Medical Imaging Informatics Training Grant

ABSTRACT (PROJECT DESCRIPTION) The rapid advancement of novel biomedical technologies to inform the human condition in conjunction with the explosion of resultant data continues to significantly alter the landscape of research and patient care. New ways to measure and contextualize physiologic processes – from mobile health (mHealth) through to newer imaging methods – are transforming our understanding of health and disease. Such techniques now shape our under- standing of an individual within everyday activities and over time; and when integrated with more conventional (clinical) assessments, enhance how we approach personalized healthcare delivery. Yet the complexity of these analyses, especially with emergent types of data, requires a special skillset for which there remains a deficiency within our biomedical workforce. We need researchers who will continue to be at the forefront of these technol- ogies and analyses to enable the development and translation of such methods into effective practice. The UCLA Medical & Imaging Informatics (MII) training program aims to lead the training of the next generation of such scientists who will develop the needed computational approaches and applications that enable this fu- ture. We have coalesced leading experts in different sensing/imaging methods (e.g., from bioengineering, radi- ology), artificial intelligence (computer science, biomedical informatics), (bio)statistics, medicine, and other ar- eas. This group actively collaborates to foster interdisciplinary teaching and mentoring of students. Building on our success of our past decade, we have evolved this training program to promote innovative research through- out the spectrum of biomedical informatics and data science at the intersection of sensing/imaging and data- driven analyses, along with an appreciation of team science and pragmatic translational issues via implementa- tion science. While we continue to focus on imaging across multiple clinical domains (e.g., radiology, pathology, ophthalmology, etc.), we further embrace new types of sensing and imaging at the cutting-edge of development. Learning from our past efforts, in this renewal this T32’s training program now involves a streamlined 1-year core curriculum introducing foundational methods of the discipline, forming a breadth of understanding while reinforc- ing the technical proficiencies needed by any future scientist working across myriad types of data (e.g., signal, imaging, clinical, omics). Subsequently, our students specialize via more advanced elective coursework custom- ized to their research interests. Trainees are challenged to propose, develop, and test new data-driven methods that will advance the discipline, as well as ultimately change and affect healthcare by tackling real-world prob- lems. Acknowledging the ongoing shift in career focus from many trainees, our T32 includes several professional development activities to facilitate a range of research-oriented careers. Through the experiences gained during this T32 training program, students in this T32 will become independent scientists, prepared to contribute to and lead medical and imaging informatics as it continues to grow.