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Director's Brief
Steven Lin, MD
Executive Director of HEA₃RT
Launched in the twilight of 2019 right before the pandemic began, the Stanford Healthcare AI Applied Research Team (HEA₃RT) is celebrating its 3-year anniversary. Thanks to the collective efforts of our pioneering faculty, fellows, residents and students – including over 50 contributors at Stanford and beyond – we have established ourselves as a leader in the study and implementation of digital health and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to solve specific, practical problems in health care.
Since our launch, we have raised more than $6 million in industry contracts and grants to bring leading edge technologies from “code to bedside” in support of the Quintuple Aim. We celebrate the work of faculty like Dr. Amelia Sattler, who is spearheading the Stanford-Omada Hypertension Trial and integrating AI into behavioral health screening; like Dr. Shreya Shah, who is developing AI algorithms to read and sort patient messages to reduce clinician burnout; like Dr. Marcie Levine and Dr. Jo-Anne Suffoletto, who are improving AI algorithms to predict ED visits and hospitalizations to support value-based care. Other notable projects include making Google’s AI-powered skin diagnosis app more accessible for underserved communities, leading a multi-year national initiative to strengthen AI research capacity within departments of family medicine across the nation, and advising Congress on overcoming barriers to adoption of AI diagnostic decision support tools while addressing intersecting issues of equity.
In just 3 years, we have generated over 100 scholarly works – including 25 peer-reviewed publications and 75 conference presentations. We have mentored over 30 learners at Stanford and partnered with over 40 centers across industry, academia, non-profit, and government. Our work has been featured in the New England Journal of Medicine, by the National Academy of Medicine, during keynotes at global health technology conferences, on National Public Radio, and in 60 news articles and interviews in the popular media. Clearly there is more work to be done, and we are just getting started. Thanks to the trailblazing spirit of our faculty, fellows, residents and students, and the visionary support of Dr. Sang Chang and Dr. Bob Harrington, I’m confident that the brightest days are yet to come. See what we’re working on, and join us!
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HEA₃RT partners with Santa Clara Family Health Plan to make Google's dermatology tools more useful for underserved communities |
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On October 22, HEA₃RT launched a community-engaged team science project with Google Health, Stanford Dermatology, and Santa Clara Family Health Plan (SCFHP) — a local health plan serving more than 315,000 people through Medi-Cal and Cal MediConnect plans. At SCFHP's 25th Anniversary Celebration and Community Health Fair, we kicked off a series of events to provide free health screenings to community members and promote health and wellness for all. Community members attending the health fair had the opportunity to consult with Stanford clinicians, obtain referrals for follow-up care, as well as evaluate the usefulness of Google's AI-powered dermatology tools and provide feedback to Google researchers in real time.
SCFHP serves a diverse membership base with one of the lowest income brackets in the Bay Area. Among nearly 300 surveyed health fair attendees, 41% reported Spanish as their primary language, and 34% selected Vietnamese. To engage with community members and recruit research participants, Stanford and Google worked closely with SCFHP’s staff and assembled a robust team of UX researchers, translators, clinicians, medical students, and volunteers. The event was a great success, and we're looking forward to our next health fair with SCFHP on February 4. |
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Mike González, MPA, Director of Community Engagement, Santa Clara Family Health Plan
“This is why I thought it was such a great partnership because [you all] are creating tools that support people's well-being. And [SCFHP] has people who need that. Often those people are never invited to participate and are often left behind. They're forgotten, and their feedback is critical.
It was awesome for me to work with an organization like yours who wanted to do the heavy lifting and wanted to do the work ... to understand the population ... and to be prepared.” |
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Integrating AI into depression and anxiety screening to support equity and inclusion in behavioral health care |
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Current tools for monitoring, detecting, and managing mental health conditions, such as depression and anxiety, are lacking and inherently biased. Research demonstrates that patients who identify as African American, Latinx and Asian are significantly less likely to be screened for depression than those who identify as White. Patients aged 65 years and older are also less likely to be screened than those aged 45-64 years.
As demonstrated in our previous proof-of-concept study that leveraged our existing depression screening protocol that was recently awarded the 2021 Malinda Mitchell Award for Quality, an AI-based approach to mental health diagnosis and monitoring can detect subtle behavioral changes in patients with depression and anxiety. This technology has the potential to reduce bias in mental health screening protocols by automating processes in a way that overcomes limitations such as human bias in screening procedures and patients self-reporting their symptoms.
In our upcoming study, in collaboration with CERC and supported by a DOM Chair Diversity Investigator Award, we will expand the scope of the research to include a larger and more diverse population to support the development of an AI tool that effectively identifies individuals at risk of depression and/or anxiety across age, socioeconomic and ethnic groups. This work addresses a critical need for objective diagnostic markers of mental health disorders that reduce inherent bias and easily integrate into existing clinical workflows, enabling clinicians to more effectively leverage routine medical appointments for the identification and treatment of mental health disorders for all patients.
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Tim Tsai, DO, MMCI
Faculty
Tim Tsai joins HEA₃RT and the Division of Primary Care and Population Health as a clinical assistant professor. He spent time in Boston for undergrad at Boston University and a Masters in Biomedical Sciences from Tufts University. He returned to NJ, where he grew up, for his medical training at Rowan School of Osteopathic Medicine and Family Medicine residency at Overlook Family Medicine. With an interest in healthcare innovation, he continued his training at Duke University completing a fellowship in Clinical Informatics and Masters of Management in Clinical Informatics.
Tim is excited to build upon his informatics experiences and contribute to the HEA₃RT team achieving its mission. He is particularly passionate about ways to improve the primary care experience, both for the providers and the patients, through thoughtful implementation of technology.
When he is not tackling provider burnout and the in-basket, Tim enjoys exploring the city, especially the food, hiking, playing golf, board games, cooking, and spending time with his fiancé and their two year old Czech Shepherd, Nori.
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New Team Member Spotlight |
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Jeannie Jeong, BA
Social Science Research Professional
Jeannie Jeong joins HEA₃RT as a new research associate. Jeannie recently graduated from Vanderbilt University with a B.A. in Psychology and Cognitive Science. Jeannie is passionate about research at the intersection of artificial intelligence, cognitive science, and healthcare.
Prior to joining HEA₃RT, she conducted research at the Laboratory for AI and Visual Analogical Systems at Vanderbilt, using a tech-based approach to explore how visual thinking works in relation to neuro-diverse conditions. As a research associate, Jeannie hopes to apply her interdisciplinary background to support the implementation of human-centered AI in healthcare. Jeannie is particularly interested in integrating AI into mental healthcare.
Jeannie was born and raised in Yongin, South Korea. In her free time, she enjoys urban/hip-hop dancing, cooking, and filmmaking.
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November 18-22, 2022 (Phoenix, Arizona)
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HEA₃RT and its affiliates will deliver a total of 6 presentations at this international primary care conference
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November 30, 2022 (Virtual)
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Dr. Lin will serve on an expert panel discussing the integration of wearable-generated data into the clinical workflow
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December 6-7, 2022 (Virtual)
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HEA₃RT and its partners will lead a total of 4 panel presentations at this global AI conference
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Recent Publications & Presentations |
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Thank you for taking the time to read our quarterly newsletter! Visit our website if you would like to learn more about our work. If you would like to sign up to receive future updates from our team, please fill out this form.
- The Stanford Healthcare AI Applied Research Team
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