By Angie Arranz Abreu
Special to Rice News
Rice University, together with Baylor College of Medicine and the Houston Methodist Academic Institute, has awarded seed grants in support of research on health equity and digital health.
Spearheaded by Rice’s Educational and Research Initiatives for Collaborative Health (ENRICH) office in collaboration with the two partnering institutions in the Texas Medical Center (TMC), the seed grant opportunity followed the Health Equity Workshop hosted earlier this year by Rice’s Digital Health Initiative.
“To achieve equitable health outcomes, a comprehensive approach is essential — one that spans all phases of digital health from technology design and development to implementation, dissemination and long-term sustainability,”said Ashutosh Sabharwal, who leads the Digital Health Initiative and serves as Rice’s Ernest Dell Butcher Professor of Engineering and a professor of electrical and computer engineering.
The workshop chaired by Momona Yamagami, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Rice, aimed to bring together scientists and clinicians working on health equity research to foster new collaborations and identify a shared research agenda across disciplines.
“This seed grant not only fosters interdisciplinary collaborations between Rice University and the Texas Medical Center but also enables us to leverage our combined knowledge to enhance innovations in health equity and digital health, ultimately creating impactful solutions for improving patient care,” said Sharon Pepper, executive director of ENRICH.
The two projects, which were each awarded a total of $50,000 in matching funds from the partnering institutions, are:
Evaluating Equity and Community-Level Vulnerabilities in the Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence-based Symptom Checkers for Self-diagnosis
Primary investigators:
● David Abraham, lecturer in biosciences, Rice University
● Evan Siemann, the Harry C. and Olga K. Professor of BioSciences, Wiess School of Natural Sciences, Rice University
● Dr. LeChauncy Woodard, associate professor, Medicine-Health Services Research, Baylor College of Medicine
This project aims to mitigate vulnerabilities for patients using AI-based symptom checkers, both within the technical built environment and the broader community. It focuses on improving data precision, ensuring policies are appropriate for all patients, addressing social and cultural differences and fostering public trust through education.
Al-Driven ECG Analysis for Equitable Cardiovascular Risk Assessment and Prevention: Leveraging Transformer Models and Big Data to Reduce Health Disparities
Primary investigators:
● Guha Balakrishnan, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, George R. Brown School of Engineering and Computing, Rice University
● Dr. Sadeer Al-Kindi, associate professor of cardiology, Katz Investigator, DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center, Houston Methodist
This proposal focuses on advancing the application of AI methodologies to harness the untapped potential of electrocardiogram data for improving cardiovascular risk assessment. The goal is to develop a low-cost, noninvasive tool for optimizing preventive care resource allocation and reducing cardiovascular health disparities.
This is the second round of seed grants awarded through this initiative to research projects advancing digital health and health equity, further strengthening Rice’s commitment to creating equitable health care for the future.
As Rice continues to establish itself as a leading nonmedical institution in health research and innovation, the ENRICH office will play a pivotal role in promoting collaboration with partner institutions at the TMC, Pepper said, ensuring that every partnership is founded on trust, academic excellence and research innovation, leveraging the expertise of the partners.