Virtual Reality Training for Empathy
Dr. Megan Gregory
Email
megan.gregory@ufl.edu
Phone
(352) 294-8126
Faculty Department/Division
Health Outcomes & Biomedical Informatics
This project is primarily:
Literature Review
Research Project Description:
Prior work has shown that experiencing scenarios through another’s eyes via extended reality (XR; e.g., virtual reality, augmented reality, etc.) can be associated with improved empathy. Along these lines, some prior work has developed and evaluated the impact of XR on provider’s empathy toward underserved patients. This project seeks to expand on this body of work to better understand the dynamics associated with XR and how they can relate to empathy for patients. The student will be involved in a literature review around this topic.
Relevant publications:
Amini H, Gregory ME, Abrams MA, Luna J, Roland M, Sova LN, Bean C, Huang Y, Pfeil SA, Townsend J, Lin EJ. Feasibility and usability study of a pilot immersive virtual reality‐based empathy training for dental providers. Journal of Dental Education. 2021 Jun;85(6):856-65.
Does this project have an international component or travel?
No
Mobile Health App as a Cardiotoxicity Symptom Logging Tool: Feasibility Pilot Study
Name:
Dr. Megan Gregory
Email
megan.gregory@ufl.edu
Phone
(352) 294-8126
Faculty Department/Division
Health Outcomes & Biomedical Informatics
This project is primarily:
Translational
Research Project Description:
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) has become increasingly prevalent among cancer patients receiving novel cancer therapies, with a reported incidence of up to 20%, but most CVD events and symptoms among cancer patients are not well appreciated or missed. As such, new efforts and methods are needed to help more accurately identify patients with impending CVD, after initiation of contemporary anticancer therapies. Accordingly, this study examines how timely cardiotoxicity-related symptom reporting combined with contemporary cancer management impacts the development of outcomes among cancer patients via a patient-centric pilot mobile health (mHealth) application. We hypothesize that use of the mHealth app will facilitate more timely recognition of cardiotoxicity-related symptoms.
This project is in an early stage and the role of the medical student will be to assist with qualitative and quantitative data collection from providers and patients. Student may also assist with literature searches and writing. Tasks can be flexible depending on student interests and project progress.
Does this project have an international component or travel?
No
Identify Renal Recovery Phenotypes of Acute Kidney Injury Patients using Multi-Institutional PCORnet EHR data
Dr. Mei Liu
Email
mei.liu@ufl.edu
Phone
(352) 627-9143
Faculty Department/Division
Health Outcomes and Biomedical Informatics
This project is primarily:
Clinical
Research Project Description:
Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) is common in hospitalized patients, affecting 10% to 15% inpatients in the general inpatient units and >50% in the intensive care units, and is estimated to exceed the yearly incidence of myocardial infarction. However, there is currently no specific safe and effective therapeutic intervention for AKI other than supportive care and renal replacement therapy. One reason for this may be the heterogeneity in the AKI population.
AKI is caused by a heterogeneous set of pathophysiologic processes and is associated with diverse outcomes. For example, congestive heart failure and dehydration can produce identical changes in serum creatinine (SCr) level and urine output (i.e., parameters used to define AKI); however, they differ vastly in their physiological contexts and demand completely opposite treatments. It remains unclear whether this heterogeneity can be parsed into clinical sub-phenotypes with differing underlying biology, risk for clinical outcomes, and response to therapies. Identification of AKI sub-phenotypes could improve understanding of pathogenesis and risk prognostication and may be useful for informing therapeutic development.
Regardless of AKI severity, renal recovery after AKI is important because patients with persistent AKI have much worse outcome compared to patients with AKI that resolves rapidly. Renal recovery after AKI can take on multiple trajectories, but has been poorly studied. This project aims to identify sub-phenotypes of AKI and analyze the association of clinical outcomes and renal recovery phenotypes of AKI patients in the inpatient setting using retrospective electronic health record (EHR) data from multiple health systems in the PCORnet.
The medical student will help characterize patterns of renal recovery after an initial episode of AKI and identify risk factors associated with each renal recovery phenotype. The medical student will participate in the interpretation and presentation of results as an author on all related manuscripts.
This project is part of a larger R01 application for identifying personalized risk of AKI with machine learning to be submitted in February 2023.
Does this project have an international component or travel?
No
Comparative Effectiveness of Mobile Health Smoking Cessation Approaches Among Underserved Patients in Primary Care
Name:
Ramzi Salloum
Email
rsalloum@ufl.edu
Phone
(352) 294-4997
Faculty Department/Division
Health Outcomes and Biomedical Informatics
This project is primarily:
Clinical
Research Project Description:
Tobacco smoking is the leading cause of preventable disease, disability, and death in the United States. Smoking harms nearly every organ in the body and costs the United States billions of dollars each year. Recent improvements in digital technology and in behavioral science have led to two breakthroughs in mobile health (mHealth) treatments for smoking cessation.
