Undergraduate research program will take community-based approach to Arizona health challenges

A health-informatics training initiative funded by the National Library of Medicine aims to get future researchers PHIREd up about addressing close-to-home health, environmental and engineering issues.

Grant and Award Announcement

UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

 

IMAGE: KACEY ERNST, PROFESSOR AND PROGRAM DIRECTOR IN THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA MEL & ENID ZUCKERMAN COLLEGE OF PUBLIC HEALTH, AND VIGNESH SUBBIAN, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING AND SYSTEMS AND INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING AT THE UARIZONA COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING ARE COLLABORATING ON A GRANT TO CREATE THE PLACE-BASED, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE HEALTH INFORMATICS RESEARCH EDUCATION, OR PHIRE, PROGRAM. view more 

CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

Many engineers and biomedical researchers share a desire to improve the world around them. While some seek solutions to universal problems, others strive to improve lives in ways that are specific to local communities. For instance, food deserts, aging populations, climate and air quality in Arizona represent a unique intersection of applied health-related research opportunities.

With a five-year $570,000 grant from the National Library of Medicine, a team of University of Arizona professors is creating the Place-based, culturally responsive Health Informatics Research Education, or PHIRE, program. Health informatics is the field of study focused on optimal use of data and information, often supported by technology, to address questions in biomedical research and improve the health of individuals and communities. Place-based training engages students in research projects that respond to local health and environmental needs while considering all the strengths a particular place has to offer, such as its history, culture, people and ecology.

Principal investigator Vignesh Subbian, an associate professor of biomedical engineering and systems and industrial engineering, and an associate director at the Center for Biomedical Informatics & Biostatistics, said he is inspired by UArizona’s identity as a public R1 research university, land-grant university, and Hispanic-Serving Institution that is on the land and territories of Indigenous peoples.

“What that all means to me is we need to be doing work, whether it’s an education project or a research project, that serves our community,” he said. “It got me thinking, how can we leverage this to motivate students? Students are often interested in working on problems they can relate to.”

The grant is part of the National Library of Medicine’s Short-Term Research Education Experiences to Attract Students to Biomedical Informatics/Data Science Careers and Enhance Diversity award initiative, which totals $8 million in investment to 12 institutions over five years.

Developing partnerships to increase health equity

Some place-based issues take a particularly large toll on communities that have been historically marginalized. These include inequitable access to clean water on Native Nations, poor infrastructure to access health care and digital technology in rural areas, and structural and systematic barriers to addressing disparities in healthy aging. Therefore, another major goal of the project is to recruit and retain students from historically minoritized groups to examine problems in impacted communities — sometimes their own communities.

“This moves the research questions from the abstract to the concrete,” said collaborating principal investigator Kacey Ernst, professor and program director in the Epidemiology and Biostatistics Department in the Mel & Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health. “It can generate new questions, better interpretation, and can drive a passion for the work that may not be there otherwise. This engagement serves underrepresented and marginalized communities by providing their voices in the research. Ideally, they will identify and drive the questions being asked based on their knowledge and context of the community.”

A three-pronged mission

The team intends for half of each cohort to be made up of transfer students, so they are partnering with regional community colleges such as Pima Community College, Arizona Western College, and Cochise College. The program involves 10 UArizona colleges; the College of Engineering; the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences; the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences; the Eller College of Management; the College of Science; and all five health sciences colleges.

“The 20 faculty we brought together all come from different backgrounds, demographically and intellectually,” Subbian said. “It really represents the interdisciplinary nature of the program.”

A wide range of faculty also means a wide range of existing research areas for students to tap into, ranging from research into EPA Superfund sites to nutrition in rural communities. But more importantly, students can all pull from what they already know about their own communities and combine it with what they’re learning to propose their own research questions.

“Complex questions need to be tackled through multiple lenses,” Ernst said. “I am excited to work with faculty across campus and get a bird’s-eye view of all the exciting work they are doing. Most of all, I look forward to working with the students to build the program, helping them to find confidence and a passion for research that can make a difference.”

PHIRE will recruit a group of 60 undergraduate students, or 12 students every year across five years, to offer three major training components. During a 12-week summer research experience, students will learn how to responsibly work with health datasets to answer regionally relevant questions, such as how air quality affects life expectancy, or how rural communities are affected by their distance from specialty clinics such as post COVID care centers.

Then, PHIRE scholars will earn thematic undergraduate minors related to biomedical and health informatics. To enhance both parts of this experience and improve retention and graduation rates for students studying informatics — now and in the future — the program will offer training on culturally responsive practices to both program faculty and the PHIRE Scholars.

