Imagine a sensor attached to your telephone, that instantly diagnoses viral agents and transmits that to a central community database. That’s the potential of an ongoing Pentagon-funded research project, spearheaded by geneticists at Duke University. Since 2006, they’ve been hunting for a genetic signature that can accurately assess, well before symptoms appear, whether someone’s been infected with a virus. Eight months into a $19.5 million grant from Darpa, the Pentagon’s out-there research agency, the expert behind the program is anticipating a tool with implications far beyond military circles.

What’s realy exciting is tha the benefits of this Darpa initiative goes beyond that. Not only have the researchers found a specific genetic signature that indicates viral infection, but the team has concluded that viruses and bacterial infections trigger different genes. Which means physicians could one day know whether to prescribe antibiotics, which can treat bacteria but not viruses. The drugs are so overused and wrongly prescribed, experts at a recent congressional hearing warned that Americans face “a post antibiotic era.”

The privacy and regulatory aspects will be a barrier to make these devices available for use, but one day they will be!

Source: Katie Drummond, May 13, 2010 Wired Magazine

Many years of experience in health and medical technologies, healthcare regulations and standards with deep knowledge of the healthcare industry and thorough understanding of organizational culture and management challenges. APS group has worked with clients to formulate strategies, design processes, and tools for creating and delivering more value to their organizations.

Laleh Shahidi, Managing Director of the APS Group has a Ph.D. in Medical Informatics and interdisciplinary studies with an  interest in approaches, processes, and systems that would enable individuals become an active and responsible partner in their own health and care pathway.  She has explored how research and innovative strategies in applied sciences can be pull together to boost individual and organizational productivity and wellness; and how collaboration between patients, caregivers, providers and various organizations can be improved through the use of communication and information technologies. She has extended her learning by exploring methods for empowering behavioral change and healthier lifestyles.

HEALTHCARE PROJECTS

American College of Surgeons: Maintenance of Certification
Designed prototype tools and process to be used by individual surgeons to gather information in an organized, searchable, and retrievable manner, to assist surgeons in meeting the requirements of Maintenance of Certification.
The platform has several purposes. First, it is a physical reminder of the process itself. Second, it is organized so that surgeons can be aware and keep track of what they need to be doing when. Third, it easily captures documents using “drag and drop”, and stores at a remote secure server. Fourth, it generates the reports needed for the application process.

CBYON: Hippa Compliance
Designed and implemented tools and processes for the users of a medical device company to comply with  the Department of Health and Human Services rules for “Protected Health Information” or PHI.  HIPAA includes provisions for electronic transactions, and required safeguards to protect the security and confidentiality of PHI

University of South Florida: Research Compliance Solutions
Designed tools and processes  to  address three interrelated organizational requirements:a) understanding the regulation, relevance, and updatesb) training the staffc) seamless integration with work flow and providing audit trails

SG Capital Partners: Market Research and Analysis of Electronic Medical Applications
One of the major impediments to the successful roll-out of EMR systems is the supporting change management process to ensure smooth transition of workflows that facilitates collaboration and addresses resistance to change. Conducted market research to identify applications that optimize the current workflows, rather than requiring major structural and cultural changes within the hospitals and medical centers.  Offered expertise in operational and change management, strategic planning, knowledge management, and cross function collaboration.

University of California San Francisco (UCSF): Intrapreneur, Assistant Professor and Program Director: Distance Education and Applied Informatics
Spearheaded initiatives for integrating information technologies into the schools’ curricula and instruction. Reported to the Executive Dean of Education at the School of Medicine and the Associate Dean of Administration at the School of Nursing

• Promoted cross-functional, multidisciplinary collaboration through customizing, re-use, and sharing of intellectual property across different divisions and departments
• Designed and deployed:
       1.   a technology-based educational infrastructure for distance education
       2.   a virtual environment for rapid redesigning of curriculum structure to enhance and share the web-based domain expertise
       3.  online and live faculty development programs
       4.   Developed seventeen web-based courses

University of South Florida (USF):  Intrapreneur, Assistant Professor and Course Director: Medical Informatics Program /    
Initiated a multidisciplinary graduate program in Medical Informatics. Reported to the Associate Dean of Graduate Medical School

• Developed and led the Informatics Task Force
• Implemented change management processes
• Designed and developed a fourth year elective curriculum in Medical Informatics based on research in organizational behavior, management science, cognitive science, psychology, and information technology.  The course covered the following topics:
          1.  Electronic Medical Records
          2.  Telemedicine
          3.  Evidence-based Medicine
          4.  Hospital Information Systems