see a heart or lung doctor just in that period of time,\u201d Maron said. \u201cThis enables us to predict these events in the future and be prepared to deploy resources to affected or at-risk populations all across the region, regardless of their location or regardless of their risks that we know today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The key to any useful analysis of medical data is the size and quality of the dataset, explained Warren D\u2019Souza, MD, MBA<\/strong>, chief innovation officer at the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) and adjunct professor of radiation oncology at UMSOM. UMMS is a 12-hospital system headquartered in Baltimore but serving the citizens of the entire State of Maryland, delivering approximately 25% of the hospital-based care in the State, which means ability to access the de-identified electronic health records from UMMS patients will be invaluable for answering urgent public health questions.<\/p>\n\n\n

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L to R: Executive Director of the Universities at Shady Grove, Anne Khademian, listens as Warren D’Souza speaks to the group.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cAs Dr. Maron alluded to, we serve very diverse communities in urban, suburban, and rural areas in the state of Maryland,\u201d he explained. \u201cWe believe that the technological and computational advances at the IHC and the clinical trials that we conduct through the IHC will have an incredible impact on the patients we serve, and the citizens of Maryland.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another speaker, Esa Davis, MD, MPH<\/strong>, associate vice president for community health and director of health equity at UM-IHC, amplified the significance of the diversity of UMMS\u2019 patient records.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have at the IHC a real opportunity to improve our health equity by transforming how we conduct community focused research,\u201d she said.  \u201cWith our data science and data systems or new analytic techniques, such as AI, we’re able to conduct large, neighborhood focused and community partner research. That gives us the ability to identify and engage communities that experience health disparities and are often left out of large trials. We’re also able to show whether or not these communities are receiving the interventions or therapeutics that meet the guidelines to improve health outcomes and inequities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Davis also explained that IHC hopes to develop new measures and ways of understanding the root causes of health inequities, including social drivers of health, and bias.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since its launch in November 2022<\/a>, the UM-IHC has been established into six core research areas: <\/p>\n\n\n\n