“It takes diverse teams to solve some of our world’s most pressing challenges, but individuals who come from communities directly affected by these problems offer a unique and critical perspective for creative solutions,” said Elizabeth “Betsy” Cantwell, Senior Vice President for Research and Innovation. “Provost Liesl Folks and I launched the Undergraduate Research Task Force earlier this year to ensure all UArizona students are exposed to high-impact research activities. This initiative is an excellent example of furthering that mission while at the same time serving our Arizona community.”

Illinois Tech joins Chicago ARC as founding innovation partner in pursuit of innovative and equitable health care

Illinois Tech to help tackle health care inequities through market-driven, community-informed solutions to support the region’s underserved

Business Announcement

ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

 

IMAGE: ILLINOIS TECH JOINS CHICAGO ARC. view more 

CREDIT: CHICAGO ARC

CHICAGO—December 7, 2022—The Chicago ARC and founding innovation partner Illinois Institute of Technology (Illinois Tech) announced today that they will come together to focus on equity in the management of chronic diseases and access to quality behavioral health services, including those for substance use disorder, as the first priorities for action using market-driven, community-informed solutions and the attraction of startups. Innovation and health care partners, which represent nearly 750 health care delivery and training locations across Illinois and neighboring states, gathered this week to set the strategic direction for the Chicago ARC venture collaborative at its first meeting.

Illinois Tech and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are the first institutions to join the Chicago ARC venture collaborative as founding innovation partners, with a formalized commitment of their expertise and capabilities to support the success of health systems and startups. 

“Illinois Tech is an established leader in offering a distinctive education and unique research program focused on using science, technology, and design thinking to address current and emerging human health issues,” says Illinois Tech Interim Provost Kenneth T. Christensen. “We’re thrilled to join the Chicago ARC collaborative venture as a founding innovation partner to tackle health care inequities through market-driven, community-informed solutions and to foster health technology innovation to support the region’s underserved.”

Chicago ARC partners have aligned on a vision to create a community of health innovation in Chicago and across Illinois and the Midwest, accelerating community-relevant innovation, technology, and partnerships, as well as positioning the region as a global destination for innovators and startups that are looking to transform health care and impact society. Chicago ARC partners will create collaboration and impact in the initial health care focus areas by sharing best practices through workshops and exchanges, by collaboratively developing and evaluating new approaches, and by serving as a network to pilot and scale innovative solutions. By doing so, the partners will create replicable models to improve access, quality, and cost of care, and will address health inequities and the social determinants of health.  

“Chicago ARC brings together the best global technology, startups, and care models with the health equity needs of health care providers and the communities they serve,” comments Chicago ARC Executive Director Kate Merton. “Today, we are able to share incredible progress toward defining collaboration priorities where, together with our partners, we can drive equitable innovation to transform health care in Chicago, Illinois, and across the Midwest. And, by focusing on real-world needs that represent urban and rural communities across the U.S., we will bring technologies to market significantly faster than the traditional incubator and accelerator approaches.”

Chicago ARC’s health care partners will define health equity market needs, contribute best practices, and serve as committed pilot sites and customers for technologies that meet defined solution requirements. 

Stephen K. Klasko, the former president of Thomas Jefferson University and former CEO of Jefferson Health and a North American Ambassador for Sheba Medical Center and ARC, notes “Chicago ARC is taking radical collaboration to the next level by bringing together the amazing traditional health care ecosystem in Chicago and Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies to bring population health, social determinants, and health equity from philosophic and academic exercises to the mainstream of clinical care in Chicago and beyond.”

“The Chicago ARC and its network of leading partner organizations creates the ideal way for Sheba to translate our learnings and best practices to the U.S. health care market. The commitment, collaboration, and expertise of the partners at the table demonstrates why the Chicago ARC model and this region are the perfect place for Sheba and our startup network to focus in the U.S.,” adds Professor Eyal Zimlichman, the deputy director general, chief transformation officer, and chief innovation officer at Sheba Medical Center.

Working together with Chicago ARC, Illinois Tech, as a founding innovation partner, will seek to accelerate needs-driven solution development, commercialization of new innovations, and ensure that new solutions and enabled care models benefit all patients.

“Illinois Tech is committed to liberating the collective power of difference to advance technology and progress for all,” says Illinois Tech President Raj Echambadi. “As the only technology-focused university in the global city of Chicago, Illinois Tech brings a purpose-driven focus to education, research, and innovation while serving as an engine for opportunity and economic mobility. We are excited to partner with Chicago ARC to empower health system partners and startups in their mission to innovate and solve some of the most pressing challenges facing health care today.”

“Making Chicago the preferred destination for groundbreaking startups is a top priority for World Business Chicago,” says World Business Chicago CEO Michael Fassnacht. “The Chicago ARC and its significant network of health care and innovation partners are delivering on the vision for Chicago and Illinois as the global hub for health equity innovation. The resulting collaborations and approaches will move the needle on equitable health care locally and create replicable models that scale across the U.S.”