Coalition Will Use Health Computing, AI for Population Health

The University of Maryland Strategic Partnership: MPowering the State (MPower), a research and innovation collaboration between the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) and the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP), announced a partnership with the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) and Montgomery County, Maryland to establish the University of Maryland 3 - Institute for Health Computing.

According to the press release, the Institute will leverage advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and computing to diagnose, prevent, and treat diseases in patients across the state of Maryland through the use of de-identified, digitized medical data.

“We are witnessing an unprecedented revolution in health care that is being driven by biomedical innovation, the digitization of medical records, and advances in machine learning and artificial intelligence,” said UMB president Bruce E. Jarrell, MD, in the press release. “This new Institute will include all of these elements in a synergistic effect that will transform our health care system.”

The Institute will utilize data from 1.8 million UMMS patients alongside clinical research data from UMB for use in advanced analytics to support faster diagnoses, enhanced therapeutics, and improved outcomes.

“Scaling up research to address grand challenges in the life sciences has shifted from collecting data to using cutting-edge technology to discover meaningful patterns hidden in the data,” explained Darryll J. Pines, PhD, president of UMCP. “This Institute will tap world-class researchers who are exploring artificial intelligence, machine learning, and virtual and augmented reality to collaborate with medical experts, leading to broad impacts on human health and well-being.”

In particular, the press release noted that researchers will incorporate these technologies to study emerging diseases and establish precision patient care to halt disease progression of known conditions, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, opioid use disorder, and kidney disease.

“The integration of ‘big data’ with artificial intelligence and immersive technologies in health care is fundamentally changing the way we will treat patients – enabling us to vastly improve and personalize care for each individual,” said Mark T. Gladwin, MD, vice president for medical affairs at UMB and a professor and dean at University of Maryland School of Medicine.

“Our vision is for this to become the East Coast Silicon Valley for health computing,” he continued. “The goals of this new Institute perfectly align with the University of Maryland School of Medicine’s new strategic vision to utilize disruptive technology and embrace and harness the power of clinical analytics and precision medicine to enhance patient care and provide population health services.”

The Institute is expected to open in early 2023 with initial funding of $25 million from MPower and $40 million from the Montgomery County government.

This collaboration builds on other population health and precision medicine efforts that the University of Maryland has undertaken recently.

In June, the University of Maryland Medicine, the joint enterprise of the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM), the University of Maryland Medical Center, and UMMS announced the launch of the My Healthy Maryland Precision Medicine Research Initiative, which aims to gather diverse data from state residents to study how genes and lifestyle factors impact an individual's health.

The initiative is focused on underserved populations who often experience health disparities, which can negatively impact care outcomes and overall lifespan. The project aims to enroll at least 250,000 Maryland residents over the next 10 years, with a particular focus on reflecting the diversity of the state's population.