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Lectures

Ada Lovelace Computational Health Lecture Series

Ada Lovelace Day, an annual observance named for one of the first woman computer programmers, celebrates women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The NLM Ada Lovelace Computational Health Lecture series, introduced in 2020, recognizes the contributions of computer scientists in research on health and biomedicine. The annual lecture features women in STEM sectors and invites them to share their pioneering research with NIH and beyond. The Ada Lovelace Computational Health Lecture series is proudly presented by the NLM Division of Intramural Research as part of the NLM Colloquia on Biomedical Data Science and Computational Biology Research.


Can Data Science and AI Deliver on Its Promise for Improving Public Health?

Event Date: Wednesday, November 13, 2024

Time: 11:00am–12:00pm

Speaker: Manisha Desai, PhD

Location: NLM Visitor Center, Building 38A and virtual via NIH Videocast

Abstract:

Data science has played an essential role in solving many public health problems. For example, clinical trials are data-intensive and are the gold standard for establishing standard of care for treating many diseases. More recently there has been a rise in the use of data science to develop artificial intelligence (AI)-based tools that present promising solutions of how we diagnose, monitor, and treat patients. For example, AI algorithms that leverage imaging data have provided insight into how to diagnose conditions or more accurately stage cancer. However, there have been many failures in translation. To realize the promise of data science and AI, there are many challenges to address, including the complexity of the intervention design itself, the underlying data used to establish AI-based algorithms, and the way AI-based interventions are evaluated. Vignettes of trials that evaluate AI-based tools illustrate issues and potential solutions.

Speaker Bio:

Dr. Manisha Desai is a Professor of Medicine, Professor of Biomedical Data Science, Professor of Epidemiology and Population Health, and Associate Dean of Research at Stanford University School of Medicine. She also serves as the founding Director of the Quantitative Sciences Unit, a data science unit consisting of faculty and staff who practice data science to address critical biomedical questions at Stanford.

She is also the Principal Investigator of a Data Coordinating Center for a large multi-center trial investigating a therapy for the hospitalized pneumonia patient (ARREST Trial) and of an R01 to develop new methods for the analysis of high dimensional accelerometer data. Dr. Desai also served as Principal Investigator of the Data Coordinating Center for the Apple Heart Study, in which the goal was to characterize performance of an app to identify atrial fibrillation in the general population.

Prior to joining Stanford, she was on the faculty of the Department of Biostatistics at Columbia University. Dr. Desai received her PhD in Biostatistics from the University of Washington.

How to Join:

Visit in person at the NLM Visitor Center, Building 38A

This talk will be broadcast live: NIH Videocast

Interpreting services are available upon request. Individuals with disabilities who need reasonable accommodation to participate in this lecture should contact NLMColloquia@nih.gov or the Federal Relay (1-800-877-8339).

Questions during the presentation can be sent to: NLMColloquia@nih.gov.

Sponsored by:

Richard Scheuermann, PhD
Scientific Director, Division of Intramural Research, National Library of Medicine


View past lectures