As technology advances, so does the significance of health data and how it informs decision-making in health care. But in order to harness this valuable information, we need professionals with multi-disciplinary experience in medical informatics and digital health. A collaborative group of multidisciplinary researchers at Queen’s has developed a new training program to ensure that the next generation has the skills to understand big data for health, and leverage it to revolutionize health care.
MediCREATE, funded by a 1.65 million dollar grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) is a collaboration between the Queen’s School of Computing, Kingston Health Sciences Centre, the Centre for Health Innovation (CHI), Queen’s University and Western University. The program provides multidisciplinary training and mentoring for MSc and PhD students working at the interface of engineering and health sciences. Investigators in the program include researchers at Queen’s and Western University working in computing, imaging, surgery, molecular science and biomedical engineering.
Nurturing leaders in digital health
Department of Surgery members Drs. David Pichora, John Rudan and Boris Zevin are part of the investigative team. “We need a highly specialized workforce with the skills and knowledge to optimize big data for advanced surgical techniques,” says Dr. Pichora, the President and CEO of Kingston Health Sciences Centre. “MediCREATE is nurturing leaders in digital health who will give Canada a global competitive edge in surgical procedures and tools.”
One area of significance for trainees in the program is ‘tissue characterization’, to distinguish cancer tissue from normal tissue. The Department of Surgery has been working with the iKnife, a surgical tool that matches mass spectrometry of the vapour during surgery to identify whether tissue is cancerous. MediCREATE students are using this technology to conduct biomedical computing research.
Eighteen trainees were recruited in the first year of the program, coming from diverse scientific backgrounds. Along with specific computing skills and medical informatics, trainees work onprofessional development skills. They have participated in Queen’s Experiential Learning Hub workshops and presented podium and poster presentations for the CHI Symposium held in June 2022.
Dr. Pichora says that the program is vital for the next generation of health care leaders. “Our students need technical training complemented by creative, experiential and multidisciplinarylearning, in an environment that encourages them to adapt and evolve as technology does.”