One treatment, iCanQuit, is the only mHealth smoking cessation approach shown effective in a large (phase 3) clinical trial. iCanQuit is a modern, cognitive-behavioral treatment that promotes cessation through greater acceptance of triggers for smoking and commitment to personal values. The second, Motiv8, promotes smoking cessation with automatic financial rewards based on actual evidence of smoking abstinence. Motiv8 is part of the new generation of technology-enabled health incentive treatments that can reach an increasingly diverse range of people.
This project is directly responsive to the 2020 Surgeon General’s report on smoking cessation. The report identifies a gap in the evidence related to the effectiveness of mHealth smoking cessation treatments compared to other forms of treatment, such as state quit lines that provide telephone counseling. To fill this gap, the “PROMOTE-UP Florida Study” will compare the combination of iCanQuit and Motiv8, iCanQuit alone, and the Florida Quitline.
The objective of this study is to Evaluate the comparative effectiveness of iCanQuit alone, iCanQuit and Motiv8 combined, against the Florida Quitline in a pragmatic trial of primary care patients, assess how and for whom the interventions help patients in achieving smoking abstinence, and identify barriers and facilitators to implementing the interventions in clinical practice using the consolidated framework for implementation research
Medical students’ involvement with the project will be geared towards their interests. Potential opportunities included assisting with participants recruitment, and dissemination of study at scientific meetings and in peer-reviewed publications.
Does this project have an international component or travel?
No
Technology and Translational research on aging
Name:
Dr. Todd Manini
Faculty Department/Division
Aging and Geriatrics
Project Title
Technology and Translational research on aging
This project is primarily:
Clinical
Research Project Description:
There are several projects being undertaken by Dr. Manini and his coworkers.
Project 1: Smart mobile health technology for older adults. Our team has built the Real-time Online Assessment and MobilityMonitor smart watch app (ROAMM) to understanding health in the free-living world. The project aims to develop and validate theROAMM smart watch app in older adults with comorbidities. We will use continuous and remote health monitoring from wearabletechnology to understand risk factors and impact of falls and hospitalizations
Project 2: Coping with COVID-19: Impact on technology use, mobility, food security, depression and social isolation. Wedeveloped an anonymous online survey to understand how COVID-19 is impacting people’s lives— particularly older adults. Thesurvey consists of questions about medical health, activity levels, mood, use of technology and food availability before and duringthe COVID-19 outbreak. Survey data is available to conduct analyses and address questions related to healthcare of older adultsduring the pandemic.
Does this project have an international component or travel?
No
Reducing tobacco-associated lung cancer risk: A randomized clinical trial of AB-free kava
Dr. Ramzi Salloum
Email
rsalloum@ufl.edu
Phone
(352) 294-4997
Faculty Department/Division
Health Outcomes and Biomedical Informatics
This project is primarily:
Clinical
Research Project Description:
Tobacco use is the leading cause of many preventable diseases, particularly lung cancer. Based on the national cancer data in 2020, Florida has the highest lung cancer incidence with the most deaths among all the states in the U.S. Unfortunately, around 16% of Florida adults continue to smoke cigarettes due to its addictive nature and the limited success of current cessation strategies, partly because these cessation strategies have various adverse effects, such as suicide risk, anxiety, and insomnia. Therefore, there is an unmet and urgent need for novel interventions to improve the success of tobacco cessation. Kava is a traditional beverage consumed daily by residents of the South Pacific Islands to promote relaxation, socializing and to improve the quality of sleep. Kava has been available as a dietary supplement in the US for several decades to support calm and relaxation. Previous studies have suggested that kava supplementation may reduce tobacco use and dependence among addicted smokers. No withdraw or dependence has been observed in kava use in clinical trials or during its use as a beverage or a dietary supplement. The ultimate goal of this project is to develop a safe and effective kava-based intervention to enable tobacco cessation and reduce lung cancer risk, which will improve health. This study will use AB-free kava which is a new formulation that is expected to have a better safety profile than other kava supplements. This study will document AB-free kava use compliance, safety, evaluate reduction in tobacco dependence, and study AB-free kava’s potential benefits in reducing tobacco use and lung cancer risk.
The objective of this study is to characterize the compliance of AB-free kava use among addicted smokers, evaluate its potential to reduce tobacco use/dependence, and explore the reduction in lung carcinogenesis risk via a double-blind randomized, placebo controlled 4-week AB-free kava intervention trial. The potential of precision AB-free kava intervention will be explored as well
Medical students’ involvement with the project will be geared towards their interests. Potential opportunities included assisting with participants recruitment, and dissemination of study at scientific meetings and in peer-reviewed publications.
Publications:
Wang Y, Narayanapillai SC, Tessier KM, Strayer LG, Upadhyaya P, Hu Q, Kingston R, Salloum RG, Lu J, Hecht SS, Hatsukami DK. The impact of one-week dietary supplementation with kava on biomarkers of tobacco use and nitrosamine-based carcinogenesis risk among active smokers. Cancer Prevention Research. 2020 May 1;13(5):483-92.
Does this project have an international component or travel?
No